When you attend a concert, it can be looked at as a ritual. When you attend a concert, reality can become altered. When you are at a concert, you can experience culture like no other. When you are at a concert, you can learn a thing or two. When you are at a concert, you can become something that you normally are not.

Heilung at Webster Hall was able to do exactly that. Heilung with their own signature sound, were able to create a sonic and visual experience like no other. With their ability to deliver a combination of folk, industrial and spoken word, all while delivering an essence of performance art like no other, Heilung is a band that takes the idea of a concert, and enhances everything one might feel in it.

Selling out their entire North American tour, including two nights at Webster Hall, Heilung has definitely gotten many people on board with their unique esthetic. Many people were dressing in the similar cultural element as the people on stage. It was as if all those hundreds of people off the stage were just as essential as all the performers on the stage.

Heilung instantly delivers their signature experience the second you walk in the venue. Instead of hearing typical rock and/or metal songs in the intermission, we are immersed the sound of the great outdoors as we have their amazing stage production staring us right in the face. Fog slowly emerges ever so gently from the sides and works its way to the front.

About two hours after doors open, the lights slowly dim and these figures emerge from the shadows. As we hit their Opening Ceremony, we have them saying that we are brothers reinforcing the idea that we are all friends at this concert, and they instantly begin both the concert and the ritual. Once we get into In Maidjan you see on how much the visual aspects of the band are just as important as the execution of their material. As we move into songs such as Alfadhirhaiti, Norupo and Orthan, you see how every song delivers its own performance and its own visual esthetic with each passing second, you wonder what is going to happen next. They managed to turn Webster Hall into a real of culture and atmosphere. It almost feels anticlimactic to say that this was a show at Webster Hall, because you felt like you were anywhere but there when watching Heilung create a realm of darkness and beauty around you.

Heilung really brought their own signature choriography with their stage presence. Having music influenced by Viking Culture and elements of history such as the Bronze Age and The Iron Age, they had a whole cast and crew to demonstrate the tribal and cultural elements of these periods. Ending with Hamrer Hippyer, Heilung completely made every aspect of the stage animated with their use of dance and performance.

Last thing that needs to be said, is that Heilung is a band where you will have no idea what they are like until you see them live. Listening to their albums is only the tip of the iceberg. Anyone is welcome in this show. Yes, they have an element of darkness that will appeal to any fan of heavy metal, but they are also able to bring a performance that can appeal to history enthusiasts, lovers of performance art, and anyone who is willing to experience something that has never been done before. While many bands have a visual aesthetic to go along with their sonic art, in order to bring their ideas to the eyes to go along with the ears, Heilung does more than that. You are not watching a band on a stage. You are watching a ritual that alters reality around you and brings you into a realm of emotion, atmosphere, emotion, time and emotions. You are not attending a Heilung concert at whatever venue they are playing at. You are entering an alternate reality that will make you learn more about the band, the history, the culture and most importantly, yourself.

Heilung’s new album Futha is out now via Season of Mist