Music / Reviews
Review: Finntroll/Skálmöld, Fleece
“We are Skálmöld from Iceland. We haven’t played here for years and years.”
Frontman Björgvin Sigurðsson is not wrong there. In Skálmöld’s absence, Viking metal has become huge in this country, with the likes of Amon Amarth now playing arena-sized venues. These guys should have been on the leading edge of that wave rather than still playing support slots in club venues. In the modest pantheon of great Icelandic rock bands, they’re more metal than Sólstafir and less trad than The Vintage Caravan, but have seemed content to remain big fish in a relatively small Nordic pond.
is needed now More than ever
Still, at least they’re delighted to be back now. Drummer Jón Geir Jóhannsson is particularly overjoyed to be here and can’t stop grinning throughout the show. It’s a little early in the year to be playing shirtless, mind, though maybe a chilly April evening in Bristol is like searing tropical heat to these subarctic visitors.
The six musicians stick to the Iron Maiden formation, with three guitarists, but there’s little similarity in their sound. The typical Skálmöld song – like Narfi from 2012’s Börn Loka, which is dispatched early in the set – is driven by powerful, multi-part chanted vocals, rather like the approach taken by Faroese band Tyr. Keyboard player Gunnar Ben proves himself to have a especially strong voice. They’re granted a clear and crisp sound, but with all the lyrics in Icelandic and apparently drawn from Norse mythology and Icelandic sagas, we’re clearly missing out on their deeper meaning. That said, the Bristol audience absolutely loves ’em and continues chanting their name long after they’ve left the stage.
Headliners Finntroll meanwhile, are busy backstage caking on the slap and attaching their waggly troll ears. Rather like Skálmöld, there’s a sense in which these veteran folk-metal pioneers been slightly left behind by their peers, such as Korpiklaani and Eluveitie, who tour far more frequently and have built loyal audiences.
But after a quarter of a century their trademark blend of metal guitars and furious humppa folk rhythms remains as potent as ever, reliably getting the metal audience jigging about. Frontman Mathias ‘Vreth’ Lillmåns clings to his smoking microphone stand (literally a microphone stand that belches huge clouds of smoke) as Finntroll celebrate current album Vredesvävd (yep, they might be Finnish but the majority of the lyrics are in Swedish). But it’s a career-spanning set with songs from all their releases, right back to 1999’s Midnattens Widunder. And the older material proves particularly irresistible to one over-excited young lady down the front who’s wielding an inflatable battleaxe.
2004’s breakthrough Nattfödd album remains at the core of the band’s set, with the trademark Trollhammeren perhaps surprisingly not being saved for the encore. Bassist Sami Uusitalo, together with guitarists Mikael Karlbom and behatted Samuli Ponsimaa, who does all the band’s artwork, stride about the stage ears a-flail (how they stay on remains a mystery), but it’s a shame Finntroll choose to rely on tapes rather than having a touring keyboard player given that this is such a central part of their sound.
A three-song encore brings old favourites Under bergets rot and Jaktens tid, which predictably incite a mosh pit frenzy. Their first Bristol show in nearly a decade proves well worth the wait.
Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: April 2023
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
