[ATTENDED: September 20, 2026] Eihwar
I hadn’t heard of Eihwar before seeing the ad for this show, but when I saw the photo and learned that the singer of the band does, indeed, wear a giant animal head on her head, I had to investigate. So Eihwar is a French tribal electronic neo-folk musical duo who go by the pseudonyms Asrunn and Mark. They are originally from Toulouse and have been around since 2023. The band is distinguished by a style that it calls itself “Viking War Trance”, mixing tribal percussion, evocative songs and electronic rhythms inspired by Norse mythology.
So they look Nordic but are actually French. But who cares, because they put on a hell of a show.
When I entered the venue there was a crowd around the stage–which doesn’t always happen. But there were two guys wearing long robes with hoods with leather belts–one with a pelt attached to his belt. Elsewhere in the room were men in corpse paint (which may have been for Frayle–indeed, the guys in robes may have been, too). And when I left, there was a guy with an animal skull on his head. For a band that never toured the States before, they certainly had a devoted crowd.
It’s just the two of them, Asrunn sings and plays a hand drum (I’m assuming a Sami) while Mark, dressed like a knight of templar or something, plays all of the electronic instruments (and an occasional acoustic guitar). I actually assumed that Asrunn wasn’t singing words–that it was just cool ethereal sounds. But their bandcamp page shows lyrics for all of the songs (on the new album), most in Icelandic, or at least that’s what the translation apps think. Regardless, the point is, there are words, whether made up or not.
Typically, Asrunn sings at the mic stand and then when its just an instrumental, she picks up the drum and dances around the stage. It’s pretty intense and when she leans her head forward and you can only see the skull, it’s downright creepy.
Mark had some real drums along with the bank of electronics. He also spoke/chanted in a deep voice, sometimes reciting passages, sometimes just talking to us, but always in a crazy deep, echoing voice. Surely it must be a processor of some sort?
The music was primarily drums, but most songs had a traditional sounding melody running through–like bagpipes or the like.
After five songs, Mark came down and sat on a stool playing a really impressive acoustic guitar. For the song Sir Mannelig, Asrunn sang a quiet ballad in English (she has a lovely voice when singing delicately as well). She told us after this song that she really wanted to connect with us, not our phones, so I stopped filming (for the most part).
For Nauðiz, Asrunn said she was always excited to play this song because she gets to play with Mark’s toys while he plays the guitar (and marches around the stage). And then she told us that that was the end of the show. Unless we wanted one more song. And if we cheered loud enough we’d get two.
For the first encore song, she revealed that she is 4,000 years old, a spirit that is currently in the body of Asrunn. They are from Hugrheim and are here to welcome everyone to Ljósgarðr, [The Garden of Light]. You don’t have to deserve it–the more your heart is filled with joy and passion and enthusiasm. And if you open your mind to the music and happiness, you are welcome to be a part of it. Ljósgarðr is another quiet song with Mark playing guitar and Asrunn singing more quietly (but not in English this time).
The final song was the big rocking number (and maybe single?) Berserkr. And boy was that fun, since we could all shout the chorus “Berserkr.”
Philly was the last night of their tour and at the end of the show, Asrunn said that they couldn’t fit their guitar on their flight back, so they were going to sign and sell it. I’ll bet there are really jealous people in other States right now. Asrunn wanted to meet everyone and sign things, but they had no merch left (good for them). She said she’d drawn things in the bus and would happily sign them or anything else. I didn’t stick around to investigate because the sow had ended pretty early and I was happy to get home.
If they come back, I’ll definitely be there again.
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Heill Óðinn ¥
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Skjaldmö ®
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Yggdrasil’s Renewal ®
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Freyja’s Calling ¥
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Viking War Trance ♠
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Sir Mannelig ♠
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Völva’s Chant ♠
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Ragnarök ®
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Hugrheim ¥
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The Forge ®
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Nauðiz ¥
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Ljósgarðr ¥
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Berserkr ¥
¥ Hugrheim (2026)
♠ Viking War Trance (2024)
® Ragnarök (2023)
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