Is it common knowledge that Eluveitie have a huge following in London? Having seen Orphaned Land four days earlier, I expected a similar sized crowd for this gig. Surely folk/death metal is quite a niche genre? Clearly not, as the O2 Academy Islington was sold out and rammed for the visit of the Swiss band and their support.
Skálmöld kicked off proceedings with tight, highly energetic extreme folk metal. This was the first time I’d seen four guitarists on stage since Klaus Meine grabbed a guitar at Wembley Arena in 1991. Skalmold, though, managed to keep four guitar players occupied throughout and despite making the small stage look almost as cramped as the rest of the venue, they sounded good.
A couple of the songs really stood out on the night, but given that all of the titles are in Icelandic and there doesn’t appear to be a setlist available, it’s hard to say what they were, other than they were the second and fourth tracks played. Björgvin Sigurðsson put in a fervent vocal performance, doing a great job of warming up the crowd and getting the pit going.
Russia’s pagan/folk/death metal specialists Arkona come next. I am under strict instructions to avoid turning this review into a love letter to the marvellous Masha (aka ‘Masha The Scream’). I’ll try my best, but she is an amazing frontwoman, combining beauty and fearsome power so perfectly. Around a year ago, Arkona played a different London venue, with Masha bursting onto stage, hammering away at her pagan drum with somewhat unnerving zeal. The entrance was less dramatic this time, but the band played brilliantly again, all members putting in a strong shift, including Vladimir “Wolf” Reshetnikov, who switched between bagpipes, flute, backing vocals and periods of frenzied head-banging. However, an Arkona performance is all about Masha and she owns the stage, expertly working the audience with her natural presence.
The songs were all pretty good, with heaviness in spades, although no real standout tracks. The magnificent Masha could improve her banter between songs, which consists mostly of incoherently shouting the names of forthcoming songs, but this is a minor point and I find it very difficult to say anything about Arkona and their charismatic singer.
NB: drummer Andrey Ischenko only joined the band this year – head over to the Encyclopaedia Metallum to see a full list of his other / former bands. It’s incredible!
Eluveitie continued the aural barrage, their sound lying at the heavy end of the folk metal spectrum. The stage was positively bustling, such is the size of Eluveitie’s rhythm section (and this was with one member sadly missing). Chrigel Glanzmann takes the majority of the lead vocals, flanked by the gorgeous pair of Nicole Ansperger on violin and Anna Murphy on hurdy gurdy. He’s a natural frontman, with bags of power, energy and gets the crowd into a frenzy.
The best moment comes when Murphy takes the microphone on “The Call of the Mountains”, the best song of the whole night. In contrast to Glanzmann’s vicious vocal assault, Murphy’s voice is gentle, bringing a welcome dose of melody. The song itself has been recorded in four different languages and the audience was asked to vote on which language it should be performed in, either English or the band’s native tongue. The result was overwhelmingly in favour of Swiss German, prompting Chrigel to remark, “seriously, guys, you won’t understand shit”!
While Glanzmann and Murphy dominated the stage, the other band members keep their end of the bargain, dutifully and expertly playing their instruments and leaving the showmanship to their lead singers.
Having only heard a couple of Eluveitie songs before tonight, I was more than a little apprehensive about standing through a whole gig, but need not have worried. They played a great set and provided fantastic entertainment for the enthusiastic and, by Islington standards, enormous audience.
