It’s Monday, which means a brand new playlist for you – but this week it’s a special Hammerfest-themed one in honour of my recent trip to the festival! Whilst you wait for the upcoming live review, you can have a sneak peek at what to expect from it by checking out five of our highlights from the festival. Get involved below, or check out the playlist on our last.fm here.
Skálmöld – Kvaðning
When it comes to powerful live performances, you really can do no better than Skálmöld and this song was a definite highlight of the set. To say this song was utterly magical was an understatement and it sent goosebumps all the way down my spine. There was a glorious atmosphere and energy to the song, with a hell of a lot of atmosphere during the slow acoustic moment before they racked up the tempo for one last glorious burst of momentum. As a whole, Skálmöld’s entire performance was just top-notch and there was no band that put on a better show over the course of the weekend than them.
Waylander – King Of The Fairies
Waylander is always an engaging and fun live band to witness, and one of the greatest songs of their set was their rendition of King Of The Fairies, a lively track that got a good amount of people dancing and moving about to it. The energy was just phenomenal and it was a pleasure to be a part of it all. If you haven’t heard of Waylander yet, then you really need to check them out.
Spider Kitten – Lindisfarena
Spider Kitten played fairly early on the Friday of the festival on the doom stage, and it was this wonderfully heavy and utterly filthy performance – and it was AWESOME. Having enjoyed their EP Behold Mountain, Hail Sea, Venerate Sky, Bow Before Tree, it was great to be able to witness one of the songs from it performed live and whilst it’s a fantastic song on CD, live it seemed to sound even better. Powerful, to say the least.
Hirax – Hellion Rising
Now, I have to admit that I am entirely unfamiliar with Hirax so I’m afraid I can’t actually vouch if they played this particular song at Hammerfest, however it was the first result on YouTube so I figured this was a ‘safe’ option. To put things in black and white – Hirax completely blew me away. The band knew how to put on a show and engage the crowd, and everyone responded so well that it was impossible not to enjoy yourself. If they’re playing a show near you, I implore you to attend.
Kamelot – Center Of The Universe
Kamelot really put their all into their performance and when a band is as well-rehearsed as these, it truly makes for a wonderful viewing. The sound was incredible, the band was tight and they really put on an engaging performance – what more can you ask for than that? Center Of The Universe got one of the bigger responses and with the whole room singing along to it, you couldn’t help but enjoy every second of it all.
