Heidenfest, the annual touring Folk Metal festival, hits the UK for one night only packed with a plethora of bands you’ve probably seen more times than necessary. It’s a shame that Wintersun didn’t join the tour after playing on the ‘extended’ versions of the festival in Germany as they would have easily been the highlight, but nevermind. The UK are also unfortunate that Russian Folk-Death Metallers Arkona were refused entry into the country and were left polishing their battle axes at the border.

The only bonus of this is that the bands can kick off an hour later so there are a lot more people in the venue to see Skálmöld get the night started. Armed with three guitarists, intricate folk melodies and a lot of belief in what they do, these Icelandic prog-folk metallers are a breath of fresh air in a convoluted scene of similar sounding bands.

Next up is Trollfest who have come to get the party started with their wacky humppa and alcohol fueled Norwegian folk metal. Frontman 'Trollmannen' arrives on stage dressed as a "Studmeister" beer bottle and with accordion and saxophone players backing him up... and that pretty much sets the standard for the silly set to come. A highlight worthy of a mention is the final song. “This is a song about a dog…. So I need you all to bark along with us”. So everyone in the building does. Definitely one of the more fun acts of the evening.

Although headlining the rest of the tour, Finntroll were bumped down the pecking order in UK to make room for the more popular Turisas. But that doesn’t stop them putting on the best performance of the night. The setlist relies heavily on the newer material but as always it’s the classic ‘troll which impresses most. ‘Fiskarens Fiende’ and ‘Trollhammaren’ as always stand out. Bizarly they include a hummpa cover of Metallica’s 'The God that Failed' which seems to confuse more people than it impresses. Following their sold out ‘PaganFest’ show at Islington Academy in 2010 and a stunning set at Bloodstock this year, they are welcome back anytime.

Heidenfest once again proves its value for fans of this style of music here in the UK. Soundshock doesn’t need to tell you about the other two bands who played tonight (Turisas & Alestorm)… you know who they are and you’ll have your opinions. But without bands of their stature and this kind of travelling roadshow, there is little chance that some of the smaller and/or unknown bands could afford to take the gamble of playing in this country. It’s great to see what was a very cult genre getting a decent following and the recognition it deserves in recent years, yet it would be interesting to see what size of crowd would be here if you removed the people in pirate fancy dress or those in red and black warpaint.