Folk metal
Encyclopedia
Folk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music
that developed in Europe
during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music
. This includes the widespread use of folk instrument
s and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles.
The earliest exponent of folk metal was the English band Golgotha, whose 1984 EP Dangerous Games contained a mixture of New Wave of British Heavy Metal
and folk styles. The genre was not further developed, however, until the emergence of another English band, Skyclad
. Their debut album The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth
was released in 1990. It was not until 1994 and 1995 that other early contributors in the genre began to emerge from different regions of Europe as well as in Israel. Among these early groups, the Irish band Cruachan
and the German band Subway to Sally
each spearheaded a different regional variation that over time became known as Celtic metal
and medieval metal respectively. Despite their contributions, folk metal remained little known with few representatives during the 1990s. It was not until the early 2000s when the genre exploded into prominence, particularly in Finland with the efforts of such groups as Finntroll
, Ensiferum
, Korpiklaani
, Turisas
, and Moonsorrow
.
The music of folk metal is characterised by its diversity with bands known to perform different styles of both heavy metal music and folk music. A large variety of folk instruments are used in the genre with many bands consequently featuring six or more members in their regular line-ups. A few bands are also known to rely on keyboards to simulate the sound of folk instruments. Lyrics in the genre commonly deal with paganism
, nature
, fantasy
, mythology
and history
.
The English
band Skyclad
was formed in 1990 after vocalist Martin Walkyier
left his previous band, Sabbat
. Skyclad began as a thrash metal
band but added violins from session musician Mike Evans on several tracks from their debut album, The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth, an effort described by Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic as "ambitious" and "groundbreaking." The song "The Widdershins Jig" from the debut album has been acclaimed as "particularly significant" and "a certain first in the realms of Metal". With a full time fiddle
player in their lineup, the band's second album feature a "now legendary folky jig style" and "more prominent inclusion of the fiddle playing lead lines and melodies normally associated with the lead guitar parts of most other rock bands." Skyclad has since been credited as the originators and pioneers of the genre with Keith Fay of the band Cruachan
recognising Skyclad as "the creators of folk metal."
Even with the departure of Martin Walkyier in 2001, Skyclad remains an active folk metal group today after nearly two decades since their formation. In contrast, the Portuguese
band Moonspell
had a brief tenure in the genre. Their first release was the 1994 Under the Moonspell
EP with music that featured folk and Middle East
ern influences. With the release of their debut album Wolfheart
in the following year, the band made a transition into gothic metal
and within a matter of years "quickly evolved into one of the major players of the European goth-metal scene."
Another early contributor to folk metal is the Finnish
group Amorphis
. They formed in 1990 with their debut album, The Karelian Isthmus
, following two years later. Their sophomore effort Tales from the Thousand Lakes
was released in 1994 with "plenty of fascinating melodies and song structures that drew heavily from the traditional folk music of their native country." The album received a favorable reception from fans with "its content quickly being exalted across the Metal underground as perhaps the very pinnacle of atmospheric Death Metal
achievement."
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The East German band Subway to Sally
was formed in 1992 as a folk rock
band, singing in English and incorporating Irish and Scottish influences in their music. With their second album MCMXCV released in 1995, the band adopted a "more traditional approach" and started singing in German. Taking Skyclad as an influence, Subway to Sally performs a blend of hard rock
and heavy metal "enriched with medieval melodies enmeshed in the songs via bagpipes
, hurdy-gurdy, lute
, mandolin
e, shalm
, fiddle and flute
" and combined with "romantic-symbolic German-speaking poetry" in their lyrics. With chart success in their native Germany, they have since been credited as the band "that set off the wave of what is known as medieval rock."
This distinctly German phenomenon has been continued and expanded further by subsequent bands. Formed in 1996, the Berlin
based In Extremo
has also found chart success with their "medieval style stage garb and unashamed usage of such bizarre, sometimes hand made, instruments as the Scottish bagpipes." Another band that has experienced commercial success in Germany is the Bavaria
n outfit Schandmaul
. Describing themselves as the "minstrels of today," the band employs a musical arsenal that includes the bagpipes, barrel organ
, shawm, violin and mandolin.
