Folk and Pagan Metal gigs are rare but fantastic. It's not everyday that you get to indulge in beer and folk melodies at a Metal gig, or at least not as often as you might have been able to about five years ago. This makes Folk and Pagan Metal gigs really special affairs when they do come around. And tonight is no exception, with perhaps the biggest Folk Metal act on the planet, ELUVEITIE, making their triumphant return to these shores, bringing the excellent ARKONA with them for their first UK shows ever (tonight's gig is actually only the second show they've ever done on UK soil) as well as the brilliant SKALMOLD from Iceland.

The night, for me, began by entering the venue, eyeing up the various types of merchandise I'm far too penniless to be able to buy, before sliding upstairs for the first act of the evening, SKALMOLD. They play incredibly well, and seem to warm to the crowd and get better as they go on, and by the last song, they have the crowd chanting along with them. Their new material goes down very well next to the classics, which no doubt spurred them on to play an excellent set.
 

After grabbing a pint which I intend to nurse for the next hour or so, it's time for the almighty ARKONA to hit the stage. By this point, Sound Control is absolutely heaving, and it's hard to get a good spot in the cramped room. By far and away, ARKONA are the best band of the night, and play like they are headlining. And of course, the rabid fans, many of whom have been waiting for a long time to see these guys live, give them the reception that headliners deserve. They leave the stage to a rousing cheer from everyone after the last notes of "Yarilo" die down.
 

And then, after a short change over, its time for ELUVEITIE to hit the stage. Considering the last time I saw them was when they opened for DEVILDRIVER four years ago, when they were touring in support of their then new album "Everything Remains (As it Never Was)", I am interested to see how their stage show has changed, and how the new songs shape up in a live setting. The answer to both those questions is quite well. They play very fluidly, and engage the crowd with a bit of banter, and their whole set goes down very well. It feels incredibly strange to hear them play their Folk Metal anthem "Inis Mona" in the middle of their set, rather than at the end, but otherwise everything goes swimmingly through the set and the encore.
 

After the gig, it feels strange, as it always does, heading out into the street and heading home. This is mainly because for the last few hours we've all been immersed in the world which these bands inhabit, one of forests, countryside's, and stories of times long gone by, and after being in this environment mentally for the last four hours, it's a little depressing to head out into the middle of a busy city, a million miles away from the music of these bands. Hopefully, it won't be so long until they are back in Manchester, so we can all return to the world of their music again.
 

SKALMOLD are slowly but surely beginning to make a name for themselves outside of their native Iceland.

Hi, this is Danny from Metal Temple, and today I am interviewing the guys from Skalmold. How are you guys doing?

Prainn (Arni Baldvinsson, Guitars): I'm just about fine! A little bit better now that we've done the gig.

Snaebjorn (Ragnarsson, Bass): Yeah, I'm feeling great man!

Obviously, you've been touring around Europe for the last few weeks with Eluveitie and Arkona, so how has the tour been going so far?

Prainn: It's been going great actually! We're actually really good friends with most of the people on this tour, and we've actually gotten to know a lot of them much better on this tour. Actually, at the show in Belgium, Chrigel from Eluveitie joined us on stage for one song.

Cool! Which song was that?

Snaebjorn: He sang "Kvaðning" with us, which was the last song of the set. But yeah, this tour has been actually really, really fun for us.

Prainn: Often, it differs from tour to tour, but this one has been great. I dunno, there's just something great about it, everyone's just having a good time. The shows have all been good, everyone's been great, and a lot of people are showing up on time, so we've got some people down the front to watch us on this tour.[laughs]

Snaebjorn: Well, we've actually toured with Arkona before. So it was like meeting old family friends. Lots of hugs and kisses and all that. We're not going to give you any embarassing stories from the tour though! There are details that you will never know! [laughs]

Obviously, you've also got a new album out, which is called "Með Vaettum", which comes out later this month. What was the writing and recording process like for this record?

Snaebjorn: We did it the same way we did it with the previous two albums, because all our albums are concept albums. So, it usually just starts with an idea of what the album is going to be about, and what themes it will include, and then we go around and...well, when we're writing music, we write a lot of the riffs at home and then bring them into rehearsals, and basically assemble the songs there.

Prainn: Perhaps the biggest difference between this one and the last two albums is that after a point, when we'd been working on riffs, and getting them into a big Metal melting pot, we basically just locked ourselves in our rehearsal rooms during the Easter period for about ten days or so, and then we just sat there and just played, and played, and played. Actually, two of the songs kind of were formed on the spot while we were all there. So, in that sense, we did it a bit differently from the last two studio albums.

Snaebjorn: So yeah, after we'd locked ourselves away to finish the recording, we went into the studio and recorded the whole thing. I think it worked very well, because this is some of the best work we've ever done.

As you mentioned, this is another concept album. So what are the main lyrical themes on this album?

