Heidevolk – Vuur van Verzet

Band: Heidevolk
Album: Vuur van Verzet
Release Date: 12th January 2018
Record Label: Napalm Records

Vuur van Verzet is the latest full release by Heidevolk, and you can most certainly tell that this is a Heidevolk album. This is by no means a bad thing at all. The band have not lost their signature sound; the distinctive dual vocals of Jacco and Lars, the almost tribal drums, and the distinct changes in atmosphere mid-song; from traditional metal headbanging, to wanting to stick a lighter in the air, to quiet reflection. Each song takes you on its own journey, as well as the overriding adventure of the album as a whole.
I love listening to albums in other languages, though it does make me wish that I wasn’t a stereotypical British person who is ignorant of all other languages except English. A lot of more traditional folk instruments and strings are used in this album, which blend seamlessly with the more typical metal instruments.
This album is the story of the Germanic tribes during the fall of the Roman Empire, a topic which is not something we typically learn about in school here in the UK. We learn the Romans left and the Saxons came, but not the circumstances in which they invaded. This album has encouraged me to learn a little more about UK history and the history of Western Europe in general. It’s difficult to process that almost every country has a history just as rich as my own, and that I am completely ignorant about most of it.

Track-wise, I don’t think there is a bad track on this album, each track flows so well into the next. I could easily see this album being the soundtrack to a fantasy RPG (which are my favourite types of game to play). The album starts off with a punch with Ontwaakt (Awaken), and takes the listener on a journey of conquering, struggle and survival. We have a more traditional folk song in the form of Yngwaz’ Zonen which, even before reading about what the song meant, led me to thoughts of rowing across a sea in search of lands anew. The guest vocals of Nemtheanga from Primordial on The Alliance give the track a real sense of the betrayal of those whom the song is about.

The album also has two bonus tracks: Drink op de Nacht and Een Wolf in Mijn Hart, the latter being a re-recording of the album’s A Wolf In My Heart. The first of these two tracks, is what I would call a typical drinking song. If I were able to not completely butcher the pronunciation of the lyrics, this is a song I could see myself singing along to with a tankard of ale or horn of mead with friends on a winter evening, sitting around a fire.

This album has everything I could want from a Heidevolk album, and I very much look forward to their promised UK tour this year to be able to experience some of these tracks live.

Verdict: 9/10