The Music of DCC: The Shamanic Rites of Heilung by Michael Curtis The shield-maiden stands before the priest, her arms bound behind her, lashed to a spear. The drums, which have played mercilessly, ominously, throughout the rite have stopped. The witnesses to the ritual stand in the shadows, watching breathlessly. A noose hangs around the shield-maiden’s throat, the priest holding the cord. Then, as the witnesses gasp, the priest tightens the noose with a single, sharp motion and the shield-maiden collapses to the ground. The gods have been appeased. On the evening of January 29th, 2020, I traveled both physically and temporally to witness a primal rite being held at Webster Hall in New York City. Physically, the trip required only a couple of hours on the Long Island Railroad, but chronologically, it was a journey back into the Iron Age. This night, Heilung was returning to Webster Hall to close out their North American tour. What is Heilung? One is hesitant to use to term “band” as it has connotations that don’t truly apply to Heilung. Instead, “musical historical reenactors” might be closer to the mark. Heilung as an entity, whose name means “healing” in German, was formed by Kai Uwe Faust, Christopher Juul, and Maria Franz in 2014. In 2017, Heilung was voted one of the top 10 best performances at the Midgardsblot Metalfestival and released a recording of their performance on YouTube, which attracted nearly 17 million views. Seeing Heilung perform live is akin to stepping out of time machine into the midst of a pagan rite, one held deep in the Black Forest or in a wooded glen overlooking the fjords of Scandinavia during the Iron Age. The performance is a ritual reimaged for the 21st century, and Heilung does indeed call their concerts “rituals.” The show begins with a cowled figure emerging from the shadows, a bowl of smoking incense in hand. He smudges the stage, the instruments, and the audience members, who are now no longer paying attendees but witnesses to the ritual about to occur. Once space is cleansed, the rest of the performers appear, antlers in hand and dressed in a mixture of Iron Age clothing and ceremonial costuming suitable for a pagan high priest and priestess. Singer Maria Franz is especially startling: dressed in a white gown adorned with cloth...