Snaebjorn: There's a female hero on this album, who is the main character that the lyrics are centred around, and it all takes place in Iceland. In the beginning, she's born in the North, and for her whole life travels from North to East to South to West, and as the album goes on, she gets older, and eventually she dies in the West. And while she's travelling, she has to fight the enemies coming in from the sea, to guard Iceland. Icelandic folklore tell stories of these four mythical creatures called the " Með Vaettum", hence the title of the album, and they're like these spiritual guardian creatures which are different depending on where you are. There's the bird in the North, the Dragon in the East, the Giant in the South and the Bull in the West. And so she encounters them and has to fight this fight, and that's the general theme of the whole album. It's very Icelandic, based in the mythology and the history of the country.

Prainn: A lot of the stuff we write about in our songs are stuff that is ingrained in our culture and our history, and when you listen to the last album, a lot of it is based in this same universe and area of mythology. So there's a lot of mythology, but also lots of fiction, stuff like Tolkein and Dungeons and Dragons thrown in there as well. Overall, it's really, really Nordic.

You are from Iceland, as you said, so I was wondering what the scene is like over there, music wise, what sort of music inspires you, and does the environment you grow up in influence your music in any way?

Prainn: I think that when you are growing up, you have all the stories and the songs that have been there for a thousand years, and of course that will influence you whether you like it or not. And I think that you only really notice it when you start to travel around and  see other people in other corners of the world, and then you actually realize just how strange it is to be growing up in an area that's just got fucking volcanoes all around. [laughs] And a lot of people coming over find that surprising. We've got two active volcanoes back home at the moment, and it's just a basic thing for us. So maybe that has an affect on our music and what we do.

Snaebjorn: But yeah, when we were growing up, if you wanted to be a Rocker back in the 90's, you really had to struggle, it was all really underground and maybe even frowned upon, really. So, we were like the rebels making some strange Metal music, but now all of a sudden, Metal is becoming much more mainstream back home in Iceland. Being a Metalhead back home in Iceland at the moment is just the best, it really is the best time to be into Metal over there now. It's ridiculously big. The population is somewhere around 320,000 people or so, maybe 330,000, and that's the whole population of Iceland really, and we've got something like maybe 100 or so really decent Metal bands in Iceland.

And obviously, Icelandic Metal is starting to get the appreciation it deserves. You guys have been touring over here regularly, and obviously Solstafir have been making waves in the UK and Europe in the last year or so. So the scene's kind of coming into its own outside of Iceland as well.

Snaebjorn: Yeah, well, Solstafir and us have been getting a lot of recognition, and we've been doing a lot of touring recently, but believe me, there are so many fantastic Icelandic Metal bands, some really, really, really, really good bands that are basically still stuck in their garages, and we need to get them out of there. And the small club shows are just brilliant. Let's just say that you go to Reykjavik, you'll see an advert for a show at a Metal club, and when you attend it, there is next to no chance that it is going to be bad, because the standard and quality of music coming out over there is so ridiculously high. I don't really know how it got so big. It really has grown massively in the last ten years or so, it just exploded, and now it's like everyone is playing in a band. When we first started, and were playing maybe our first, second gig, it was actually at a Metal festival back home, we were in it, and of course we still are, but only for the fun.

Prainn: Yeah, all we've ever really aim for is to have fun with what we are doing, but also, in the back of our minds, we also know that we have to be good too. It's not all just fun, we've got to make sure that we are good and stay good, you know. And as a band, we have to rise to that challenge.

I guess my next question relates to what you'll be doing after this tour is over and how you plan to promote the new record?

Snaebjorn: Well, when are we gonna be home? I think in December, around about Christmas, so we'll be doing some stuff over there in terms of promotion of the album, and then we have a bunch of ideas of what we are going to do during the spring time, but that's going to be mostly festivals and hopefully just some more touring. We're ready to promote this album, we've got a great record label behind us in Napalm Records, and at the moment I feel that everything is going a bit more smoothly. It's gonna be a long run. When you're a small band, when you start out touring and nothing appears to be happening, it can be hard. But now all of a sudden we can feel this sort of tipping point, and we're going to keep going at it, keep coming back. I mean, we'll just keep doing it and hopefully, touring will get much easier. Work fucking hard. Well, it's always about the fucking work. It's not just about playing the Bass, it's about answering e-mails and whatnot, packing your bags, you know.

So that's a whole other avenue for promoting the band as well for you.

Snaebjorn: Yeah, exactly. Like I said, it's all just about hard work. I mean, I know I sound like a guy just handing out advice to people, but the best way to go about it is to keep at it, be nice to people, work hard and eventually things will happen. And we're starting to get to that point now. It's good.

And finally, do you have anything to say to your fans?

Prainn: Well, first of all, please go to shows. Please come and see us, please. I think that'd be a lot of fun. Come down and drink a few pints, or a red wine with us, we'd really appreciate it. And please keep on listening to music and buying music, and having fun at gigs. And first and foremost, don't be an asshole! Be nice to people, that's what it's all about.