The Irish
band Cruachan
was formed in 1992 by guitarist Keith Fay with their first demo recording
distributed in 1993. Drawing inspiration from Skyclad's first album, Fay set out to combine black metal
with the folk music of Ireland
. Their debut album Tuatha Na Gael
was released in 1995 and the band has since been acclaimed as having "gone the greatest lengths of anyone in their attempts to expand" the genre of folk metal. Cruachan combination of Celtic music
and heavy metal is known today as Celtic metal
.
Parallel to Cruachan, the black metal act Primordial
also released a demo recording in 1993 and "found themselves heralded as frontrunners in the burgeoning second-wave black metal movement." Irish music plays "a very big role" in Primordial but in "a dark and subtle way" through the chords
and timings
. The band has since "established themselves as one of the most unique sounding bands in the folk-meets-black metal field." Other early representatives of Celtic metal include the bands Geasa
and Waylander
with both groups releasing a demo recording in 1995.
The progressive metal
outfit Orphaned Land
was formed in 1991 in Israel with their first and only demo The Beloved's Cry released in 1993, "immediately creating a media stir" that "quickly drew attention to their unorthodox style." Members of the group were still teenagers when they released their debut album Sahara in 1994. The music of Orphaned Land "borrow heavily from Middle Eastern music styles" with traditional elements coming from both Jewish and Arabic folk music.
From the middle of the 1990s, other bands gradually emerged to combine heavy metal with folk music. Storm was a short lived Norwegian
supergroup with Fenriz
, Satyr
and Kari Rueslåtten
from the black metal groups Darkthrone
, Satyricon
and the doom metal
band The 3rd and the Mortal
respectively. Their only album Nordavind was released in 1995 with the use of keyboards to imitate the sound of folk instruments. The Germans Empyrium
also relied on synthesizers and guitars to deliver their "dark folklore" black metal music with the release of their 1996 debut album A Wintersunset.
The year 1996 also saw the debut album of the "one-man black metal project of multi-instrumentalist Vratyas Vakyas" from Germany known as Falkenbach
. Even though Falkenbach was formed as early as 1989, the band didn't get much attention until the debut, that includes epic music that is "rife with keyboards, Viking themes, and folk music tendencies," Falkenbach was effectively a merge of Viking metal
with folk metal. They were joined in the next two years by other bands combining the two genres including Windir
, Månegarm
and Thyrfing
.
Predating most folk metal groups, the Spanish band Mägo de Oz
was formed as far back as 1989 with a self-titled debut album
, released in 1994. With nine members in their lineup, including a violinist and flutist, the band has evolved over the years into a combination of power metal
and Celtic flavored folk metal. They have experienced strong chart success in their native Spain as well as in South America and Mexico.
The Lord Weird Slough Feg
from Pennsylvania
, United States also had an early formation dating back to 1990. Their self-titled debut album
was released in 1996 and the band has pursued a "unique style of combining traditional/power metal with folk metal."
The Czech
band Silent Stream of Godless Elegy
had formed in 1995 as a doom metal
band "laced with Pagan imagery and adventurous enough to include violins and cellos alongside the expected modern day arsenal." With the release of their second album Behind the Shadows
in 1998, the band began to use "folklore influences" in their music.
The folk metal genre has dramatically expanded with the turn of the new millennium. At the forefront of this explosion, with a "revolutionary clash of tradition and amplification that set them apart", is a group from Finland
known as Finntroll
. The band was formed in 1997 with a demo recorded the following year and a debut album Midnattens Widunder
released in 1999. They have since developed a reputation for being "obsessed with all things troll
ish." Their lyrics are sung exclusively in Swedish
instead of the Finnish language
"apparently because this language was better to evoke the trollish spirit", even though the real reason for this lies in the band's original vocalist belonging to the Swedish-speaking minority. The music of Finntroll features a "real innovation" in the marriage of black metal music with a style of Finnish polka
called humppa
. Specifically, the band took from humppa "the alternate picking bass lines accompanied with the drumbeat, and the use of accordion." This unlikely mix of polka and extreme metal has received a mixed reception from critics. Andy Hinds of Allmusic laments the polka influence as undermining "the intended threat of a death metal band" while his colleague Alex Henderson praises the band for their "solid, consistently likable effort," declaring that Finntroll has set themselves apart from their peers "because of their emphasis on Finnish humppa" and "the humor and irony they bring to the table."
