Swiss progressive death metal mastodons XAON return to Denmark for a night of wonder, magic and complexity at FORBRÆNDINGEN in Albertslund, Copenhagen.
In the company of WACKEN METAL BATTLE DENMARK 2015 winners SUNLESS DAWN, we bring our finest songs to this show. We will also have a special collaboration between Sunless Dawn and Ethereal Kingdoms at this performance.
New symphonic black metal band LAMENTARI joins this show, unleashing their critically acclaimed debut EP f live this night.
XAON’s 2019 album SOLIPSIS made it onto our “Sounds of the Kingdoms” Spotify playlist, a handpicked selection of songs that inspire, delight and fascinate us. Vocalist Sofia especially is a big fan of this band.
Journalist Nargiz Galib Andersen witnessed this sold-out special theatrical performance performance, where we incorporated choir, organ and flute soloist with the metal ensemble and the church’s unique architectural structure to create a total experience.
Her report of this Ethereal Kingdoms church concert in Nordica LIVE Magazine reads as follows:
“(…) You could feel the excitement amongst people as we were queuing to enter the church, where Ethereal Kingdoms played their concert”
“The mixed audience could be characterized as “grey gold” and “black metal””
“(…) We were seated around the drum set in the middle of the church-room (…) The quartet and the band entered the room to beautiful tones of a-capella and concert flute (…)
The sound in the church was special and different. The sound of the drums seemed natural and real. Sofia‘s growl seemed frighteningly powerful in the contrast to the church’s beautiful architecture. (…) That woman can growl you into an nightmarish entrancement. and she can sing soprano-notes, that makes you fly in the summer rain. “
“The entire room was used by the band and choir as a stage”
Portraits by Tankepine /Doomed Images for Nordica LIVE Magazine
With BAEST, WAYWARD DAWN, PECTORA, DAWN OF DEMISE, HATESPHERE, WITHERING SURFACE, BLACK SWAMP WATER, PITCHBLACK, LAMENTARI, ALTERFACT, CHRONICLE, ROT AWAY, MURDER AMONG KINGS
NOTE: THE SHOW HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO SEPTEMBER 4th/5TH!
For our first show ever in NÆSTVED, we enter NÆSTVED METALFEST. Arranged by MIGHTY MUSIC, we are in the grand company of legendary BAEST, HATESPHERE, WITHERING SURFACE, DAWN OF DEMISE, WAYWARD DAWN and more! The venue KONGEBRYG will set a raw and intense frame around our stories, which we will unleash in an unbridled and furious format at an open air experience.
Our vocalist SOFIA SCHMIDT spend her teenage years creating music and culture in the city of NÆSTVED, and have spent many after-school hours at co-sponsor NÆSTVED UNGDOMSSKOLE, so it will be an evening with a nostalgic return. She and drummer JON ELMQUIST played their first ever open-air festival show at the ROCK PÅ MUNKEN 2 event and SKULL SMASH FESTIVAL back in the early 2010’s with their now-defunct melodeath project BLAZE OF BARBAROID.
NÆSTVED METALFEST
Press statement in Danish 🇩🇰
I 2019 slog Næstved Metalfest for første gang dørene op til den største og tungeste metalfestival syd for København. Allerede 14 dage før selve festivalen, kunne vi melde alt udsolgt! Til august gør vi det igen, bare endnu større!
I stedet for én dag, tager vi to dage i brug og dermed lukker vi også op for dobbelt så mange gæster som sidste år. D. 28 & 29 august 2020 går det løs, denne gang med endnu flere bands.
