Liste der Bands Pagan Black Kampfar Heimgang

This pagan black metal band come from Fredrikstad, Norway, which is about 48 miles south of Oslo, and is located near the end of the fjord. The name Kampfar, was taken from an ancient battle cry to Odin or Wotan. Vocalist Volk described their style of music as Norse pagan folklore metal, back in 1994. They took a 7 year hiatus between the albums; Fra Underverden and Kvass. They had to take some time off, to address some personal matters. Vocalist Dolk joined a local band called Gruesome, within that span of time. Kampfar originally were a duo with vocalist Dolk and guitarist Thomas. But they added drummer ll13 and bassist Jon Bakker, from the local band of Gruesome. So they drew out their swords and hacked their way forward, from being a 2 man studio band, into a full size band. So that they can tour and Promote their music more effectively.

The closest translation that I could find for the name Heimgang, was the Norwegian meaning of the word heim, which was translated into English as meaning home. Then the Norwegian word gang was translated into the English word of time. So a rough translation of the name Heimgang probably means time at home. They returned to Silvertone Studios (in the town of Gamle)which is about 1.5 miles south of Fredrikstad, to record this album with producer Rune Jorgensen, who also produced their previous album(Kvass). They like Silvertone studios because it has 2 different mixing boards and 4 rooms, including a special room for the drums. Rune Jorgensen is a very talented producer who specializes in pagan folk metal. They're comfortable with this producer, because he's adapted to the style of music that Kampfar is trying to create. The songs on Heimgang have themes about true historical events from their home region. The lyrics are about the beliefs of dark folklore, that were prolific in the region several hundred years ago. The story lines correlate to the mythological superstitions of Nordic heathendom. All of the lyrics on this album were written in Norwegian, because they can express themselves better in their native language. They are proud of their Norwegian heritage and so these songs are about their pagan roots.

Inferno is an intense song, that rocks with a nice melody mixed with the cruder black metal sounds, that are similar to Azaghal. Dodens Vee is a very melodic song, with harmonious guitars. The pretty guitar melodies help to balance out the ugly vocals. Skogens Dyp has a very upbeat rhythm, then it slows down to emphasize whatever Norwegian lyrics that they're trying to convey. Then the song picks up the pace again, with guitar playing that sounds similar to Taake. The song,Antwort, is about a controversial priest who once lived less than 1 KM from Volk's house about 200 years ago. This song rocks with the usual shiftiness and melody. Vansinn, rocks with a breathtaking melody. It's counterpoised with vocals that are ugly enough for a 1 man black metal band. Mareham have some extremely melodic rhythms, that sound a lot like Vreid. Feigdarvarsel is an intense song with lots of shifting guitar melodies, then it slows down with an epic style to emphasize the lyrical content. Vettekult is another melodic song , but it rocks at a faster pace than he previous couple of songs. the tempo slows down at half speed toward the end of this song. To express a mood of agony. Vandring rocks at more of a slow and relaxing tempo. The grim vocals sound like an invitation to your death. This song is also accompanied with symphonic background music.

This album rocks with a lot of dark and raw pagan style melody, but the songs of their previous album, Kvass, were much better. This release sounds a lot like Vreid, though it doesn't have a totally kick ass track on it. Fans of Vreid, Thyrfing or Taake might be interested in this album.