I feel that these musical forms are a part of everyone. It is the song of their ancestral homes, the earth, wind, sun and rain, and by the gift of their gods made into sound - manifesting itself in tribal chants, fertility rites, ritual and praise - its melodies weave the patterns of their very DNA. It is the song of that people's life force itself.
- Deörth / Ragnarok interview, Reawakening Pride Once Lost: Indigeneity and European Folk Metal (Aaron Patrick Mulvany), 2000
Newcastle pagan / folk metal band RAGNAROK released their debut album on this day in 1996.
To Mend the Oaken Heart was recorded at Neat Records founder David Wood's Impulse Studios and released by Neat sub-label Neat Metal (also licensed to Pony Canyon in Japan).
Prior to this debut LP, RAGNAROK released three demos between 1991 and 1995. Most of this early material was recently collected on the Of Ages CD.