Viking rock
Viking rock or Wiking rock , Swedish Vikingarock is a subgenre of rock music , as its founder, the Swedish band Ultima Thule applies and which was largely influenced by this band and their environment. Due to the involvement of the pioneering band in the right-wing extremist scene and parallels to the Swedish white power scene, the music direction is often assigned to right-wing rock. However, there are also some bands, including Ultima Thule itself, who more or less distance themselves from racist and right-wing extremist ideas.
Emergence
Ultima Thule was founded in 1982 as a punk band and shortly afterwards switched to the skinhead scene. Regardless of which scene they belonged to, the band developed their own style of music, which can be described as a mixture of traditional folk music and punk and was often combined with patriotic lyrics. This style gained unexpectedly great popularity in Sweden outside of the youth subcultures mentioned. As a result, the Swedish music producer and right-wing politician Bert Karlsson became aware of the band in 1993 and signed them. From then on, the band was marketed as the “Viking power rock and roll band” and was able to reach high positions in the Swedish charts with several albums. After their extreme right-wing past became known, Karlsson released the band from their contract. Ultima Thule founded his own record company, which produced thematically similar bands, including Hel and the band Midgårds Söner, which was also assigned to Nazipunk . The right-wing extremist band Dirlewanger , named after Oskar Dirlewanger , tried to enter the booming music business after being renamed Heroes via Ultima Thule Records . There were also connections to the British rock-against-communism scene.
Music and lyrics
Musically, Vikingrock is a combination of rock, punk and often Scandinavian folk music . The texts mostly deal with Vikings and legends of the gods (especially from Nordic mythology ), historical events in Northern Europe and the beauty of Scandinavian nature. The lyrics are mostly written in the Nordic mother tongues of the respective bands (especially Swedish ), but there are also pieces in English . In contrast to Viking Metal , fast guitar sequences , double-bass drummings and guttural vocals are not used; it is sung “clearly”, but often aggressively.
Due to the sometimes widespread patriotic lyrics, Viking rock is controversial and is often treated as a right-wing extremist music genre and as an "attempt to give neo-Nazi rock a moderate touch in order to reach fans (and buyers) outside the scene". However, many bands distance themselves from right-wing extremist ideas and supporters of Viking rock refer to freedom of expression . The scene sees itself as apolitical. There is overlap with punk - and Oi! -Scene. In part, they compare the allegations to a witch hunt .
Bands
The best-known bands are Ultima Thule and Hel . In the last few years several young bands have been added, which are best supported by the scene through promotion on various websites. Other well-known bands are Midgårds Söner , Völund Smed and outside of Sweden Glittertind (Norway), as well as Kalevalan Viikingit (Finland).
Germany
Viking rock is relatively unknown outside of Scandinavia and the number of bands is manageable. The German band Nordwind (previously called Odin's Heirs), which is also considered a right-wing rock band, also belongs to the genre of Viking rock . In Germany, the controversial, often right-wing extremist label Dim Records is interested in marketing Vikingrock. In addition to the exclusive distribution of Ultima Thule Records, the label also has the German Viking rock bands Kraftheim and Donars Groll under contract. Balmung are also known, which are also often associated with the legal skirt. The new right-wing weekly newspaper Junge Freiheit , which discussed various albums , also contributed to the distribution in German-speaking countries .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ VI ÄR INGET RASISTBAND !!! Ultima Thule, archived from the original on January 2, 2006 ; accessed on October 17, 2015 .
- ↑ Stieg Larsson : racism inc. White power music made in Sweden . In: Searchlight , Antifaschistisches Infoblatt , Enough is Enough, rat (Ed.): White Noise. Right-wing rock, skinhead music, blood & honor - insights into the international neo-Nazi music scene . Hamburg / Münster 2002, ISBN 3-89771-807-3 , pp. 92-93 .
- ^ Apabiz eV: Directory of RechtsRock-Bands . In: Christian Dornbusch , Jan Raabe (Ed.): RechtsRock. Inventories and counter-strategies . Unrast Verlag, Münster 2002, ISBN 3-89771-808-1 , p. 455 .
- ↑ a b Turn it down : Wiking-Rock. Network against Nazis , accessed August 2, 2011 .
- ↑ a b Kaparn: Häxjakt. Vikingarock.se, accessed August 1, 2011 .
- ^ Apabiz eV: Directory of RechtsRock-Bands . In: Christian Dornbusch , Jan Raabe (Ed.): RechtsRock. Inventories and counter-strategies . Unrast Verlag, Münster 2002, ISBN 3-89771-808-1 , p. 446 .
- ↑ Nick Lowles: The International of Hate . In: Christian Dornbusch , Jan Raabe (Ed.): RechtsRock. Inventories and counter-strategies . Unrast Verlag, Münster 2002, ISBN 3-89771-808-1 , p. 241 .