Finntroll's second album Jaktens Tid
was released in 2001 and became a chart success in their native Finland. Some of the songs on the album feature vocals performed by Jonne Järvelä
of Korpiklaani
, another band from Finland. While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani started with folk music before turning metal. The roots of Korpiklaani can be traced back to a Sami
folk music group under the name of Shamaani Duo, an "in house restaurant band" created in 1993. An album of folk music was released under this name before Jonne Järvelä relocated and formed a new band Shaman. The folk metal act Shaman was based on the folk music of Shamaani Duo. Two albums were released in 1999 and 2001 before Shaman changed their name to Korpiklaani. The change in name was accompanied by a change in the music. The traditional yoik vocals and the use of the Sámi language
were dropped while the synthesizer was replaced with real folk instruments. Jonne Järvelä credits his work with Finntroll as the catalyst for the shift in emphasis from folk to metal.
While Korpiklaani used an assortment of traditional instruments to deliver their folk metal, Finntroll relies on keyboards for Finnish folk melodies played in the humppa style. The keyboards in Finntroll are performed by Henri Sorvali
who also performs in Moonsorrow
, another folk metal band from Finland that he formed with his cousin Ville Sorvali
in 1995. They released two demos, the first in 1997 and another in 1999, before the 2001 debut album Suden Uni
. Moonsorrow blends folk metal with Viking metal by incorporating "Finland's traditional folk music forms into elaborate symphonic arrangements typical of Viking metal outfits such as Bathory
and Enslaved
." The adoption of folk elements was "becoming all the rage" in Finland by this point and other folk metal bands from Finland that began to emerge in the early 2000s included Cadacross
, Ensiferum
and later on Turisas
and Wintersun
. Ensiferum notably found themselves at the top of the Finnish charts with their 2007 single "One More Magic Potion
". Finntroll, Korpiklaani, Moonsorrow and Turisas have all experienced chart success in their native Finland as well.
Folk metal acts are not uncommon in the other Scandinavian countries. Bands from Sweden include the aforementioned Thyrfing and Månegarm along with other acts such as Otyg
and Vintersorg
. Norway has produced the aforementioned Storm and Windir as well as more recent groups such as Kampfar
, Lumsk
,, Ásmegin
and Trollfest
. Folk metal bands from Denmark include Wuthering Heights
, Svartsot
, and the Faroe Islanders
Týr
.
Outside Scandinavia, other European nations have contributed to the growing genre. Groups from the Baltic states
of Estonia
, Latvia
and Lithuania
includes Metsatöll
, Raud-Ants
, and Skyforger
while representatives from Russia
include Alkonost
, Arkona
and Butterfly Temple. More isolated examples across Europe include Divlje Jagode
(wild strawberries) from Bosnia, Balkandji
from Bulgaria
, Elvenking
from Italy
and Eluveitie
from Switzerland
. Folkearth
is an international folk metal project with members from several different European countries. At its inception, the project consisted of 14 musicians from separate backgrounds in folk and metal music. With their second album By the Sword of My Father
released in 2006, the project boasted the participation of 31 musicians.
Beyond the European continent, folk metal is relatively rare with only a few known acts including the aforementioned The Lord Weird Slough Feg and their fellow Americans Agalloch
. The latter's music "made for a stark geographical anomaly, since its eclectic, avant-garde folk-metal was the sort of thing one would expect to emerge from Scandinavia -- not Portland, Oregon
." Tuatha de Danann
is another geographical anomaly with their Celtic metal from Brazil
.
The music of folk metal is a diverse collection with bands pursuing different subgenres of heavy metal music. While bands like Primordial and Finntroll perform black metal, other groups such as The Lord Weird Slough Feg ply their trade with a more traditional or power metal base. The German-Norwegian group Midnattsol
blends the genre with gothic metal
. Progressive tendencies can be found among some bands including Elvenking, Lumsk and Týr. Some bands are known to adopt more than one different styles of heavy metal. Orphaned Land combines folk metal with progressive and doom/death
metal while Ensiferum mix folk music on top of a power and death metal hybrid. A few groups are also known to incorporate the styles of other music genres outside of heavy metal. Examples include the punk rock
in the Norwegian act Glittertind
and the neofolk
and post-rock
tendencies of Agalloch
.
