Midgardsblot 2026 — Days 1 and 2

Author Askar Ibragimov - 7.9.2026

Midgardsblot is a unique festival held annually in Borre, Vestfold, Norway. Situated near Viking-time mounds and the Midgard Vikingcenter museum, and employing reconstructed Gildehallen (a large house from Viking settlements) as one of the stages, it hosts prominent metal bands and neofolk. There is a Viking village with reenactors and a nightly bonfire, where drumming continues until the wee hours in the morning.

Midgardsblot serves as a de facto meeting place for many people involved in neofolk and folk-inspired music. For instance, several people from the now-on-hiatus Heilung were present at the festival either as musicians or visitors, as well as members of Kalandra. Some people from the audience expressed to me that they believe that lineups are getting weaker, and the festival is holding up due to the dedicated community that has become used to hanging out here every year. It is also not uncommon for musicians who are just hanging around casually and play some stuff at the bonfire to be later invited into the collectives that actually perform in the lineup. The community element is extremely strong.

Being from Finland, I also have to note that the country has some folk bands that would fit the festival quite well, but so far Finland was mostly represented in the past years by metal collectives. However, somehow these bands could end up in Wacken but yet to have to be recognized by Midgardsblot, which, I hope, happens at some point. (Meanwhile, Pagan Weekend in October in Helsinki may serve as a place to see these bands.)

The festival always opens with “opening Blot”, a ceremony alluding to pagan rituals. The blot is not taken from some kind of actual traditional practice, though some people take it pretty seriously. In the same time, it is open to everyone, and one is not expected to be indoctrinated. One bows to the installed idols and paints them with animal blood; then the same blood could be used to paint faces. This year I was not able to take pictures of the ritual, although many of these can be seen in the official account of the festival.

The festival, despite being four days long, has a lot of things that overlap, so I could not cover everything. Here’s what I saw.

Nemuer

Nemuer is an ambient folk project formed by the Czech composer and multi-instrumentalist Michael Zann. He claims his music is first and foremost spiritual.

Svartilaagen

Some slots in Midgardsblot were reserved for up-and-coming bands. Svartilaagen comes from the local area and features several quite young members. Not sure of which exact age they were but they were drinking Coca-Cola onstage.

Taake

Tour de force of the first day of the festival, with its fierce energy and endless scary faces by Ørjan “Hoest” Stedjeberg. The band is known for past (twenty-year-old) controversies. The stage setup features a horse-head-looking prop on some kind of wooden stand, whose purpose is really bizarre, as the band did not really interact with it.

Songleikr

Songleikr is a folk-rooted project by Ingrid Galadriel Aune Falch and Heilung’s main singer Maria Franz, whose second album ‘Fuglefolk’ was released earlier this year. Instead of Christopher Juul, who participated in the first album many years ago, the current lineup is completed by Petter Østbye Sagen, Espen Wensaas and Kasia Sikora-Black. Extremely well-executed concert, showing real professionalism and experience. Heilung’s drummer Nicholas ‘Chaka’ Shipper joined the live set for some songs.

Sólstafir

The icelandic band was a fitting headliner for the first day of the festival, albeit to be honest, their local club show hit me much harder.

Nytt Land

It is great that the ever-popular Nytt Land, a couple of Natalia and Anatoly Pakhalenko, living in a small Siberian town Kalachinsk, got to perform on the main stage this time. It is not maybe too bad that they were given an early slot, starting the second day of the festival, which means that many people were not at the site yet, recovering from another bonfire night. Translating the real tradition of Siberian shamans, with songs reproduced exactly as they sound in indigenous languages (the band does not compose “lyrics”), they easily entrance the audience without enlisting major SFX effects. Mawiza’s percussionist Txalkan was behind the drums.

Mawiza

Mawiza is a ‘Mapuche metal’ band hailing from Chile, and massively touring Northern Europe this summer. According to them, the metal is the way to spread the message about the Mapuche worldview. The music is indeed heavily based on folklore roots, and the intro is performed with indigenous masks and drums. Mira Ceti, a Heilung singer, who was also performing the same day, joined the band for their joint track.

Between Two Worlds

I were a Norwegian black metal supergroup formed in 2003. The band featured Immortal frontman Abbath, Enslaved guitarist Ice Dale, Gorgoroth bassist TC King and former Immortal drummer Armagedda. I released their debut studio album, Between Two Worlds, in 2006 and this performance has reunited Abbath, Ice Dale, and Armagedda, performing “Between Two Worlds” in celebration of its 20th anniversary.

Mira Ceti

French artist and singer in Heilung, Mira brought her enchanting project, made in collaboration with sound producer n.hir, to Midgardsblot. The enclosed Gildehallen space offered a perfect vibe for the event, and her ritualistic music again brought me into a state of awe. At risk of getting the reader a tad confused about who joined whose set that day, Maria Franz from Songleikr and Heilung was the surprise guest on Mira’s gig.

John Stenersen

John is very well known as a person with moraharpa in Wardruna, he also performed with Gåte (including their 2024 Eurovision tour) and several other bands; this time, he presented on Midgardsblot his own solo project, folk songs reimagined with nyckelharpa. John was extremely active at the festival, playing his gig, playing some of it on the trip aborad viking ship Saga Oseberg, and just on the bonfire, and at other times enjoying other performances. I should add that despite the place that Wardruna takes as a major, most respected band in the scene, he is a very approachable and kind person.

Folket Bortafor Nordavinden

Folket is a “home band” of the festival, responsible for the Blot and usually playing in various locations on each day. Just have to mention their legendary Gildehallen-based night performance that is known to be the craziest one- the enclosed space offers a high level of immersion, and “viking savages” from the crowd going ecstatic do the rest.