Drif

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According to Faust, the name of the band, "Heilung", which means "healing" in German, says something about the style of the band: "The listener is supposed to be left at ease and in a relaxed state after a magical musical journey that is at times turbulent". [4] The recordings of the band are not limited to music, but also contain poems and the spoken word. For millennia, the history of music was sustained solely through word of mouth. Generations have always passed songs down to the next generation, be it spoken, written or recorded. So, is there a through line – are there echoes of Hymn to Nikkal in modern popular music? Franz laughs. “No. The rhythm in that text is just so weird; it’s so alien. I’ve never heard anything like it.” They have each their place and sense of belonging, with inspiration not only from Northern Europe, but from the ancient great civilizations. The Golden Gods Awards 2018 nominations are live – vote now". Metal Hammer. 29 March 2018 . Retrieved 11 December 2019.

Faust's throat singing recalls the Tibetan or Mongolian style. Juul uses a chirping whisper as vocals. Our attempts to tame it was repeatedly fruitless and once we came to this realization, the creative flow surged forward with immense force. This album has very clearly dictated its own path. Our attempts to tame it were repeatedly fruitless, and once we came to this realization, the creative flow surged forward with immense force. So much so that sometimes it felt like the songs wrote themselves,” the band adds. Unlike their previous two albums, on ‘Drif’ Heilung change their direction of focus towards exploration of great rudimentary civilisations outside of Europe. ‘Drif’ means gathering, and as you listen to the album, you’ll find compositions drawn from far wider than just Northern Europe. Heilung link the civilisations that had evolved, traded, and interacted with each other. Hence, for Heilung, the preservation of Hymn to Nikkal is all the more important. “My wish is that people will really feel the emotion behind the ancient pieces we are reinterpreting,” she continues, “because we’re travelling through the whole spectrum of human emotion. Music is one of the tools that we can use to reconnect with ourselves, our surroundings and the people around us.”

Each live appearance of HEILUNG is a spectacular affair, where the lines blur between musical performance, ancient pagan rituals, past, and present. The Danish band found a fitting name for their opulent stage set and huge production: amplified history. Their viewers use other words such as “amazing, mind-blowing, goose bumps, unforgettable” and Metal Hammer UK even listed HEILUNG’s much talked about show at the Midgardsblot Festival among the impressive Viking chieftain burial mounds at Borre, Norway as one of “The 10 best gigs of 2017”! The band has said that Drif ‘is unlike previous offerings that centered around prehistoric northern Europe, and will explore other great rudimentary civilizations outside of Europe’. ‘All the songs on ‘Drif’ have their own stories,’ says Heilung throat singer, Kai Uwe Faust. ‘Each has its place and sense of belonging, with inspiration not only from Northern Europe, but from the ancient great civilizations’.

Zorzi, Marika (4 August 2018). "The Grand Fashion of Heilung & Their Iconic Sound". New Noise . Retrieved 11 December 2019.

All the songs on ‘Drif’ have their own stories,” adds HEILUNG throat singer and one of the band’s three composers, Kai Uwe Faust. Each has its place and sense of belonging, with inspiration not only from Northern Europe, but from the ancient great civilizations,” explains the band. “We took the ancient surrounding advanced civilizations in account, because our ancestral Nordic civilizations did not just pop up, exist and disappear in isolation. Already in the Bronze Age, we found silk on German land that was imported already from the far, far East 3000 years ago. From the Viking age, we found beads that were brought there from present-day Syria high up in the Northern mountains. One known fact about the song is its dedication to Nikkal: the wife of the moon god worshipped in the ancient Middle East. “Most songs are created as a way to remember,” says Juul. “We’ve seen it in Iceland, where people have composed these incredibly long songs that repeat over and over again, created as a way to detail a lineage. I’m pretty sure that a song like Hymn to Nikkal would have been written down to teach adults and children about this subject: this moon goddess.” Of course, I'm not sure if this is considered a song or not, and I think there are different opinions about it, but I feel that it helps to drive home the gloomy elements of the album.

Musically spectacular, the tension generated by the songs is electric. The combinations provide such aural stimulation that it is almost indescribable. The acoustics utilised in the ancient way on ‘Nesso’ echo and resonate, allowing Maria Franz to sing directly into a resonating copper string tuned to the same note providing a haunting result. Footsteps on gravel and hay, with a male vocal underneath Maria’s voice imitates the exorcism of a worm from a horse’s leg via a traditional spell. This contrasts with the curse which is generated on ‘Buslas Bann,’ inspired by Icelandic runes of the 13th century. Both incredible, as is the finale of the 50 names of ‘Marduk’ which closes the album in creative and thrilling fashion. According to Greek philosopher Pythagoras, three is a divine number, signifying harmony, wisdom, and understanding. He also believed it to be the number of time – past, present, future; birth, life, death; beginning, middle, end. Purposefully or not, ‘Drif’ embodies this philosophy, putting forth a divine work of art that ties together the beginning of civilization with the modern world today. Make no mistake, HEILUNG still does not represent any modern political or religious ideology, but rather delivers a humbling reminder of where we came from. “Remember, we are all brothers. All people, beasts, tree and stone and wind, we all descend from the one great being that was always there, before people lived and named it, before the first seed sprouted.” Line-up: Is this for everyone? Absolutely not. While it does have an inherent emotive quality and leans into darkness on a regular basis, it’s not a ‘metal’ album nor does it have crossover appeal. You’re not likely to be hearing songs from Drif on the radio anytime soon. Yet, those willing to brave it and experience the story-telling of Heilung will surely find themselves invested and fascinated by the experience.Their sound is described by themselves as “amplified history” as they aim to connect modern society with the beginnings of rudimentary humanity via their music. The music draws deeply on experimental folk, utilises runic texts from Germanic populations of the bronze and iron age and prehistoric Northern Europe. HEILUNG means “healing” in the German language and this also describes the core of the band’s sound. The listener is supposed to be left at ease and in a relaxed state after a magical musical journey that is at times turbulent. With singing these primordial songs we want to give tribute to these cultures, reconnect to the beginnings and remember that we all, from East to West, from past to present, are connected through the exchange of ideas and inspiring each other.” While the world came to a stop during the pandemic, the three-piece retreated in the studio to write and record their third full length album ᛞᚱᛁᚠ = ‘Drif’.

The tour will commence in Greensboro, NC, on October 17. HEILUNG will then travel along the Southeast coast before heading west and performing the final night of their spellbinding ritual on November 5 in Denver, Colorado. The band's first performances in 2017 were at Castlefest and at the Midgardsblot Metalfestival. The Castlefest performance was recorded and released with the title Lifa on YouTube and as a live album. [6] Their 2017 performance at Midgardsblot was listed by Metal Hammer [7] as one of the ten best performances of 2017. Later that year, the band signed a contract with the label Season of Mist. Centrally important concepts, still in extensive use today, like the number Zero and all the mathematical universes deriving from it, the use of iron and the general concept of settling all originate from traditional high civilizations outside the north and still fundamentally changing our ancestor’s world.

Other releases

Between the retelling of historical events and the power of their music, Heilung seems to be at the top of their game… Since its inception in 2017, enigmatic world music collective HEILUNG has been paving melodic paths to the past with their unique and mystifying sound.