Album Review: Wardruna - Birna
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Although he dedicates an entire chapter of Black Metal: The Cult Never Dies Volume One to the band, author and all-round black metal biographer, Dayal Patterson writes: “Wardruna are not, at first glance at least, an obvious candidate for inclusion in a book about black metal” (page 100). Yet, in his earlier work, Black Metal: Evolution of a Cult, Patterson suggests the artists who chose to side-step Satanism in favour of exploring such themes as historical, national and cultural identity through ancient folklore, belief and myth are still meeting black metal’s overriding objective of disrupting the status quo.
It is arguably only the constant presence of one-time Gorgoroth drummer and driving creative force, Einar Selvik, meant Wardruna would be embraced by the dark-hearted hordes. Of course, having Gaahl providing vocals for second album, Runaljod – Yggdrasil, won’t have done any harm either.
Still united with long-time collaborator, Lindy-Fay Hella, and a collective of like-minded musicians, Selvik has again dipped his toes into the creative waters and assembled Birna, Wardruna’s sixth studio collection of Neopagan, archaic compositions.
As with the previous five albums, Birna is devoid of any modern instrumentation, relying instead on ancient artifacts to create an archaic atmosphere; hypnotic and captivating, Birna follows in the footsteps of its five forerunners and delivers a love letter to prehistoric Scandinavia.
As with all previous albums from Wardruna, the optimum way to get the most out of it is to experience it in a single sitting. Motifs that briefly appear at one point on the record become fully realised elsewhere; the beating heart and sustained chord of opener Hertan returns at the climax of closer, Lyfjaberg, evoking the cyclical life of the natural world.
It is that rustic theme and the lack of any modern instruments that provides Birna with an authentic, timeless and ageless feel. Ancient rhythms and polyglot chants come as though voices from the ancestors; long, drawn out chords on the title track somehow show themselves to be heavier than any overdriven guitar might manage; and the modern propensity in music to resolve phrases is drawn out to almost unbearable lengths.
The sister pieces Ljos Til Jord and Jord Til Ljos compliment each other, separated by the lengthy Dvaledraumar, both are some of the most pastoral passages on the record. Ljos, with its watery introduction and dark, female vocals, acts as almost a Siren song (I acknowledge I’m mixing my mythologies here) as the soaring voices are uplifted further by jovial whistles. Jord, opens with bird song and fragile vocals cascading until the introduction of a dark stringed passage and robust choral chanting.
Separating them is the fifteen minute epic (among epics) of Dvaledraumara slow and deliberate unwinding of ghostly passages and haunted voices. There’s a storm coming in at around the mid-point and an antique wind instrument manages to evoke the sound of Vangelis’ technological compositions for Blade Runner at one stage.
The album’s second half leans heavily into the natural world: Himunndotter has some of Birnu’s heavier moments hidden amid the folk instrumentation; Hibjørnen is akin to a medieval balladeer sitting and plunking a tune from a simple stringed instrument; Tretale arrives on the wind, distant sounds, low and understated, with a title meaning The Voice of Trees, is this what an Ent conversation would sound like?
Skuggegesten finds the shadow horses of the title arrive with crashes of thunder and a stomping rhythm, bringing to mind an unstoppable and unrelenting march forward; and closer, Lyfjaberg combines vocal melodies to be both comforting and perilous at the same time. Its position at the end of the record finds it building to the crescendo expected elsewhere on the record but does not arrive until this natural conclusion.
So, while Mr Patterson’s observation that Wardruna are not on the surface the typical Black Metal fodder: no blast-beats and no corpse painted shenanigans in frozen forests, they do tap into the primal atmosphere of prehistoric lqndscapes. Michael Moyhihan and Didrik Soderlind make the connection when they write: “many principal figures in black metal […] have pledged a dedication to what they claim are Heathen ideals” (page 196); the image of the Wild Hunt having been used by Bathory and Watain among others. Satanism, being a relatively modern ideology, would always take a backseat to more ancient concerns; and no one is more dedicated to preserving that history than Wardruna.
Bibliography
Moynihan, Michael and Didrik Soderlind. Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal
Underground. Revised Edition. Los Angeles, CA: Feral House, 2003.
Patterson, Dayal. Black Metal: Evolution of a Cult. London: Feral House, 2013.
--- Black Metal: The Cult Never Dies Volume One. London: Cult Never Dies, 2015.
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