The folk elements in the genre often reflect the ethnic background of the musicians as is the case for the Scandinavian folk music in Finntroll and Korpiklaani, the Baltic folk music in Metsatöll and Skyforger or the Middle Eastern background of Orphaned Land
. Celtic music can be found among such Irish groups as Cruachan and Waylander as well as bands outside Ireland like Eluveitie (although Switzerland can be considered a country with a Celtic history), and Tuatha de Danann (from Brazil, a country that has no cultural ties with the Celts whatsoever, despite the similarity of the country's name to an island in Irish myth
). Folk music from multiple regions are employed by some groups like Elvenking and Ensiferum.
The genre also offers a variety of atmosphere and moods. A fun and cheerful nature is characteristic of groups like Finntroll and Korpiklaani. Both bands are also noted for playing music that one can dance to. In contrast, other acts such as Thyrfing and Primordial are known for their contemplative atmosphere. Lumsk offers a more mellow style while Agalloch are known for their "depressive ambient" sound.
An epic atmosphere is characteristic of some folk metal bands like Primordial, Moonsorrow, Turisas and the music project Folkearth. Groups like Ensiferum and Wintersun are known to have a melodious side while bands that favor a more blistering or brutal approach can be found in groups like Finntroll and Månegarm.
Folk metal feature the same typical instruments found in heavy metal music: guitars, bass, drums and vocalist. While a few folk metal groups like Tharaphita discard "any notion of utilising folk instrumentation" and "rely solely on traditional metal instruments," bands in the genre generally rely on folk instruments that range from the common to the exotic. Numerous folk metal acts include a dedicated violin
ist in their line up. This includes Skyclad, Subway to Sally, Schandmaul, Mägo de Oz, Silent Stream of Godless Elegy, Korpiklaani, Lumsk, Elvenking, Eluveitie and Tuatha de Danann. The tin whistle
and flute
can be found in such Celtic metal bands as Cruachan, Waylander and Eluveitie. The flute can also be found in other bands such as Metsatöll, Schandmaul and Morgenstern
. Some bands are also known to highlight more exotic instruments from their ethnic background or country, including Skyforger
's use of the Latvian kokle
, Metsatöll
's use of the Estonian torupill
, Korpiklaani's use of the Finnish kantele
, Eluveitie's use of the hurdy-gurdy, and Orphaned Land's use of the oud
and saz
.
In the absence of folk instruments, other bands in the genre resort to using keyboards
to replicate the sound of folk instruments. This includes the aforementioned Storm, Empyrium and Finntroll as well as other acts like Midnattsol. Bands that supplement a folk instrument like the violin with keyboards include Skyclad, Mägo de Oz, and Tuatha de Danann.
The large number of instruments that some bands rely on in recording their studio albums can be a hindrance for live performances. While Orphaned Land are able to perform onstage with twenty musicians in their homeland of Israel, they have to rely on a computer to replicate the roles of the guest musicians for concerts elsewhere. Some folk metal acts confine themselves to studio recordings and are not known to perform any live concerts. This includes Folkearth, Falkenbach and Summoning
. Other folk metal bands expand their regular roster to include more musicians and consequently, it is not uncommon to find bands in the genre featuring six or more members in their line-up. Some of the sextets in the genre are Schandmaul, Cruachan, Korpiklaani, Turisas, and Midnattsol, while septets include Subway to Sally, In Extremo, and Lumsk. Both Silent Stream of Godless Elegy and Eluveitie boast eight members each while the line up of Mägo de Oz totals nine performers. Even when a band includes members dedicated to folk instruments, they might still rely on guest musicians to further enhance their sound. As an example, Lumsk added thirteen guest musicians to the band's seven members on their debut album Åsmund Frægdegjevar
. At times, guest musicians are known to become full fledged members of the band as was the case in Skyforger and Turisas.
" in Finntroll to the black metal rasps of Skyforger or Moonsorrow, there is no shortage of extreme vocals in folk metal. Other bands to feature extreme vocals include Cadacross, Ensiferum and Equilibrium
. In contrast, bands like Mägo de Oz and Metsatöll are known to feature "clean" singing in line with their more traditional metal approach. Numerous other bands in the genre are known to feature both extreme vocals and clean singing. This includes Primordial, Turisas, Windir and Wintersun.