JIMMY NIELSEN medarrangør, udtaler: “Jeg kan simpelthen ikke vente med at præsentere den endelige plakat for Næstved Metalfest 2020. Jeg synes selv vi har samlet nogle enormt fede bands til denne festival som favner bredt, rent musikalsk og at vi allerede i år kigger ud over landegrænsen. Både Michael (H. Andersen) og jeg er helt på røven over den enorme opbakning og modtagelse der har været af vores lille hjertebarn. Den havde vi ikke helt set komme, men det viser bare at metaltrætheden har trænge kår, når det kommer til musikgenren og at dansk metalmusik er i voldsom vækst. Nu håber vi bare at det smitter af på scenen i Næstved, så næste generation af bangers kan steppe op og vise kronen & nøglerne”.
Næstved Metalfest 2020 finder sted D. 28 & 29 august 2020 på Kongebryg. Der er lagt i ovnen til en stor oplevelse i det Sydsjællandske med de rustikke faciliteter hos det populære lokale bryggeri og spillested. Der vil således både være brygget specielt øl til lejligheden og være et stort udbud af boder med mad, drikke og merchandise.
Der arrangeres bustur fra København til Næstved Metalfest i samarbejde med Club Dark. Den oplagte mulighed for få en på opleveren uden for Hovedstaden. Bustur t/r fra Zeppelin Rock Bar på Vesterbro Torv til et af Danmarks bedste bryggerier med metalkoncerter oveni hatten, alt sammen i de smukke omgivelserne omkring den gamle Gardehusar kaserne.
Ethereal Kingdoms presents a musical total experience in Udlejre Church The critically acclaimed band experiments in the intersection between classical, metal and theatre concert in an intense, contrasting and emotional show, featuring the church’s beautiful organ.
The stories are brought to live exclusively by The Kingdom Choir, the church’s organ and special guest soloists in concord and contrast with roaring drums, elegant guitar lines and Sofia Schmidt’s characteristic soprano notes and low growls
The concert program consists of works from the critically acclaimed debut album Hollow Mirror (Mighty Music 2019) and two new pieces of music composed specifically for this concert experience.
Surrender. Let yourself be surprised, overwhelmed and full of wonder when Ethereal Kingdoms opens the doors to their beautiful and strange universe.
SETLIST
ACT I
01. Hollow light New composition for organ and vocal ensemble with organist Karsten Kristensen and The Kingdom Choir
08. Quando Corpus Morietur & Amen 12th movement from G. B. Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater Soprano: Sofia Schmidt Contratenor: Darnell Boddie Organist: Karsten & Simone Kristensen as well as the Ethereal Kingdoms metal ensemble for the “Amen” passage
09. Hollow light – reprise with organist Karsten Kristensen
We unleash our universe at our very first open air performance. Tornvang festival writes:
“The band creates grandiose and pompous metal with a taste for the melodic, but at the same time balancing a harder and more direct edge. The band released the album “HOLLOW MIRROR” via MIGHTY MUSIC. The album received good reviews and Ethereal Kingdoms will without a doubt give the audience or TORNVANG a taste of how the songs work live as well.
If you add their highly original and almost theatrical stage performance, you can definitely expect a memorable experience at the festival, when the band enters the stage!”
Udgårdsfest 2020 – Denmark’s finest viking/pagan metal festival 21st/22nd of August 2020, Pumpehuset, Copenhagen Early bird tickets available now: https://bit.ly/2saPYnw
In celebration, we bring special surprises for this show! You will experience the songs from Hollow Mirror with a uniquely scandinavian and nordic twist as we celebrate our roots at Udgårdsfest 2020.
Tickets are on sale now.
Get in the pagan mood with our cover of Amorphis’ My Kantele:
Ethereal Kingdoms – My Kantele – Amorphis cover Featuring Sigurbodi Gretarson on hurdy gurdy and the sound of Sofia Schmidt’s 10-string KantelePoster by Anna Holm Sørensen
Enter the theatrical metal experience. Ashes within, the opening song of this Ethereal Kingdoms live performance is now shared with the world. A raw, personal and intense recording from our performance with Wintersun, Seven Thorns and Faanefjell in Roskilde, Denmark, 30th of August.
