With more than a billion streams to his name and music prominently featured in the hit TV series Vikings, Danheim (Reidar Schæfer Olsen) has become a central figure in the global rise of Nordic folk. Now, the Copenhagen-based producer, songwriter and musician marks a new chapter with his latest album Heimferd. The record’s title track welcomes us, balancing thunderous percussion with stark, minimal passages. It is music that feels ritualistic yet introspective, built less on grand mythology than on the resonance of ancestral memory. “For me, Heimferd is a journey home,” Olsen says, “not to a physical place, but to my ancestry, honoring the weight of old paths while also forging new ones.”

Critics have already praised the album’s depth. Folk N Rock hailed its “visceral, cinematic, and hypnotic” production, while Kaaoszine declared that Danheim has now secured his place among the elite of the genre. And Mythologica noted the album’s dark, mysterious atmosphere, a hallmark of Olsen’s work.

Born in Brøndby in 1985, Olsen first gravitated toward electronic and ambient music before devoting himself fully to Nordic folk. He launched his indie label Fimbul Records and has since built Danheim into one of the most influential projects of its kind, often drawing inspiration from Norse mythology, Danish folklore, and a self-created Scandinavian belief system called Ǽttartrú. His music connects the present with the past, grounding primal themes in modern production.

Everything about Heimferd comes directly from Olsen’s hand, from instrumentation and recording to cover art and photography. It is both a deeply personal statement and a cultural offering, one that reminds listeners of the old ways while carrying Nordic folk into new territory.