It’s fair to say that it’s not often I don’t know how to approach a gig, having seen nearly as many bands this year as Manchester City have had guilty charges, but this was one I was flummoxed for. How do you review a concert where not one but two bands are singing in a language you don’t understand? Not one to shy away from a difficult assignment, I found myself in the second city about to attempt to do just that, armed with a Therapy? tee shirt and a very enthusiastic photographer who also doubles as my editor and publisher! Time to put my best pen forward!
It’s a Thursday night and when we hit the venue there’s already queues stretching around the corner as a light drizzle floats in the air. It’s also a tad chilly and so when we finally enter the O2 Academy in Brum I’m grateful of the myriads of various aged people elevating the temperature within. Hu tee shirts are flying off the merch stands, and there’s an air of anticipation oozing from said crowd, which pretty much had the place full before the support band were even set up! It’s been a while since I was at something so well supported from the start, so this boded well for the evening!
While much is known of The Hu, a band whose Spotify claims have 1.6million listeners per month, SKÁLD don’t have quite as much a presence, although it’s most definitely growing, probably due to their unique blend of, well… everything. Think Manowar themes (but not sound) crossed with Enya, and spliced with a sound not unlike north American Indian tribal music, all sung in various Nordic languages apparently. My notes say it’s like the Gregorian chant albums that were all the rage a few years back but with more grunt, and that’s about as accurate as it gets! There’s not one, but two gongs suspended across the stage, and of the 5 people occupying said stage there are 3 who have drums available to strike, which combined with a ramped-up bass line literally made my top jump throughout the set.
There’s nine songs on the setlist, but with how the music is being played it could easily have all been one long track, just with gaps to give their throats something of a break, and it’s not unlike a spiritual scene from a film dedicated to raising the spirits of long dead Vikings. “O Valhalla” is probably the only lyric recognisable to a monolinguistic Brit, and fortunately that’s a track listed, which gave me something to go on regarding where we were in the set! What I can tell you is, there were four from their newest album, “Ørlǫg” and this is apparently an exploration of fate, destiny, and cosmic consequence! The vocals are shared throughout, contrasting what sounds like low male droning throat singing in places, (although this could just as easily be coming from a lyre) and a female voice, swirling and eddying in a much higher register, leaving me thinking Marie Potosniak could do a job on The Sisters of Mercy track “Temple of Love” when not also playing a lyre and, in at least one track, some sort of horn!
It’s a palpable experience rather than something that’s easy to put into words. Musically sound but defying succinct description SKÁLD are probably the best fitting support band you could think of for what comes next.
Curiously, The Hu enter to an intro done in English which came as something of a surprise. The setlist was also in English, which was nice until I realised it had very little bearing for me in identifying the songs due to them being sung in Mongolian! The first thing I note is there’s what looked like a seahorse topping the neck a bowed instrument taking the place of lead guitar, and investigation leads me to discover that this is cunningly called a horsehead fiddle! Morin khuur it’s named apparently, which has something of a more romantic feel to it! They’re playing to a blood red background lighting that seems to add a little something to the atmosphere. It’s intense again, much like their opening band, and you can see why the two go well together as a line up.
There’s 15 songs not including the intro on their setlist and of those, six are from the top nine of their most played on Spotify’s list along with one cover which I’ll get to shortly, so there’s quite possibly new tracks for aficionados of the band’s catalogue to enjoy. There’s six from their newest album, titled “Hun”, and I’m resisting the obvious joke on advice from my editor! “Lost Soul” as an opener worked as it’s been released with a part English lyric before giving the audience at least something to get a grip on at the start, although this instance was Galbadrakh Tsendbaatar dealing out the lyrics in full on Hu style instead. It seemed to be done quite quickly, and was followed up with “Horsemen”, sporting a galloping style of rhythm not unlike Iron Maiden’s guitar work in early album releases, only for a tempo change to throw me mid song. It’s interesting and it puts me in mind of how Rammstein have grabbed a niche and run with it for years, mixing a catchy driving beat along with lyrics which most won’t know and yet somehow react to because of some sort of primal understanding of the underlying current.
There’s a LOT of people on the stage and throughout the performance the impressively maintained drone of someone throat singing that foundation of sound is ever present. It’s almost digeridoo-esque and the fact that it’s conjured orally is quite something. A glance at the barstaff provides some entertainment as a mixed air of baffled admiration seems to be the order of the day! There’s a surprising amount though to be taken from their performance. “The Real You” for example has a tempo and feel not dissimilar to Metallica’s “Through the Never”, fast, aggressive, whereas “Echo’s of my Father” has a Lord of the Rings feel to it. Softer, gentler, with vocal harmonies without the guttural essence which has permeated throughout the preceding offerings. There’s a reverence about it, and the stage performance suggests I’m not far off gauging this correctly.
The whole guitar equivalent instrument being played with a bow has not especially been noticeable throughout the show to my ears but ”Black Thunder” changes that. It sounds very angry violinlike, but also gives an opportunity to show off the more distinctive sound, as well as the skill utilised to play it. Curiously I logged it as almost a “Stagazer” moment because of this, it feels like their magnum opus and certainly to that point in the evening my standout track, with the main vocalist here breaking out some version of a flute/whistle just to add even more to its impact. There’s a version of this on Spotify with Serj Tankian as guest vocalist and that’s well worth checking out!
Perhaps on reflection what made “Black Thunder” stand out even more was the contrast to the song which followed. “Yuve Yuve Yu” is bouncy! Almost Haifisch levels of bouncy to continue the Rammstein acknowledgement from earlier! It’s different from everything that’s come before and is probably the most accessible track in terms of commercial playability on a radio. The crowd clapped along to it too, suggesting it’s a fan favourite, and I’m not surprised at all, although on saying that the audience have been engaged from the beginning. The penultimate track “This is Mongol” keeps them there and then comes an encore performance of “The Trooper”, Iron Maiden’s one song which seems to lend itself to be covered by different styles (see 2 Cellos as a perfect example of this). It’s tackled with aplomb, or gusto, the band revelling in being able to cut loose on their respective instruments and indeed vocal, and why not?
It’s been that sort of evening. There’s not going to have been many who attended who will have understood a word here, and yet, most if not all will have walked away having enjoyed a musical spectacle, (myself included) and a glimpse into legends of different cultures and how they’re celebrated. What makes bands like SKÁLD and the Hu do what they do? Perhaps there’s a nobility in educating and sharing such things, and maybe… just maybe this might gain them passage to Valhalla in the next life? Or maybe it’s something simpler.
Especially in the case of The Hu. Perhaps it’s just.. Because they KHAN!