SKÁLD – Huldufólk
Release Date: 20th January 2023
Label: Universal
Pre-Order/Pre-Save
Genre: French Nordic Folk, Pagan Folk, Neofolk.
FFO: Norse History, Viking Sagas, Sowulo, Heldom, Nytt Land, Wardruna.
Review By: Mark Waight
Take an incredible musical journey back over a millennium to the dark ages and check out Huldufólk, the new album from SKÁLD. I recommend that you wait until after dark, put on your headphones, turn out the lights and try to imagine you are in an ancient pine forest or a wooden constructed and turf roofed Viking long house. Picture a roaring open fire and wooden totems of once powerful gods, people with painted faces drinking Meade and dancing in joy. The male and female voices chant and sing through the smoky darkness in a long-forgotten tongue. Huldufólk is stories of our ancestors travelling across time to the modern world, its language is alien to us now yet somehow comforting and still relevant in a digital world.
SKÁLD is the brainchild of Christophe Voisin-Boisvinet who composed and wrote Huldufólk using over a dozen talented musicians with the skills to play a whole host of traditional instruments to create the stories of Trolls, Elves and Nymphs who lived alongside the humans in old Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands during the times of the heroes and heroines who helped discover and shape our modern world.
Album opener, Troll Kala Mik generates an image of bearded warriors battling with these super strong creatures in the snowy mountains of Scandinavia long ago, while the rhythmical and drum-heavy Ljósálfur conjures an image of ancient folk sitting around open fires telling the tales and stories of their lives.
In Mánin Líður we hear a string instrument for the first time creating a beautiful and soothing piece of mood music, which is then tastefully bled into the powerful Ríðum, Ríðum. For me, this felt like an ancient ritual dance, maybe performed around the totem of a long-forgotten god. It’s quite the contrast to the stripped back, female vocals on Hinn Mikli Dreki which are enchanting, pure and crystal clear like the melting snow flowing into a mountain stream.
Då Månen Sken is a wonderful song, bursting with rhythmical vocal chants and tribal drums, which reaches right into your soul and directly connects you with a musical conduit to our forefathers. Elverhøy spins a legendary tale of human dealings with elven folk in the pine forests of long ago.
Her Mannelig is a magical stand-alone piece of music that is probably my favourite track on the album with its deep and rich sound along with choral style vocals. Rauður Loginn Brann is another lovely composition that builds with some folky similarities to various Celtic bands that I have heard in the past.
Trollslaget echoes back to the opening track and Sagas of historical battles, before setting up a combination of two familiar tracks, but with a SKÁLD spin. Du Hast ups the drumming stakes with a powerfully dramatic tune which could be a call to arms or maybe an order to row that dragon headed longboat harder into the fray. Rammstein never sounded so good. A Forest is the homage to the ancient woodlands that were the home and lifeblood to the peoples of the Viking age. It built their homes, their carvings and idols, their longships and fuelled their fires. It is a wonderful cover version of the old The Cure song from a less distant and dark past.
I must admit that Huldufólk by SKÁLD took me right out of my comfort zone on a fantastic voyage that I thoroughly enjoyed. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea (or horn of Meade, maybe), but I thank Odin it came my way!! Skol!
(3.5 / 5)
