WOLFSZEIT FESTIVAL 2026 - 20th Anniversary

Performers

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  Finntroll

  Finntroll combines black metal and Finnish polka, called Humppa. Although they are from Finland, Finntroll's lyrics are in Swedish (the country's second official language), because Swedish sounds "damn trollish", according to the band's first vocalist, Katla (whose native language is Swedish).

  History

  Finntroll was founded in 1997, by Teemu "Somnium" Raimoranta (R.I.P. March 16th 2003), guitarist of Impaled Nazarene, and Jan "Katla" Jämsen. Their first demo, Rivfader, was recorded about a year later, in 1998. After the demo recording, the other members of the band, Samu Ruotsalainen (from Barathrum, Shape of Despair and Rapture), Samuli Ponsimaa, Henri Sorvali (from Moonsorrow) and Sami Uusitalo joined the band. The record label Spinefarm got interested in the band then, and made a contract, yielding the album Midnattens Widunder (English: The Beast of Midnight) (1999) as a result.

  The next step for Finntroll was the album Jaktens Tid (English: The time of the Hunt), which was released in 2001. This album managed to climb to rank 20 of the Finnish album charts, exceeding expectation of band and publisher alike. The following wave of popularity attracted the attention of Century Media, which began promoting Finntroll for the rest of the world. The following summer, the band had their first time playing on open air festivals in Finland and other countries.

  The year after the release of the album Jaktens Tid proved to be a misfortune for Finntroll: some tours had to be cancelled, and in the aftermath of his problems, vocalist Jämsen had to retire from the band due to a viral-based tumor in his vocal cords which could not be removed surgically; he retired after the release of the album Visor om Slutet (English: Songs about the End).

  Said album was recorded in early January 2003, in a forest cabin near Helsinki. It was an "acoustical experiment", where Jämsen and the new vocalist Tapio Wilska (of Sethian and Lyijykomppania) shared the singing duties among them. The album was released as a mid-price album and held rank one of the Finnish midprice chart for several weeks.

  Shortly before the release of Visor om Slutet, Raimoranta died by falling off a bridge in Helsinki after having consumed too much alcohol, according to the official story. Two people who were with him that night revealed in an interview that he had jumped off the bridge, thus committing suicide.[citation needed] Finntroll didn't dissolve after losing one of their founding members, but decided to go on, touring for two weeks in Europe, supported by the group Katatonia. The guitarist Mikael Karlbom was hired as a replacement for Raimoranta.

  In 2004, the band released an EP, Trollhammaren (English: The Troll Hammer), and an album called Nattfödd (English: Nightborn).

  In 2005, as Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali found himself too busy with his other band, "Moonsorrow", he decided to put touring with Finntroll on hold. He is still working with the band, composing etc. For tours, Finntroll decided to find a stand-in keyboard player. Since 2005, Aleksi Virta (Other bands/affiliations: Imperanon) has been touring with the 'trolls.

  In January 29th of 2006, Tapio Wilska, vocalist of the band since 2003, was fired from the band. In a statement issued on the band's website, Wilska states that he would like to keep the reason for his dismissal private.

  The latest Finntroll's album, "Ur Jordens Djup" was released on March 30th 2007 with a new vocalist : Vreth. The new album takes a more black-metal approach than the previous albums, heading back to the days of "Midnattens Widunder".

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  Eisregen

  EISREGEN, DIE Hitfabrik aus THÜRINGEN! Finsterer Rock mit finsteren Texten … für finstere Gemüter!

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  Taake

  The TAAKE Facebook page is run by Patricia Thomas on behalf of HOEST who does not use Facebook

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  Trollfaust

  Mittelalterliche Musik auf Sackpfeifen und Trommeln. Brachial und gewaltig!

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  Obscurity

  Obscurity - german Melodic Death Metal Band with Black Metal influences. Social criticism, viking and mythology themed.

  Find us at Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon Music, etc.

