Metal Hammer has teamed with Norwegian neofolk masters Wardruna to release a 2LP version of new album Birna that comes with an art card signed by the band.
The package is only available through the Louder webstore, so pick yours up now while stocks last!
Wardruna released the mystical Birna on January 24 via Music For Nations. The band’s sixth album, following 2021’s Kvitravn, takes its title from the Old Norse word for she-bear and celebrates the creature as a “warden of the forest”.
“Slowly driven out of her habitat by modern-day societies, she has entered a stage of permanent hibernation,” the band say. “As a result, the forest is gradually dying, longing for its pulse and heart – its shepherd. Birna calls for her return.”
When it came out, the album instantly won critical acclaim, including a glowing four-star review from Metal Hammer.
“More than 20 years after their inception, the band remain a genuine force of – and for – nature,” wrote journalist Alex Deller. “And Birna is a perfect, powerful statement whether you want to hibernate and hide from the terrors of the world or wake hungrily to face it anew.”
To promote Birna, Wardruna are currently touring Oceania, with future dates in the UK, Ireland and Norway set for the spring. See all of the band’s upcoming dates below.
Wardruna architect Einar Selvik is interviewed in an upcoming issue of Metal Hammer. He gives the magazine his Life Lessons, learned not just during his two decades with Wardruna, but his early life in nature and brief career as a black metal musician.
“In Wardruna, we use something old to create something new,” he tells us. “That has always been the focus. We use instruments from the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the migration period, the Viking Age and mediaeval times in a modern soundscape. It has always been about giving voice to parts of history that still carry relevance: learning from our past, rather than copying it.”
Wardruna 2025 tour dates:
Jan 27: Brisbane Fortitude Music Hall, Australia
Jan 30: Auckland Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, New Zealand
Mar 17: Liverpool Philharmonic, UK
Mar 18: Birmingham Symphony Hall, UK
Mar 19: London Royal Albert Hall, UK
Mar 21: Bristol Beacon, UK
Mar 22: York Barbican, UK
Mar 23: Dublin 3Olympia Theatre, Ireland
Mar 25: Glasgow SEC Armadillo, UK
Apr 26: Oslo Operaen, Norway
Apr 27: Oslo Operaen, Norway
Apr 29: Trondheim Olavshallen, Norway
Mar 02: Kristiansand Kilden, Norway
May 03: Stavanger Konserthuset, Norway
May 04: Bergen Grieghallen, Norway