“I search for beauty. For within me there is none” Unpredictable beauty. Unexpected brutality. Enter the theatrical metal experience with this Ethereal Kingdoms live clip.
In celebration of the release of our debut album Hollow Mirror We have created a special night full of strange wonder and beauty We play a one-of-a kind acoustic set with special guests Enjoy the band’s signature ‘Sovereign’ drink Contests, surprises and more! You are invited
Hollow Mirror release concert
11th of October 2019 Doors: 19.30 Showtime: 20.15 DJ’s, special surprises and more!
Venue: Zeppelin Rock Bar, Vesterbrogade 45, Copenhagen
For this show, we will be joined by flute soloist Lærke Leth, viola soloist Hansi Andersen and The Kingdom Choir in a bit of a different configuration. This night, they will consist of Victoria Omberg, Oliver Svensson and Mads ‘Arpeggio’ Sørensen. All of these artists except Victoria took part in creating Hollow Mirror, so this will be a very special moment for us to unleash the strange beauty in an intimate acoustic setting.
Flute soloist Lærke Leth rehearsing with Sofia Schmidt.
Viola soloist Hansi Andersen rehearsing for our release concert.
We were invited for the very first installment of Copenhagen Metal Fest. A festival celebrating danish metal culture and Heavymetal.dk‘s 20th anniversary on three renowned stages: Amager Bio, Beta2300 and Teater ZeBu.
We’ve played both of the first stages at Nordic Noise and Dirty Days of Summer Festival, but we had yet to unleash our theatrical metal universe at at true, real theatre stage. We got this opportunity when we were offered a slot at 21st of September 2019 at Teater ZeBu stage.
The reporter Anders Lundtang witnessed our performance, which included our new single ‘Distance‘:
“(…) you feel like you’re witnessing a show of the grandiose kind!” “Not two of their shows are alike (…)” “(…) you cannot be anything but impressed (…)”
-Anders Lundtang, Metal A Day
THANK YOU SO MUCH! Explore other live reviews of Ethereal Kingdoms in our reviews section, where you can also find album reviews and more.
September 20th and 21st 2019 something new happened in the Danish metal scene. We were among the lineup for the very first installment of Copenhagen Metal Fest – a new festival focusing only on Danish metal bands.
Heavymetal.dk reached out to us for an interview before the show, where we talk about our inspirations, the state of the Danish music scene and how it feels to be part of starting up something entirely new.
“We’re not afraid of taking chances and creating shows, that extend beyond just being a concert”
“Expect something intimate, something intense – with surprises! (…) We’re playing on a theatre stage, (…) so there’s space for getting up close and personal when the intensity and emotions are peaking. “
“Our format is flexible. Theatrical metal can be a lot of things. We’re gonna have a blast regardless”
Our Nordic Noise 2019 special show gets ★★★★★★★★☆☆ from powerofmetal.dk! We had the honor of playing at the big stage of Amager Bio for the 2019 installment of Nordic Noise Festival. We were in the grand company of Candlemass, Tygers of Pan Tang and other great acts during the two lovely spring days in May.
Nordic Noise 2019 lineup poster.
For this show, we celebrated the release of our first single Heartchamber. We wanted to make something magical, so we brought special guest violinist Amalie Skriver and The Kingdom Choir along to our show, as well as some special effects.
A shattered violin on the stage of Amager Bio Portrait by Mark Stoumann for Metal A Day
Journalist Mia Hall of Danish webzine powerofmetal.dk witnessed this performance. These are excerpts of her thoughts:
“The way this singer sings is rarely heard. Her opera voice, screams and growling shows some real technicality to her singing, and it is almost as if she has different masks she puts on. Very impressive!”
“I can tell that this band has a story to tell, as the singer is very active on stage, both dancng around like a fairy and then jumping around, growling and breaking things on stage. The choir and fiddle also helps to get the atmosphere in that right kind of mood, as symphonic power metal can give. And the harmonies sound GREAT!”
“No matter what they do, it can not be less intense than what they performed this evening.”
