Unique Viking and metal culture festival Midgardsblot returns

Midgardsblot 2015 audience shot, by Jake Owens
Midgardsblot 2015 (Image credit: Jake Owens)

Midgardsblot, the unique metal and ancient culture festival set amongst the ancient Viking burial grounds and reconstructed Great Hall in Borreparken, Horten, Norway is back for its second year. Taking place on August 18-20 it has just announced the latest additions to the lineup.

Mesopotamian black metal thrashers Melechesh, Swedish Viking metal veterans Månegarm, local black metal heroes Kirkebrann and newcomers Blot are the additions to a lineup that already includes luminaries such as Wardruna, Enslaved, the two bands’ combined forces as Skuggsjá. Amongst those also making their presence felt as are Seattle-based black metal overlords, Inquisition, The Faroe Islands’ dapper funereal doom crew Hamferð, kings of Icelandic Viking metal Skálmöld and standard bearers of True Norwegian Black Metal, Tsjuder.

Melechesh

Melechesh

More acts are to be announced for the intimate yet spectacular setting of the Great Hall – complete with firepit – that hosted mesmerising solo performances by Wardruna’s Einar Selvik, Enslaved’s Ivar Bjørnson and Mayhem/Sunn O)))’s Attila Csihar last year, all contributing to incomparable atmosphere of the venue.

Set in a beautiful, fjord-hugging site so full of historical and spiritual importance, Midgardsblot is about more than music, though. Alongside the bands there will be tours of the area, a Viking village, mock battles, a beer festival and Viking market, as well as documentaries, lectures, panel discussions and a games arena for archery, axe-throwing and more, all adding up to a magical experience that resonates with the very heart of metal culture and beyond.

Hotels are within walking distance, but Midgardsblot also hosts a camping area at the beaches of the Borre park, in the midst of a beautiful forest and close to the burial mounds and Viking royalty slumbering within.

Tickets for Midgardsblot are 1450 NOK (approx £119.51) for all three days, and day passes for Friday and Saturday are 750 NOK (approx £61.82) and are available here.

To find out the full details on this unmissable event, check Midgardsblot’s Facebook page here, the official Midgardsblot website here and the events page here!

Jonathan Selzer

Having freelanced regularly for the Melody Maker and Kerrang!, and edited the extreme metal monthly, Terrorizer, for seven years, Jonathan is now the overseer of all the album and live reviews in Metal Hammer. Bemoans his obsolete superpower of being invisible to Routemaster bus conductors, finds men without sideburns slightly circumspect, and thinks songs that aren’t about Satan, swords or witches are a bit silly.