Wardruna – First Flight Of The White Raven (live stream)

26 March 2021

This pandemic malarkey’s weird as shit, isn’t it? Watching gigs online and all that. Sure, the seats are comfier and the beer’s cheaper, but it’s still a little odd. However, this particular online gig by Wardruna is just what the doctor ordered, what with me not having been able to see anything at all on the one occasion I managed to catch them in the flesh. And what with it being in Norway, where I very much am not, so would have missed it had it been a normal show.

See, Wardruna are MUCH cooler than me. You want proof? I’d have called this gig “fuck Covid, here’s a corvid”, whereas they went with the infinitely more majestic First Flight Of The White Raven. Because they have class. Also an epic new album to take to the masses in Kvitravn (“White Raven”).

And for all Einar Selvik’s talk in the fascinating interview that plays the role of support band about changing the format and it not being a normal gig — it kind of is. Which is all to the better. Just a band, playing amazing music with some title cards showcasing translated lyrics and some shots of snow and stuff for added atmosphere.

Which, to be honest, they don’t really need. I’ve already said that when I went to a Wardruna gig I couldn’t see shit, but they still managed to utterly blow me away. Being able to actually see the band is a vast improvement. They don’t do a great deal other than sing and play, but sometimes that’s all you need. Especially when you’re playing such fascinating instruments. They don’t just play through the album, either —  it’s a Proper Gig, understandably heavy on new material, but not scared of mixing it up a little. It all looks a little solemn (and sounds a little solemn to be honest), but the sounds they create are far from bleak.

If you want to get back to nature and deep time but are too hungover for the blastbeats of Wolves In The Throne Room or the bonecrushing aural assault of SunnO))), they’re just the ticket. Mournful yet joyous, they’re as inspirational as they are serious. The Dead Can Dance analogies drawn by many (including me) may be thoroughly inaccurate musically, but they’re bang on the fucking money when it comes to evoking feelings and a sense of time and place.

Hopefully this global pandemic thing will continue fucking off, but in the meantime, if the internets are the only way I can experience a show of this calibre then I’ll take it. But seriously, roll on the day we can see this shit for real again. Even if we can only hear it.

(This review is dedicated to all the people who are shorter than me who have been going to gigs unable to see the act for EVER. I honestly had no idea until I had these two Wardruna gigs to compare).

-Justin Farrington-