Traditional folk singing can also be found among some folk metal bands. The yoik
vocals of Jonne Järvelä
have been featured in varying degrees in the music of Shaman, Finntroll and Korpiklaani. Folk singing or folk-inspired singing can also be heard in the music of Equilibrium, Metsatöll, Skyforger and Orphaned Land. The music of Orphaned Land also features the use of chants and choirs, commonly encountered in the genre of folk metal. Bands that are known to use a choir include Arkona, Turisas, Lumsk and Eluveitie, while chants can be found in the music of Týr and Windir. Some bands like Falconer
and Thyrfing are also known to feature "yo-ho-ho folk melodies" in their vocals to suit their Viking metal style.
Orphaned Land mostly uses English lyrics, but they are known to feature other languages as they "go well with the music and also sound more exotic and unique." Týr has also been known to use multiple languages in their music. Other bands in the genre are known to sing exclusively or almost entirely in their native language, including Mägo de Oz in Spanish
, Moonsorrow in Finnish
, Metsatöll in Estonian
and Lumsk in Norwegian
. Bands in the medieval metal subgenre also tend to sing largely or entirely in their German language
, including Subway to Sally, Morgenstern
and Letzte Instanz
.
Lead female singers are not uncommon in the genre and can be found in Cruachan, Otyg, Lumsk, Arkona and Midnattsol. Other groups like Orphaned Land and Elvenking have employed guest female vocalists in their music.
, nature
, fantasy
, mythology
and history
.
Folk metal has been associated with paganism ever since its inception, when Martin Walkyier left his former band Sabbat to form Skyclad, in part because the band "wasn't going to go far enough down the pagan, British way that we wanted to do it." Consequently, the lyrics of Skyclad have been known to deal with pagan matters. The band Cruachan was also founded by a self-described pagan, Keith Fay. For Ville Sorvali of Moonsorrow, the label "pagan metal" is preferred "because that describes the ideological points in the music, but doesn’t say anything about the music itself." Other bands that also prefer to use the term "pagan metal" as a self-description include Cruachan, Eluveitie, Obtest and Skyforger. In contrast to bands with pagan themes, some folk metal bands such as Orphaned Land
have themes of Abrahamic religion.
Nature is a strong influence to many folk metal bands. Groups such as Korpiklaani, Elvenking, Midnattsol and Vintersorg have all based lyrics on the subject. For the band Agalloch, nature is an embraced theme "because we are siding with what is essentially the victim in a relationship where humankind is a disease." All the members of Skyclad are supporters of "organisations like Greenpeace and others, for those are the ones who stand up and take on the battle" between "people who want to save the planet, and people who want to destroy it."
The pioneers of the genre Skyclad avoided fantasy lyrics because "there was already enough fantasy in the world, told to us by our politicians every day." Nonetheless, other folk metal bands have been known to feature fantasy themes in their lyrics including Ensiferum, Midnattsol and Cruachan. For Elvenking, fantasy themes are used "as a metaphor to cover deeper meanings." Similarly, the fantasy themes in Turisas belie the coverage of issues "that are deeper and have greater significance."
The Celtic metal subgenre is known to feature lyrics based on Celtic mythology
. The history of the Celt
s is another popular source for the lyrics of Celtic metal bands like Cruachan, Eluveitie, Primordial and Mael Mórdha
. Norse mythology
can be found in the lyrics of such Scandinavian bands as Falkenbach, Týr, Finntroll and Mithotyn
. Skyforger is known for featuring lyrics based on both the history and mythology of their Latvian culture. Other bands that have treated history to song include Falconer and Slechtvalk
.
A few National Socialist black metal
(NSBM) bands like the Ukrainians
Nokturnal Mortum
, Temnozor
and Kroda have been known to cross over into folk metal, a circumstance that Ciaran O'Hagan, the vocalist of Waylander, views as "an insult to people like myself who don’t hold with fascist ideals at all." He further suggests that the NSBM bands are playing folk metal "for all the wrong reasons." Due to the misappropriation of pagan symbols by Neo-Nazism
, several folk metal bands have also been mistaken for being part of the NSBM scene. Consequently, such bands as Cruachan, Skyforger, Moonsorrow, Månegarm and Týr have had to disassociate themselves with Nazism, fascism or racism. Skyforger went as far as to add the words 'No Nazi Stuff Here!' on the back of their album covers. Richard Lederer of Summoning has also publicly denounced National Socialism in a self-penned essay on his band's website. In April 2008, performers on the folk metal festival Paganfest were subject to accusations of being Nazis, racists and fascists from the German Antifa. Ville Sorvali of Moonsorrow and Heri Joensen of Týr issued a joint video statement to refute these accusations, noting that "one of the biggest issues seems to be that we use ancient Scandinavian symbols in our imagery like the S in the Moonsorrow logo
and the T in the Týr logo
[even though] that is how the S and the T runes
have been written for thousands of years." Moonsorrow has also issued a written statement in response to the controversy while Týr notes on their official website that they "got the idea for the rune logo" from the Black Sabbath album
of the same name.
