ODIN: Huh huh. Huh huh. THOR: Heh heh. ODIN: Huh huh. Huh huh. Vikings are cool. Johan Hegg looks like a viking. Huh huh. THOR: Heh heh heh. This song rules. Heh heh. ODIN: Huh huh huh. Of course you like it, it’s like, all about you, and how you, […]
The Art of Vikings, Metal, and Viking Metal
One of the great things about the internet, besides the ability to waste time by blabbering and shouting into its gaping abyss, is the ability to descend into its gaping abyss, doing nothing, except perhaps discovering badass things that you might have never otherwise ever encountered. And it was on […]
How to Dally with Whores and Lose Kingdoms
“The sea was dark like iron, flecked with white horses, and with a livid band of light in the far distance. There was a biting wind blew from the north-east. ‘Wither shall we sail now?’ asked Biorn, ‘if we be not to be drowned?’ Styrbiorn answered and said, ‘We will […]
The Great Norwegian Trolldomizer
Trolls are inspirational creatures. This is pretty much an established fact, at least among 19th century/very early 20th century Scandinavian artists. I’ve long known about the trolls and tomtar illustrated by the Swede John Bauer, who I hailed in the distant past for his more Norse-myth related work, but I […]
Gateways to Trolldom
For those who have ever wondered: “Why isn’t there a general interest book dedicated solely to the history of trolls, their various forms of misbehavior, and the human world’s changing perception towards them as documented through literature and art over the past 1000 years?” Well, wonder no more! Because back […]
Norumbega Blót
In the shadow of Leif Eriksson’s Tower at Norumbega, Vinland Lo there did we honor the Leif the Lucky at the sacred site of his Vinland colony! Indeed, a make-shift blót was recently held to honor the colonizer of Norumbega with mead and metal along the banks of the not-so-swiftly […]
That One-Handed God of Warfare and Legal Advice Sure Plays a Mean Guitar
The Scandinavian invasion of Vinland continues to go strong this year. It’s not everyday that the good god Tyr intervenes with his divine providence in…Providence, Rhode Island, to be exact. And it wasn’t on a Tuesday either. For some reason Quebec received that honor this past week (really, Quebec?…well, better […]
Winter Ravaging of the Theater District
This February has been an unusually devastating month for Boston’s theater district, in all the right ways possible. First, Wardruna descended upon the neighborhood, bringing with them songs of ancient lore performed with appropriately ancient instruments like the kraviklyra and goat horn. Then, when the smoke cleared and the dust […]
The Shire’s Underground Metal Scene
“Our live show goes all the way to eleventy!” Frozzy artwork by Matt Smith Like a piping-hot pork pie pulled fresh from the oven, the uncertainty of Middle-Earth’s survival hangs thick in the sweaty, night air. The hors d’oeuvres are gone, the pre-show music has started its slow descent towards […]
Vikingaliv: Return of the Swedish Pagans
Stockholm’s got a brand new Viking museum on the way, set to open next weekend! And it’s about damn time, too. New Viking museums don’t come along often enough, or outside of Scandinavia enough either for that matter, but that’s a separate topic that will only lead to a downward […]
True Corporate Black Metal
It’s 2017 now and there’s a lot of uncertainty in the world, which means it’s high time to address the crucial and critically important question: what would happen if you combined a corporate office environment with a diehard black metal dude? The topic is a mystery for the ages and […]
Appeasing the Gnomes of Midwinter Darkness
Yuletide’s once again upon us and what better way to celebrate the season than by admiring Þorgerðr Hǫlgabrúðr’s rain of death and destruction upon the Jomsvikings in an epic medieval sea battle as is shown in the image below? Or how about this one, in which King Hrolf Kraki spreads […]
Djurgårdsbron: Where Silent Gods Stand Guard
Djurgårdsbron is a bridge in central Stockholm where Freyja, Thor, Frigg, and Heimdall stand guard…silently. Just Like in the song, only minus all the decapitations and shape-shifting into wolf-form. And for some reason Odin is missing from the entourage. But otherwise, just like in the song. And if you cross […]
Barbarian Lord Tells It Like It Is
Barbarian Lord is both a heavy boozer who possesses extremely violent behavioral patterns and a keen appreciation for poetry AND the name of the graphic novel dedicated to portraying his adventures in boozing, brawling, and poetic appreciation. As Barbarian Lord’s own personal real-life skald, Matt Smith sings Barbarian Lord’s praises […]
New England Coastal Sampo
“This was Estonindian black metal dub. Music for wounded bears as they shrugged off tranquilizer darts. A genre so conclusively suicide-inducing, blue-ribbon Congressional panels were afraid to listen to it. If Francis Scott Key had been a ninth-century raider whose head was still throbbing and clanging from an ax-blow to […]