The Folk Metal Adventures of Midgard

The Folk Metal Adventures of Midgard

Midgard from the Ukraine started in 2015, playing in the folk metal, Viking metal and fantasy metal genres. And now in the tumultuous year of 2020, Midgard has presented Tales Of Kreia, their third magnum opus now available worldwide via Sliptrick Records.  Midgard has opened for the likes of Ensiferum and Nokturnal Mortum, and are becoming well known for their powerful, head banging entreaties onstage and within their imaginative recordings.  Highwire Daze recently caught up with bandleader Klym Apalkov to find out more about the mighty Midgard and their epic folk metal adventures!  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Midgard, and how long the band has been together.
Hi Ken, my name is Klym Apalkov and I am the leader of Midgard band.  At first it was only my solo project but later I began to meet interesting musicians who had already heard about Midgard and gladly agreed to take part in this project.  As a real band we gather in 2016, but our roster have changed since that time.

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
Our base and studio is located in city of Kaniv, Cherkasy region. As for local bands in our region, there are not very many of them. But nevertheless, we have many big festivals, which are attended by bands from all over Ukraine. These are both music festivals and biker shows. And if a band has good material, then there is always a place to play.

How did you wind up signing with Sliptrick Records?
We got to this label simply by sending them a letter with a closed link to our album and received a good offer of cooperation in return.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the Tales Of Kreia album title?
In general, the Tales of Kreia is a collection of events that took place in Troydescania, one of the 4 continents of Kreia.
Events of the original book From Rogue to Murderer occur in thе universe of Kreia.  Сurrently the book has 7 full chapters and I keep working on it.

It will be a full-fledged fantasy universe with elves, orcs, dwarves, humans, dragons, and even Gods. Necromantia, ancient rituals, empires, artifacts, curses and war – it will all be there.  It is more than just integrity. This is the universe that I intend to create by combining music and literature together. I tried to do it in our previous album «Book Of Fate» and I must say that people were satisfied with the result. So now we’re going to keep raising that bar.

Who did the cover art for Tales Of Kreia and how much input did you have on it?
I ordered the cover from Dmitry “DIEZ” Prishivalko, artist from Belarus.  The cover symbolizes the warrior’s path. The path is movement, and movement is life. In fact, a warrior is a symbol of life, no matter how paradoxical it may sound. Winter is a kind of obstacle. Through which anyone will have to go. The dragon in the background symbolizes both the past and the threat. Because a person living in the past, does not see the present, and accordingly he has no future either.

What has it been like to release new music right in the middle of a pandemic and so much social unrest in the world?
The recording of the album was completed before the pandemic.  Well, now, more than ever, people need to listen to something new in order not to get depressed. And as it was in one old song – “The song helps us to build and to live”.

What could one expect from a live Midgard show?
Our live shows are always action-packed. Slam, moshing, rowing, choral singing. Sometimes after a concert we have to take pictures even with those, who are not related to metal, because sometimes even they like our music and shows.

Each listener perceives music differently. Some people like active participation, while others like self-directed attention. We love and respect all our listeners.

If Midgard could open for one band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
We really wanted to perform in front of Ensiferum and we performed in front of them in Kiev at 04.11.2019. And probably nothing is impossible.  But to be honest, there are a huge number of bands with we would like to perform on the same stage on Wacken.

When you look back on the two previous Midgard albums Wolf Clan and Book Of Fate, what do youthink of them now in retrospect?
Wolf Clan – this album is wild, uncut, it is closer to pagan metal. It has a raw and rough sound. Sometimes it even hurts me to remember how I mocked my vocal cords then.  But even in spite of this, he has that characteristic sound that can be traced in «Book Of Fate» and «Tales of Kreia».

Book Of Fate – is more closed to mystic and magic and its scale has grown significantly in comparison with 1 album. Its sound retained the same strength, but became more noble.

If the first album is this wolf tearing a human throat. The second one – is a prophecy that will overtake everyone regardless of their desire. And sometimes it is not clear what will prevail over what. Either death is over fate, or fate is over death.

On Book Of Fate you had two cover songs on it – Token Of Time by Ensiferum and Trollhammaren by Finntroll. Has either band heard or commented on your cover and what made you decide to cover these two songs?
We didn’t do a cover to get noticed. We recorded them just to show our respect for the work of these bands. Because we thought these songs were already classics of folk metal. Well, we just wanted to do so )))

What’s up next for Midgard?
Now we intend to shoot an official video, and besides that, we have not stopped concerts.  In addition, I intend to finish my fantasy book so that those who want to dive deeper into the Kreia universe can do it.  Well, there are also a couple of surprises that are still too early to advertise.

Any final words of wisdom?
We believe in people. We honor the Gods. We share our understanding of the world. It makes no difference where we come from, it is much more important where we go. We choose our own destiny changing the direction of our movement. In search of answers we are the questions. But sometimes one sound is enough to hear the truth.

Midgard are:
Klym Apalkov – Vocals
Roman Kuznietsov – Guitars
Alexandr Kudryavtsev – Drums
Maxim Shatilo – Bass

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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Sliptrick Records on Facebook