KORPIKLAANI HEIDEVOLK
FORUM, LONDON
Finland’s boozed-up folk metallers replenish the party spirit
YOU KNOW YOU’RE at a folk metal gig when you hear “Raise your horns!” and know that it’s not a reference to a hand gesture, but rather a drinking receptacle. This is the order of Jacco Bühnebeest, one of pagan troupe HEIDEVOLK’S two singers, before the band launch into Drink Met de Goden (Walhalla).
The Dutch mythologists command the stage with ease, and their rousing set is the perfect warm-up for what’s to come.
Another tell-tale sign that you’re among your fellow ale-lovers and axe-wielders is the familiar sound of an Finnish roadie booming into the mic during sound check, “Heyyy! Yep! Hu!!!” Some people perceive the Finns as stoic, quiet and cerebral. In other words, as a deeply serious people. KORPIKLAANI are definitely serious – about music, drinking and writing songs about drinking, that is. Deploying
Happy Little Boozer early on in the set is a bold move for a Wednesday night – although they call it ‘little Saturday’ in their homeland, something that should definitely be adopted over here. They’re instantly successful in getting everyone moving about in a sort of mosh-jig hybrid; Beer Beer and Vodka have a similar effect. The sight of singer Jonne
Järvelä windmilling his blond dreadlocks about from under his top hat is pure silliness, but what’s most apparent tonight is that while they are unmistakeably a party band, Korpiklaani are serious musicians, and excellent at what they do.
Since the addition of prodigious ex-turisas fiddler Olli Vänskä in 2022, the calibre of musicianship in the band has gone up even further. It’s thrilling to see the impish anti-guitar hero onstage again, duelling with accordionist Sami Perttula during a ludicrously fun cover of Boney M.’s Gotta Go Home. Like Turisas did with Rasputin, they’ve discovered that the disco legends’ music translates inexplicably well to folk metal.
Korpiklaani singing in their native tongue doesn’t faze the Forum crowd, who embrace the band’s Finnishness as much as they do, dancing wildly to their version of traditional song Ievan Polkka and blowing off steam like they don’t have work in the morning. The combination of being a horn-full of fun and dazzlingly talented musicians makes Korpiklaani a near-perfect example of what folk metal can be.
CATHERINE MORRIS