What most people today refer to as “shamanism” is a spiritual discipline involving a skilled practitioner to interact with the forces of nature and the spirit world. Usually, the goal is to direct otherworldy energies into the physical world, such as manifesting various healing or protection entities.
Verjaseiðr hooks into the spiritual and was created with a specific purpose: to reinforce the egregore that is Draugablíkk. The album’s musical material has been carefully composed and performed to sense and ward against primordial evil, such as the left-hand path which is a term for “black” magic used to pull forces beyond the veil into this world — for darker purposes.
Hiǫrtr. Ormr. Úlfr. Arn. Those are Old Norse words for deer/stag, serpent, wolf, and eagle. They are also the four creatures which adorn the Verjaseiðr cover art which has been profoundly inspired by the “Jelling” and “Urnes” styles of Viking Age animal art.
The stag Eikþyrnir stands guard on top of Valhalla. The ormr longships lie ready to embark on new adventures. The úlfhéðnar wolf warriors are waiting for the next full moon. The Gothunni, Ostrogothic, and Anglo-Saxon eagle motif which originated with the Scythians — thousands of years ago — is awakening. If you are like us, you can feel it too.
33 is a master number in numerology that implies vitality and relief. The same number might also be the total playtime of Verjaseiðr.
“Yngvi Tyrkja Konungr” captures the galloping spirit of the Migration Era’s horse lord warrior cultures, during which the Goths and the Huns became forever intertwined.
The Old Norse title Yngvi Tyrkja Konungr means “King Over Turks” or “Ruler of the Turks” — possibly in reference to Óðinn — whose army had subjugated one or more Turkic nomad tribes of the Great Eurasian steppe. A large number of Hun warriors spoke ancient Turkic, although their warrior-priest elites spoke an Indo-European language, likely Sogdian or Proto-Gothic.
In the Íslendingabók written by Ari Þorgilsson in the early 1200s, Yngvi Tyrkja konungr appears as the father of Njǫrðr, who in turn is the father of Yngvi-Freyr, ancestor of the Ynglings. According to the Skjǫldunga saga Óðinn/Wōden came from Asia and conquered Northern Europe.
“NÍU: Blood of the Amali (Ásaland Metal Cut)” features nine tracks inspired by Scandinavian and Eurasian history, shamanic philosophies of the great steppes, and last — but certainly not least — Norse and Gothic sagas and myth as well as Scythian beliefs.
The number nine is significant in Norse myth, as made evident by Óðinn who sacrificed himself, to himself, on the tree of life Yggdrasill for nine days and nights, until the secret of the runes was revealed to him.
Further, the sagas describe how Þórr takes nine steps and falls to the ground dead after he fought his last fight with Jǫrmungandr, the Midgard Serpent, at Ragnarǫkkr. Heimdallr, the whitest horse lord of the Æsir, is also the guardian of the rainbow bridge Bifrost. He was born by nine sisters — an event echoed in the nine daughters of the sea-goddess Rán who rules the oceans.
Hel var Árheim (Norðrlandasaga) is undoubtedly not the first work based on the Vǫluspá — the first and best-known poem of the Poetic Edda that tells of the creation of the world and its inescapable end. However, Norðrlandasaga comes with a number of small yet significant corrections not present in any other interpretation or translation of Snorri Sturluson’s Vǫluspá scripture.
The songs of Draugablíkk’s “ÞRÍR: Serpents in the Mist” blend east and west, death and war, and myth and history, to reflect the widely traveled world of the Vikings, the Rus’, the Varangians, the Goths, and those who came before them.
EÍN: Ættarbál tells the story of the creation of the world and hints at a historical origin of the Jǫtnar of Norse mythology.
Hermóðr and Sleipnir boldly deliver news from the far reaches of Ásaland.
Hermóðr and Sleipnir boldly deliver news from the far reaches of Ásaland.
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