The hottest folk metal party arrived to town!
Heidenfest has finally arrived in Zagreb for the first time, after 18 years since its first edition! This year’s edition features Korpiklaani, who returned to Croatia after six years, as well as: Finntroll, Heidevolk, TrollfesT and The Dread Crew of Oddwood.
THE DREAD CREW OF ODDWOOD (San Diego, “pirate” folk/metal) use exclusively acoustic instruments, which is why they call their style “heavy mahogany”. The band was founded in 2008 and the lyrical themes evolve around piracy, adventure, joy, battles, outlawry and maritime romance. The band lifted the atmosphere, made us all want to drink only rum and dance the night away dreaming of beautiful women!
TROLLFEST (Oslo, folk metal) combines metal with folk elements – accordion, saxophone, guitars – and write lyrics mostly in the fictional language “Trollspråk” (a mix of Norwegian and German). The band was formed in 2003 and they sing about trolls, beer and partying. They performed dressed in pink flamingos, which is a style well known from their hit “Dance Like a Pink Flamingo“ which was pretty much hilarious. Their performance was extremely fun and energetic! They definitely made us laugh and gave us extra support to continue following the concert with streams of beer!
HEIDEVOLK (Arnhem, Netherlands, folk/viking metal) combines clean male vocals (often in a duet) and a combination of powerful metal riffs and folk melodies. The band sings about nature, myths of Germanic origin, and the history of the province of Gelderland. For some, this performance was the best of the evening, but of course, it’s all about subjective impressions and personal preferences. The guys definitely heated up the atmosphere to the max and no one in the audience could remain indifferent to their performance!
FINNTROLL (Helsinki, folk metal) combines elements of black metal and death metal with the traditional Finnish folk style of humppa. The band was founded in 1997 and they mainly sing about myths, trolls, conflicts between pre-Christian beings and the entry of Christianity into the imaginary spaces of trolls. Unfortunately, the band was faced with the illness of singer and frontman Vreth and at the beginning of this tour Kistelach was introduced as a replacement. He did the job at a high level and we were really pleased with the band’s performance! The band managed to create a special magical and mystical atmosphere that took us into its own world of trolls and enchanted forests.
KORPIKLAANI (Lahti, Finland, folk metal) combines heavy metal with traditional folk instruments such as accordion and violin, and their lyrics are inspired by nature, mythology and incredibly fun drinking songs. They were founded in 1993 and their discography consists of numerous albums, the latest of which “Rankarumpu” – was released last year. As their opus includes some of the well-known drinking anthems such as “Vodka” and “Beer, Beer” those were the ones the audience anticipated and were warmly welcomed by fans. The chaos was created and the audience was on fire! Their gig was incredibly fun to experience and the energy was bursting from the stage and the audience in equal amounts! You should ever miss their gig as they made our day brighter and extremely more fun!
Gallery:
HEIDENFEST – Korpiklaani, Finntroll, Heidevolk, Trollfest, TDCOO, Zagreb, Boogaloo, 21.01.2026