Thank you so much powerofmetal.dk! GAFFA and Metal A Day was also present at this performance. Want to hear more impressions of our shows? Check out the reviews section for album and live reviews!
GAFFA awarded ★★★★☆☆ stars for Ethereal Kingdoms special guest show at Nordic Noise Festival 2019 in Amager Bio.
Sofia Schmidt in an intense moment at Nordic Noise festival 2019 in Amager Bio. Portrait by Stoumann for Metal A Day
Nordic Noise Festival – the rock and metal herald of the Copenhagen spring since 2013. This year, for the first time in Amager Bio, Ethereal Kingdoms were invited to join this historic stage. We were in the grand company of legendary Candlemass, The Night Flight Orchestra and more on the 11th of May 2019. In celebration of our new single Heartchamber, we created a special event with guest violinist Amalie Skriver and The Kingdom Choir – three singers of Roskilde Cathedral.
Amalie Skriver and Christian Rasmussen in a duet of strings. Portrait by Mark Stoumann for Metal A Day
Journalist Keld Broksø of GAFFA was present at our performance and shared the following thoughts:
“People (…) have heard something akin to this with Nightwish and Within Temptation and Ethereal Kingdoms is well on their way to their league”
“Ambitions are sky high with an efficient and talented metal band behind the vocalist”
“(…) I felt that something big is on its way with a new album this year.”
The Kingdom Choir – three otherworldly voices of Roskilde Cathedral. Left to right: Darnell Boddie (Coutnertenor), Christoffer Müller (Bass), Frederik Gade (Tenor) Portrait by Mark Stoumann for Metal A Day
Thank you so much Gaffa!
The full lineup of the night – with special guests Amalie Skriver (violin, vocals) and The Kingdom Choir – three otherworldly voices of Roskilde Cathedral. Portrait by Jakob Muxoll.
★★★★☆ from Metaltone.dk for Ethereal Kingdoms’ special theatrical show at Royal Metal Fest 2019. Backed with a special production grant, we brough stories from Hollow Mirror to life for the first time. We created a theatrical show featuring The Kingdom Choir, dancers, special effects and special light show.
Sofia Schmidt in the stage light setting created by Martin Rasmussen. Royal Metal Fest 2019 Portrait by Johnny Fravn of Metaltone.dk
“There were different highlights at Royal Metal fest this year. One of them definitely was Ethereal Kingdoms” “I could almost have wanted a bigger stage for this show”
“The songs were executed beautifully with (…) Sofia fronting. (…) She’s educated in opera (…) but sometimes shifts to high pitch screams and even very masculine deep growls. (…). I was deeply impressed (…).”
“(…) performing the songs in text, dancing and acting backed by skilled and competent musicians (…)” “An incredibly ambitious show”
“We experienced death, joy, sorrow, love and ghosts this night (…) one of the interesting performances this year”
Thank you so much metaltone.dk! Before the show, we spoke with Royal Metal Fest about our thoughts and ambitions for this one of a kind performance in this interview. We were honored to be backed with financial grant from DMF, DAF and Metal Royale foundation.
Sofia Schmidt shattering a violin on stage. Royal Metal Fest 2019. Portrait by Jakob Dinesen of devilution.dk
Others who have witnessed this performance say the following:
April 6th 2019 at 17.00 at Radar in Århus marked a milestone for Ethereal Kingdoms. We unleashed our very first theatrical special performance at Royal Metal Fest . We received their grant for creating an extraordinary concert. We assembled The Kingdom Choir, premiered new songs from Hollow Mirror, unleashed corporeal ghosts, shattered violins, blood and a torrent of emotion from the intimate stage setting.
Journalist Jeanett Meibom shared her thoughts about our show:
“I was absorbed by what was happening on stage (…) I left with an experience of having witnessed something unique.”
