Heilung ("Healing" in German) are a band with members from Germany, Denmark and Norway, who describe their music as "amplified history."
Members:
Kai Uwe Faust (vocals, Germany)
Maria Franz (vocals, Norway)
Christopher Juul (producer, Denmark)
Discography:
Ofnir (2015)
Lifa (2017, live album)
Futha (2019)
Drif (2022)
Tropes displayed by this band
- Anachronism Stew: Their sound mixes pre-industrial instruments with subtle electronic effects. For example, the start of this video
, where Christopher blows down a buffalo horn, then loops it. - Bilingual Bonus:
- They have recorded songs in Old Norse, Gothic, Old High German, Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon.
- The CD of Futha has its title and track list written in runes instead of the more common Latin alphabet.
- Blackface: Averted. Kai has a black face in the official video for "Norupo," but he is clearly not parodying a black person.
- Epic Rocking: In the interest of brevity, we will only list songs over ten minutes.
- "Othan" 10:18
- "Galgaldr" 10:21
- "In Maidjan" 12:33
- "Afhomon" 13:41
- "Hamrer Hippyer" 14:16
- Folk Metal: Their music is not metallic, but Vikings are intrinsically Metal, and the Metal press seems to like them.
- Hell Is That Noise: Along with a healthy dose of Careful with That Axe, Kai and Christopher produce some utterly terrifying, hair-raising screams on several tracks.
- Horny Vikings: They use a lot of Nordic imagery. Singer Maria Franz is Norwegian, and has a stage outfit with antlers.
- Loudness War: Averted: The YouTube description for "Anoana," the first single from Drif, has this to say about the album:Drif has been mastered significantly lower in volume than most modern releases to achieve a greater dynamic range, deeper lowend, transparent transients and a wider stereo image. If you want it louder, turn up the volume on a proper sound carrier.
- Meaningful Name: From their YouTube page:"Heilung means healing in German and describes the core of the sound. It is supposed to leave the listener eased and relaxed after a sometimes turbulent musical journey."
- Mood Whiplash: From their first album, Ofnir: "Schlammschlacht" is a spoken-word poem about the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, describing in gruesome detail the slaughter of the Roman Legions, finishing with the most horrifying, gut-wrenching screams imaginable. It's followed by the extremely quiet, haunting "Carpathian Forest."
- Shown Their Work: A bit of digging online will find the historical texts that they have used for lyrics.
- Soprano and Gravel: With two grades of gravel! Maria provides clean female vocals, Kai does harsh male vocals and throat singing.