  Booking: mark@stagekult.de

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  Ūkanose

  Folk metal band from Lithuania

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  Cân Bardd

  Atmospheric Black Metal from Switzerland 🍃

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  Gernotshagen

  •blackened•nature•metal•

  Contact: kontakt@gernotshagen.de

  Booking: tmoor@in-fiction.eu

  Merch: www.gernotshagen.com

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  Heathen Foray

  We are a #paganmetal #melodicdeathmetal #band from #Austria.

  https://heathenforay.com/go/

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  Saor

  Caledonian Metal from Scotland.

  saormusic.com

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  XIV Dark Centuries (Official)

  Heidnischer Metal aus Thüringen

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  Månegarm

  It all started in Norrtälje, Sweden, 1995. Three old friends began to talk about starting a band. They had all played or growled in different constellations before. The main direction with this project, was to play as fast and primitive metal as possible, and the lyrics had to be in Swedish. No question about that. To get the massive and raw sound they wanted, they only had to find a second guitarist and of course a drummer.
  
  Against all odds they soon found Mårten Matsson, who played guitar in a local metal madness called Scab. He thought the idea sounded interesting and joined up. Mårten also knew a guy who had been playing drums for some months so he brought him along too. And so the first line-up was complete. It was Svenne (Duva) Rosendal on vocals, Jonas (Rune) Almquist and Mårten (Karbylundssvingen) Matsson guitars, Pierre (skägget) Wilhelmsson playing bass and Erik (Jurken) Grawsiö on drums. With the temporary band name, Antikrist, they started to rehearse their very first song "Månljus" in November ´95. A month later they changed their name to Månegarm.
  
  In May ´96 they felt ready to put some of the material on tape. After three days in Underground Studio a four-track demo called "Vargaresa" was created. It was an over average demo with good sound and material. It was sad that so few labels and ´zines received it.
  
  In the middle of the summer, a line-up change was done. Some of the members had become tired and didn't care so much anymore. A new guitarist and vocalist got involved. The Guitarist, Markus Andé, was an old friend to Grawsiö and suited well in the band. Same thing with Jonny Wranning, who had been vocalist in earlier bands with both Wilhelmsson and Almquist. With some fresh blood and new ideas, Månegarm entered the second chapter of their development as a band.
  
  After several months of rehearsing and work with new material, a date was set for the recording of the second demo. Everyone was excited to enter the studio cause the new stuff was the best they´ve done this far. Suddenly a day Wranning calls and quit the band. The only thing to do was to cancel the studio and try to find a new vocalist. They tried a guy from the same town a while after, but it didn't work at all. After talking to Wranning again it was decided that he would do the vocals on the demo anyway. A date was set and the hunt for a vocalist continued.
  
  Two weeks before the recording Månegarm got in contact with a vocalist called Gogge, sadly the time wasn't enough to let him participate on the demo. At last in February 1997 the long awaited demo; "Ur nattvindar" was brought out of Studio Sunlight. It contained three tracks and intro/outro. This was also the first time the violin and female vocals were used. It gave the whole thing a nordic feeling and was a perfect complement to Månegarms music. Compared to the first demo, "Ur nattvindar" reached out to more labels and magazines. The response couldn't have been better. Some months later Månegarm decided to sign for Displeased Records.
  
  After the release of the demo, Goggan took the place as vocalist. It lasted some month but in the end it didn't work out, so once again the hunt began. It ended late the same year when Viktor Hemgren took the role as a firm vocalist. The work with the first album started and ended up as "Nordstjärnans Tidsålder", recorded in Studio Sunlight and released in June 1998. They were very satisfied with the result at that time and the response from the listeners was very good. Janne Liljequist´s violin filled the music along with the voice of Ymer Mossige-Norheim. After the release they all took some months off before the work with the second album started.
  
  In the summer ´99 the recording of "Havets vargar" began. The studio belonged to a friend of them and all went quite good at first, until the studio owner and Displeased couldn't get along. It all ended with a five-month break in the recording. In December they went to Underground studio and finished the album. During the break Hemgren got fired because his lack of interest and Grawsiö took care of the vocals. The five-piece band became a quartet, which turned out to be the best that had ever happened to Månegarm. They finished "Havets vargar" at Underground and released it in late 2000.

• Varang Nord

  Varang Nord. Viking/Folk Metal band from Latvia. Frozen pagan chants since 2014.

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  MÝRDAL

  Performing at the festival.

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  Grav

  VARG - Pagan Metal

  Merch: www.Varg-Shop.de

  Instagram: www.instagram.com/vargofficial/

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  Ellende

  Booking: district-19.com