Huldre stood for the only folk metal party at Dark Mental Festival, and when it had to be, well they couldn’t have picked a better band for it.

“We’re going to play something about a troll killing a village. We like that sort of stuff.”
- Nanna Barslev (vocals)

The show began in the now traditional manner with the slow chanting which after a while turned into the musical equivalent of wild-water rafting in an amusement park – Beirblakken. An excellent opener, and as it has been part of the set for some time now, it’s one of the songs most people can easily recognize, another important factor for any show, but especially so at a festival.
Anyway, on the set went, and throughout the journey we were treated to both classics from the eponymous demo and the upcoming album Intet Menneskebarn, and we were also treated to the playful fast tracks as well as slower, more emotion loaded music. One of the newer ones I took more notice of than I have at earlier gigs I’ve heard it at was the quite excellent Skærsild, a song about a girl wandering the thin line between Christianity and heathendom (if my slightly intoxicated mind recorded the explanation correct). It wasn’t so much the story that got me here though, but rather the Maidenesque guitar solo by Lasse Olufson, which was delivered with great feeling, and from time to time there could even be seen a hint of a smile under the wall of hair.

This is definitely one of the values of Huldre, they don’t take themselves or the music too darn seriously. Oh, they play with eloquence and elegance, no doubt about that, but they’d most likely rather wear a big red clowns’ nose than a deadly corpse paint on stage. I mean, just look at the fact that the ever joking violinist Laura Emilie Beck had a prepared a little bag of goodies before the show, and when the time came where she was not playing, she started throwing candy at the audience! Priceless.
Or how about the time when Barslev shouted skoal to the audience, but as she was not content with the first, slightly weak response, everything else had to be stopped until she had gotten a satisfactory drinking shout out of us (about three times in)? I tell you, a Huldre show must be experienced at least once in a lifetime, but preferably many, many more times than that though.

So, how did the Dark Mental Audience react to all of this?
Well, it was easy to see that we were now on a little more familiar turf than we had been with the two previous, Swedish bands, as people were now getting a little bit closer to the stage, and as the first row was really getting in on the party, people further back could also be seen enthusiastically nodding their heads to the rhythm. Also, as the show progressed, the audience crept ever forward, and more and more people were ready to throw caution and inhibition to the wind in order to have some good ol’ fun, the pagan way!
If still in doubt whether this was a hit or not, just consider the fact that Huldre was the first band of the festival to be asked for an encore (and one of the last ones as well if my memory serves me)!

After having seen this band quite a few times now, and reviewing them most of those times here at Metalmoments, it should come as no surprise to any of our beloved readers how I feel about this band.
Having said this, I will also say that this was not the best ever concert I have seen with them. The audience, and hence the atmosphere as a whole, was a little bit slower than usual to get into the right gear; the band couldn’t quite unfold in as big a spectacle as I have seen them do at earlier gigs (could be because of the stage-size) and at times the show felt a bit rushed. Then again, 40 minutes isn’t much, and I for one would have loved to see Huldre get one of the larger slots instead.
Having also said this, me ranting about little details should in no way be taken as if this was a bad show; in fact, this was an excellent show, and for good reason it ended up being the musical highlight of the festival for me!

Setlist:

Beirblakken
Ulvevinter
Trold
Skovpolska
Brandrit
Gennem Marsken
Skærsild
Knoglekvad