The Bad Penny (beta)

The general consensus among historians is that the Vikings, led by King Cnut the Great and subsequently his sons, ruled England from 1016 to 1042 during a relatively peaceful reign after the Dane brutally mutilated Anglo-Saxon hostages. Hey, no one’s perfect. 

Månegarm–the Swedish band named after a mythological Norse wolf–have “ruled” in the Viking black/folk‐metal sense of the term for an even three decades as of this year. And they just dropped a hefty bag of silver, their 11th studio record, to represent the spoils that the technically proficient band has gathered over the course of its formidable existence.

“Thirty fucking years. That’s strange, man,” says vocalist/bassist Erik Grawsiö, pondering the seemingly unexpected achievement aloud. “When I think back to those days, I get a great big smile on my face. It was a great time in my life. I was 16, 17. Once the first lineup was complete, to make a long story short, we got together, played our first song, and it was fucking great.”