On 12th of November, the Arctic Circle Alliance stopped by for an evening at Backstage club in Munich, Germany. The frosty name of the alliance is hinting towards the countries of origin of the groups: up high from the north, Finnish bands Stam1na and Omnium Gatherum are touring together with Skálmöld from Iceland.
This epic evening kicked off with the guys from Stam1na, who not only entertained with their Finnish-speaking songs, but also with their profound knowledge of the German language (“Mein Arschloch ist kaputt!” (a.k.a. my asshole is broken!)). Time flew by way too fast, especially for me as this was the first time I’ve seen the guys live, but surely not for the last time!
Omnium Gatherum then took over after a quick tag break. The sextet obviously had a lot of fun during their show, and entertained the crowd by constant interaction and with a broad selection of old and new songs. Amongst others, they played Formidable, The Pit, Skyline and the crowd-favorite, Frontiers. In addition, they also performed their newest track, Blade Reflection, already wetting the appetite for the follow-up longplayer to Grey Heavens.
Lastly, Skálmöld climbed the stage, and with them came the more folky part of the evening. With texts only in Icelandic and dealing with Norse mythology, the audience was drawn into the wild past of the sextet’s home country. Also here a wide variety between old and new songs guaranteed a very diverse show, from Gleipnir and Kvadning all the way to tracks taken from their latest release, such as Nidavellir, the dark Muspell and the mid-tempo Niflheimur. The audience rewarded Skálmöld’s enthusiasm with circle pits and imitations of rowing Viking ships, and really had a blast. All in all, the Arctic Circle Alliance delivered an epic evening and hopefully will come back to Munich soon!
Read our review of Skálmöld’s Vögguvísur Yggdrasils here, as well as two live reviews including Omnium Gatherum here and here.
Skálmöld Official Website
Skálmöld Facebook
Skálmöld Twitter
Omnium Gatherum Official Website
Omnium Gatherum Facebook
Omnium Gatherum Twitter
Stam1na Official Website
Stam1na Facebook
