Up on the stage in front of Hammer, a woman dressed in a furry loincloth two-piece, wolf skull and facepaint crouches down to the floor, beating the crap out of a Shaman drum as she yodels her head off. Behind her, a menacing-looking fella adorned in a Viking spangenhelm and chainmail peers out from the darkness, banging his war drums as an irresistible EDM beat blares over the speakers. Around us, a mixture of metalheads, pagans, wytches and weirdos are throwing serious shapes. This is the cult of Eihwar, and judging by this packed-out Dome in North London, it’s taking over.
“The idea for Eihwar imposed itself on us,” Asrunn tells us later, wolf skull still sat atop her head. They remain in character throughout our conversation, the latest in a line of lore-building artists to invade the metal world. We are told that they aren’t merely two human musicians, but ancient Norse spirits that have possessed human musicians. “We do not choose our incarnations,” Asrunn points out. “In a way, we do not choose the missions we are meant to fulfil."
