Völur is a Canadian

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

band based in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, signed to

Prophecy Productions Prophecy Productions is an international record label, founded in Germany by Martin Koller in 1996. It proclaims promoting "transcendental ..captivating music".

. Since forming in 2014 they have released two full-length albums, two EPs, one split and have toured Canada, the United States and Europe. They play a hybrid style of doom metal and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

while often incorporating

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

structures into their songwriting.

History

Völur was formed in 2014 by Lucas Gadke (

Blood Ceremony Blood Ceremony is a Canadian rock band formed in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario. Blood Ceremony's style has been described as "flute-tinged witch rock" and their lyrics are filled with black magic imagery and references to classic horror films. Their mu ...

), Laura C. Bates (ex- Trent Severn) and James Payment (

Do Make Say Think Do Make Say Think is a Canadian instrumental band formed in Toronto, Ontario in 1995. Their music combines jazz-style drumming, distorted guitars and wind instruments, and prominent bass guitar. Biography The band formed in 1995 as a recording ...

). Their first EP, ''Disir'', was recorded in a single day in April 2014 by

Ian Blurton Ian Blurton (born 1965) is a Canadian musician and record producer. Early life He was born in Champaign, Illinois in 1965, and moved to Toronto in 1973. Musical career He has been a part of Toronto's indie music scene since the early 1980s. He ...

and released independently. In 2015 the band signed with Germany-based Prophecy Productions and performed at Prophecy Festival in 2016 at the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

Balve Cave in western Germany. Prophecy subsequently re-released Disir later the same year. Völur released ''Ancestors'' in 2017, their first big label release. They toured the United States for the first time in 2018 along with label-mates 1476, however the tour was cut short after Bates and Gadke were badly injured falling off a collapsing balcony. Two more US tours followed in 2018 and 2019.

Themes and influences

Völur's lyrical themes draw primarily from

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

. Their name comes from an old Norse word (völva) which means a seeress or woman who can see into the future. ''Disir'' focuses thematically on these female Norse goddesses as told in "Voluspa: The Prophecy of the Seeress" from

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse ...

. Their second album, ''Ancestors'', incorporated more chamber folk and drone musical elements and thematically focused on male gods. Musically they are influenced by

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

and

drone Drone or The Drones may refer to: Science and technology Vehicle * Drone, a type of uncrewed vehicle, a class of robot ** Unmanned aerial vehicle or aerial drone *** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle ** Unmanned ground vehicle or ground drone ** Unma ...

Band members

*Lucas Gadke - Bass, vocals *Laura C. Bates - Violin, vocals *Justin Ruppel - Drums

Discography

*''Disir'' (2014) *''Breaker of Oaths'' single (2015) *''Ancestors'' (2017) *''Psychopomp'' single (2017) *''Breaker of Rings / Blood Witch'' split with

Amber Asylum Amber Asylum is a highly variable San Francisco-based music group that serves as a platform for composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Kris Force. The current lineup of Amber Asylum includes, in addition to Force, Fern Lee Alberts (Deathgrav ...

(2019)

References

{{Authority control Canadian doom metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2014 Musical groups from Toronto 2014 establishments in Ontario