The Faroese Vikings in Týr got the prestigious honour of opening the ball of Copenhell 2014.
Considering their now well-established mark on the Danish metal scene it’s odd they haven’t already played this festival, but this day that slight oversight would be rectified.

“It’s fantastic to finally be here, we are Týr from the Faroe Islands and we play heavy metal.”
- Heri Joensen (vocals/guitar)

Rain is not an unknown factor at Copenhell, and true to form a light rain was falling from grey skies as Týr took the Hades stage. Even so, a lot of people had left their tents and homes to come out and check the folk/Viking/progressive/heavy metal band, and finding a suitable spot at the front was no easy feat.
Deafening out the pitter-patter, the band began their set with Blood Of Heroes, the fast-paced digestible history lesson opening of their latest album, Valkyrja, and it didn’t take long to completely forget about the water dripping on our cheeks and shoulders.
There was of course not much time for conversation during the short but intense set, but Joensen made good use of song intro’s to send us a comment or two throughout, something that surely helped the crowd connection along.
Without going for the obvious title-track, Valkyrja turned out to be the most frequented album of the day – while it hasn’t struck as strong a chord with me as some of their older stuff and definitely their two albums leading up to Valkyrja, By The Light Of The Northern Star and The Lay Of Thrym, it still contains some strong material that has grown on me little by little with every listen and the selection this day was well acceptable. A lot of the tracks from Valkyrja are about women in one way or the other, and the first of these that was dished up was Mare Of My Night which was explained to show women in their most cruel and wicked form, but if Joensen accidentally distanced his band from the large female population of the festival with this remark (I really don’t think he did), he was quick to mend the bridge by mentioning that they are also truly wonderful creatures, as shown by the later song Lady Of The Slain.

“You must promise to buy our latest album as soon as you get the chance.”
- Joensen (vocals/guitar)

After a few songs, the rain started flexing its muscles and water was cascading off the front stage.
I was soaked, as those few others who hadn’t resorted to putting protective clothing on, but this didn’t slow the party down. No, it rather accelerated it! Somehow the weather just went well in hand with the atmosphere of the music, and besides, it is terribly fun to headbang with soaked hair (I apologise to anyone standing close enough to be offended by this).
It also helped that we moved further back in the discography as we went along – even though I mentioned strong material on Valkyrja, there was no denying that the old fan-favourite Ramund Hin Unge was the winner of the show as it produced its own Maidenesque sing-along to the guitar melody.
As a contrast to the growing enthusiasm in the crowd it felt as though the band members began losing a little bit of energy about halfway through, and even though the songs were delivered just the way they were supposed to the nerve wasn’t completely the same. This is a small detail in the grand scheme of things though, and I stand by my note that Týr delivered a truly kick-ass opening for the festival. One can only hope that they’ll be invited back soon again.

Setlist:

Blood Of Heroes
Hold The Heathen Hammer High
Mare Of My Night
Tróndur Í Gøtu
Grindavísan
Ramund Hin Unge
Lady Of The Slain
Sinklars Vísa
Shadow Of The Swastika