Night Crowned
Månegarm Open Air - 2024
Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen
Like Havamal before them, Night Crowned was a new acquaintance for me, and I was interested to see what they might have in store.
Another likeness was that the band was well received by the crowd as soon as they hit the stage, so they clearly have a better following than I’m aware of.
“Buy some merch so we can afford some beers!”
- Ken ‘K.’ Romlin (vocals)
What surprised me, was that I couldn’t really detect any of the for the festival trademark folk or viking influences in Night Crowned. To me, it felt pretty much like straight forward black metal. Well played, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t necessarily picking up on why this specific band was picked for Månegarm Open Air.
Regardless, the band was doing a swell job of it, delivering a strong performance with vocalist Ken ‘K.’ Romlin taking a striking lead. In a surprising twist, the band started handing out setlists already after the first and second song - they were obviously well acquainted with what they were doing for the rest of the gig!
“Do you want more?! Are you sure about that, can you handle it?!”
- Romlin (vocals)
What they were doing was obviously working on the crowd. From the beginning, there was a lot of horns in the air and headbanging from the front to the middle of the grounds in front of the stage, and when the band hit IRA, we saw the first moshpit of the day form and dominate the middle of the audience.
After the show was done, this behaviour was rewarded by Romlin going into the security pit to greet fans and hand over even more setlists.
I must admit, I wasn’t completely hooked in the beginning, but in watching and listening to them play, I warmed more up to the experience, and ended up enjoying Night Crowned. Also, it was a bit of a relief to not have another band playing viking dress-up, but just show up as regularly dressed people. Ok, so that’s a personal pet peeve of mine, but so far, they were still the best band of the day. However, the real heavy hitters were still ahead of us.
Setlist:
She Comes At Night
Gudars Skymning
De Namnlösa
Flickan Som Försvann
IRA
Fjättrad
Strandvaskarens Hymn
Nattkrönt
Another likeness was that the band was well received by the crowd as soon as they hit the stage, so they clearly have a better following than I’m aware of.
“Buy some merch so we can afford some beers!”
- Ken ‘K.’ Romlin (vocals)
What surprised me, was that I couldn’t really detect any of the for the festival trademark folk or viking influences in Night Crowned. To me, it felt pretty much like straight forward black metal. Well played, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t necessarily picking up on why this specific band was picked for Månegarm Open Air.
Regardless, the band was doing a swell job of it, delivering a strong performance with vocalist Ken ‘K.’ Romlin taking a striking lead. In a surprising twist, the band started handing out setlists already after the first and second song - they were obviously well acquainted with what they were doing for the rest of the gig!
“Do you want more?! Are you sure about that, can you handle it?!”
- Romlin (vocals)
What they were doing was obviously working on the crowd. From the beginning, there was a lot of horns in the air and headbanging from the front to the middle of the grounds in front of the stage, and when the band hit IRA, we saw the first moshpit of the day form and dominate the middle of the audience.
After the show was done, this behaviour was rewarded by Romlin going into the security pit to greet fans and hand over even more setlists.
I must admit, I wasn’t completely hooked in the beginning, but in watching and listening to them play, I warmed more up to the experience, and ended up enjoying Night Crowned. Also, it was a bit of a relief to not have another band playing viking dress-up, but just show up as regularly dressed people. Ok, so that’s a personal pet peeve of mine, but so far, they were still the best band of the day. However, the real heavy hitters were still ahead of us.
Setlist:
She Comes At Night
Gudars Skymning
De Namnlösa
Flickan Som Försvann
IRA
Fjättrad
Strandvaskarens Hymn
Nattkrönt
Night Crowned