The original folk metal band Skyclad was also known to deal with serious political subjects but through lyrics that were littered with puns and humor. Other bands have continued to feature fun and humorous lyrics. This includes Finntroll with their obsession on trolls. The lyrics of Korpiklaani also "focused on having a good time, drinking [and] partying." In a review of Turisas' The Varangian Way
album, James Christopher Monger of Allmusic commented that some listeners might be put off by "the concept of grown men in pelts" singing such lyrics as "come with us to the south, write your name on our roll." Heri Joensen of Týr contends that a listener needs to be confident in his masculinity
to listen to such traditional Faeroese lyrics as his own "young lads, happy lads, step upon the floor, dance merrily."
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
that developed in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
. This includes the widespread use of folk instrument
Folk instrument
A folk instrument is an instrument that developed among common people and usually doesn't have a known inventor. It can be made from wood, metal or other material. It is a part of folk music...
s and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles.
The earliest exponent of folk metal was the English band Golgotha, whose 1984 EP Dangerous Games contained a mixture of New Wave of British Heavy Metal
New Wave of British Heavy Metal
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. The movement developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black...
and folk styles. The genre was not further developed, however, until the emergence of another English band, Skyclad
Skyclad (band)
Skyclad are a British heavy metal band with heavy folk influences in their music. They are considered one of the pioneers of folk metal. The etymology behind the term "skyclad" comes from a pagan/wiccan term for ritual nudity, in which rituals are performed with the participants metaphorically clad...
. Their debut album The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth
The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth
The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth is the first album by British folk metal group Skyclad, and is thus probably the first ever folk metal album, with the track "The Widdershins Jig" in particular pointing the way for the genre....
was released in 1990. It was not until 1994 and 1995 that other early contributors in the genre began to emerge from different regions of Europe as well as in Israel. Among these early groups, the Irish band Cruachan
Cruachan (band)
Cruachan [kroo-a-khawn] is a Celtic metal band from Dublin, Ireland that has been active since the 1990s. They have been acclaimed as having "gone the greatest lengths of anyone in their attempts to expand" the genre of folk metal. They are recognised as one of the founders of the genre of folk metal...
and the German band Subway to Sally
Subway to Sally
Subway to Sally was founded in Potsdam, Germany, in the early 1990s. It is a rock band with clear folk and medieval influences, later also with gothic and metal elements added to the mix...
each spearheaded a different regional variation that over time became known as Celtic metal
Celtic metal
Celtic metal is a subgenre of folk metal that developed in the 1990s in Ireland. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal music and Celtic music. The early pioneers of the genre were the three Irish bands Cruachan, Primordial and Waylander...
and medieval metal respectively. Despite their contributions, folk metal remained little known with few representatives during the 1990s. It was not until the early 2000s when the genre exploded into prominence, particularly in Finland with the efforts of such groups as Finntroll
Finntroll
Finntroll is a folk metal band from Helsinki, Finland. They combine elements of black metal and folk metal. Finntroll's lyrics are mostly in Swedish, the only exception being the song "Madon Laulu" on Visor Om Slutet...
, Ensiferum
Ensiferum
Ensiferum is a Finnish folk metal band from Helsinki. The members of the band label themselves as "heroic folk metal." Since their formation, Ensiferum has released four full-length albums, one EP, one compilation, three singles, and three demo albums and one unreleased album.-Musical...
, Korpiklaani
Korpiklaani
Korpiklaani is a folk metal band from Finland who were formerly known as Shaman.-Biography:While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani started with folk music before turning metal...
, Turisas
Turisas
Turisas is a Finnish folk metal band from Hämeenlinna. It was founded in 1997 by Mathias Nygård and Jussi Wickström and named after an ancient Finnish God of war....
