Home Featured Track of the Day: Skálmöld – ‘Kvaðning’
Track of the Day: Skálmöld – ‘Kvaðning’

Track of the Day: Skálmöld – ‘Kvaðning’

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So I was listening to some of the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim soundtrack last night, and if ever there was a metal song which captured the essence of that game and its sound, it’s this piece of Icelandic folk-metal brilliance.

Skálmöld are a band I was lucky enough to see support Eluveitie some time ago, and though I don’t understand a lick of Icelandic, I’ve read that their albums are grand concept albums based on Norse mythology (my personal favourite, Born Loka, centres around a protagonist fighting the children of Loki, with a setup song and a climax song each for Fenrir, the Midgard Serpent and Hel – essentially the musical equivalent of a Norse mythology boss rush). And as a sucker for Norse mythology, it stands to reason they’d become one of my favourite folk-metal bands.

For their live album, Skálmöld enlisted the help of the Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands, bringing the might of a full orchestra and choir to bear alongside their triple-guitar assault. ‘Kvaðning’ starts off slow and melodic, before segueing into a bombastic orchestral piece that wouldn’t feel out of place in Skyrim at all, before ripping back into metal with some sweet solos and finally an all-out choral assault to close things out. It’s awesome, powerful, and well worth a look for anyone who’s ever spent hours wandering around those frozen wastes being kicked into the horizon by giants.

And if you like this, the full concert should be on Youtube somewhere too. The addition of the orchestra really elevates the songs way above their album versions, and ‘Miðgarðsormur’ and ‘Gleipnir’ especially sound completely badass with full choirs behind them.

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