On paper, booking Heilung to headline ArcTanGent seems like nonsense. The festival is dedicated to heavy music at its most forward-thinking, with the other two main events of the weekend being Converge and Devin Townsend. Meanwhile, this folk collective are rooted firmly in the past, their shows grand interpretations of rituals from millennia gone by.
Shortly into Heilung’s 90 minutes, however, all becomes clear. A curtain pulls back to reveal a main stage transformed into a backdrop lavish enough to host a play. Trees stand at each corner, with massive and exotic percussion instruments scattered everywhere. As vocalist Kai Uwe Faust, masked and horned like a shamanic priest, arrives onstage to bless his surroundings, it’s clear the impending show will decimate the usual expectations of a heavy concert.