“Lead vocalist Sofia Schmidt’s voice is incomparable to anything else in the Danish metalscene”
“(….) entered Radar with a show in two acts: Act I and Act II. The first round featured just the band on stage but as the show moved along, more joined in: smoke-spitting ghosts and three young male choir singers (…)”
“The theatrical aspect of Ethereal Kingdoms is something nobody else in Denmark can do”
4,5 out of 5 stars for Ethereal Kingdoms special theatrical show at Royal Metal Fest 2019
Sofia Schmidt unleashing fury with a torn out heart at Royal Metal Fest 2019. Portrait by Jacob Dinesen of Devilution
Royal Metal Fest 2019 was a very special show for Ethereal Kingdoms. Supported by a special grant from Metal Royale foundation, DMF and DAF, we created our very first installment of out theatrical special show format. Employing two dancers and premiering The Kingdom Choir, we told many of the stories of Hollow Mirror for the very first time at the Radar stage, 6th of April 2019. With the use of video backdrops, special light show by Martin Rasmussen (MØL, Hatesphere, Copenhell and more) and lots of special effects, we brought our stories and songs to life in a new format.
“There’s more attention to detail than what is found within several bigger acts in symphonic metal.”
“The narrative is a chapter of its own. For the band’s theatrical, epic foundation does not only cover the form, but also the content” “They are a refreshingly ambitious project”
“I would watch them live again, not only because I feel truly entertained but uplifted, inspired and hopeful on behalf on the group”
Royal Metal Fest also reached out to us for an interview. We spoke to them before the show when we were in the heat of planing the performance and rehearsing it to perfection. You can find this interview and more in the interviews section here on our website.
Other metal media left this night with the following impressions:
Ethereal Kingdoms have been granted a very special time slot at Royal Metal Fest 2019. A unique opportunity to bring our theatrical metal visions to life. A space to experiment in the intersection between show and concert.
Each year, the Metal Royale Foundation, Dansk Musikerforbund and Dansk Artistforbund offer a grant for a band, that wants to do something extraordinary with their performance.
For 2019, we had the honor of being chosen – Showtime is 6th of April at 17.00 at the Radar venue at Royal Metal Fest.
Journalist Pernille Randrup reached out us to learn more. We spoke about what’s happening behind the scenes, our ideas and concepts for the show and how to make ghosts come to live on stage.
“It’s not a concert, it’s not a musical, it’s not theatre. It’s something different where we think stage-oriented. A show”
“Ethereal Kingdoms is about experimenting in the intersection between show and concert. The balance between the grotesque and the beautiful. Contrasts, quick shifts, sudden flows.”
“We bring dancers to coporealize ghosts and (…) bring a choir to be a living part of the stage, to make everything more vivid – and it’s just nicer with live voices!”
“We’re experimenting with video backdrops and to assist in the lights we have Martin Lundholm, the light tech of MØL”
Finntroll. Sylvatica. Vanir. A sold out venue. Special guests. A broken violin.
That was the ingredients of Ethereal Kingdoms’ night supporting Finntroll at Gimle 21st of September 2018.
Fresh off stage with the adrenaline still rushing, Sofia spoke with journalist Davide Bonavida of Heavymetal.it In this very first italian magazine feature, they talk about musical influences for Ethereal Kingdoms, the creative process and performance.
A few excerpts from the original interview in Italian 🇮🇹
“We wanted to create something unique that differentiates us, not just copy other bands. We don’t just make music, we create stories”
“I study as a classical singer (…) whereas Christian comes directly from death metal. The funny thing is that in our compositions it’s me who brings the chaotic part and the growling while he brings the nostalgic melodies.”
“(…) those who spend time listening to us cannot get that time back. So I want to make sure they have a good experience.”
“(…) you can’t wait for something to happen by itself, you have to do it yourself. We took initiative to organize this show. I contacted the club while Christian called the bands he already knew personally. (…) we needed a prominent name (…) so we contacted Finntroll, explaining our project and … they said yes. I could not believe it!”