Helvegen

Christians, and modern Americans generally, get a bit queasy when the Norse goddess of Hel is mentioned. Hel (1 "L") is the name of one of the 9 realms of Norse mythology and the name of the woman who rules it. Hel is located in (or adjacent to - it isn't clear to me) Niflheim, the land of ice and mists, and is cold. Or the road to Hel is, anyway, at least according to the lyrics of today's song.

In Norse mythology Hel is the realm souls go to if they have not died in battle. If they died with valor in battle, the souls are divided evenly between Valhalla, ruled by Odin king of the Asir, and Fólkvangr ("Field of the Host") ruled by Freya^‡, the goddess of magic and war. If you die an ignoble death in war, say as a coward, you go to none of these places.

"Helvegen" translates as "The Way to Hel."

Wardruna is a Dark Folk band. Here is how they describe themselves on their website.

Wardruna is a Norwegian music constellation dedicated to creating musical renditions of ancient Norse and Nordic traditions. We use a broad selection of both traditional and historical Nordic instruments. Non-traditional instruments and other sources of sound such as trees, stones, bones, water and fire are used to enhance the nature of the theme being ‘portrayed’ in each case. Thorough research and serious study form an important foundation for our music, but the ultimate intention is not to copy or recreate music from any specific time period.

I haven't heard a lot of their music, but I like quite a bit of it.

This song is "Helvegen" by Wardruna. It is a version of the song from their live-in-studio recording/DVD First Flight of the White Raven, which came out earlier this year. If you click the link, instead of playing the embedded video, the translated lyrics show up in the YT video. At least they do for me. Lyrics and their translation are also in the video description at YT.

It you like the lyrics and their translation side-by-side, see this link.

The song was originally on their 2013 album Runaljod – Yggdrasil or The Sound of Runes - Yggdrasil in English.

‡ People always want to relate the Norse gods to the Greek or Roman pantheon, but they are differnt in an important aspect. There are the old gods, the Vanir. And the new gods, the Asir. Odin, Thor, Tyr, Frigga, Baldr, etc. are Asir and live in the realm of Asgard. They are mostly concerned with war. Odin has the spear that never misses. Thor, the hammer that always returns to his hand. Tyr, a magic sword. After the Vanir were defeated, Freya and her brother left Vanaheim and went to live in Asgard under hostage bond. Freya became chief of the Valkyries and leader of Fólkvangr.

It isn't quite that neat, in part because our understanding of Norse myths are terribly incomplete. What we have comes mostly from Snorri Sturluson, a Christian who wrote down (and probably altered) some of the myths before they were lost after Iceland converted to Christianity. (Snorri was a politician, among other things.) There were probably other Christian scholars as well.