, and Moonsorrow
Moonsorrow
Moonsorrow is a pagan metal band formed in Helsinki, Finland, in 1995. Musically, the band incorporates elements of black metal and folk metal in their sound...
.
The music of folk metal is characterised by its diversity with bands known to perform different styles of both heavy metal music and folk music. A large variety of folk instruments are used in the genre with many bands consequently featuring six or more members in their regular line-ups. A few bands are also known to rely on keyboards to simulate the sound of folk instruments. Lyrics in the genre commonly deal with paganism
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
, nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
, fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
and history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
.
Origins
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
band Skyclad
Skyclad (band)
Skyclad are a British heavy metal band with heavy folk influences in their music. They are considered one of the pioneers of folk metal. The etymology behind the term "skyclad" comes from a pagan/wiccan term for ritual nudity, in which rituals are performed with the participants metaphorically clad...
was formed in 1990 after vocalist Martin Walkyier
Martin Walkyier
Martin Walkyier is an English singer who began his career with thrash metal band Sabbat in the late 1980s, releasing two albums. After leaving Sabbat in 1990 due to differences with other band members, Walkyier teamed up with guitarist Steve Ramsey to form a heavy metal band with strong folk...
left his previous band, Sabbat
Sabbat (band)
Sabbat are a thrash metal band from Nottingham, England, currently consisting of Martin Walkyier , Andy Sneap , Simon Jones , Gizz Butt and Simon Negus . Over the years Sabbat have released three studio albums, four demos, two split singles/compilation albums, two singles and a live VHS...
. Skyclad began as a thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
band but added violins from session musician Mike Evans on several tracks from their debut album, The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth, an effort described by Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic as "ambitious" and "groundbreaking." The song "The Widdershins Jig" from the debut album has been acclaimed as "particularly significant" and "a certain first in the realms of Metal". With a full time fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
player in their lineup, the band's second album feature a "now legendary folky jig style" and "more prominent inclusion of the fiddle playing lead lines and melodies normally associated with the lead guitar parts of most other rock bands." Skyclad has since been credited as the originators and pioneers of the genre with Keith Fay of the band Cruachan
Cruachan (band)
Cruachan [kroo-a-khawn] is a Celtic metal band from Dublin, Ireland that has been active since the 1990s. They have been acclaimed as having "gone the greatest lengths of anyone in their attempts to expand" the genre of folk metal. They are recognised as one of the founders of the genre of folk metal...
recognising Skyclad as "the creators of folk metal."
Even with the departure of Martin Walkyier in 2001, Skyclad remains an active folk metal group today after nearly two decades since their formation. In contrast, the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
band Moonspell
Moonspell
Moonspell is a Portuguese gothic metal band from Brandoa, Lisbon. Formed in 1992, the group released their first EP Under the Moonspell in 1994, a year before the release of their first album Wolfheart...
had a brief tenure in the genre. Their first release was the 1994 Under the Moonspell
Under the Moonspell
Under the Moonspell is an EP released by Moonspell in 1994.-Track listing:# "Allah Akbar! La Allah Ella Allah! " – 1:51...
EP with music that featured folk and Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
ern influences. With the release of their debut album Wolfheart
Wolfheart
Wolfheart is the first full-length album by the band Moonspell. All of the tracks are in English except for "Trebaruna" and "Ataegina", which are in Portuguese, as well as the chorus of "Alma Mater"...
in the following year, the band made a transition into gothic metal
Gothic metal
Gothic metal or goth metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines the aggression of doom metal with the dark melancholy of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music...
and within a matter of years "quickly evolved into one of the major players of the European goth-metal scene."
Another early contributor to folk metal is the Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
group Amorphis
Amorphis
Amorphis is a Finnish heavy metal band started by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other types of genres, which include heavy metal, progressive metal, and folk metal...
. They formed in 1990 with their debut album, The Karelian Isthmus
The Karelian Isthmus
-2003 Re-release:#"Pilgrimage from Darkness" – 4:32#"Black Embrace" – 3:25#"Privilege of Evil" – 3:50#"Misery Path" – 4:17#"Vulgar Necrolatry" – 3:58#"Excursing from Existence" – 3:06-Personnel:* Tomi Koivusaari − vocals, guitar, six string acoustic guitar...
, following two years later. Their sophomore effort Tales from the Thousand Lakes
Tales from the Thousand Lakes
-Bonus tracks:Tracks 11-13 added from the Black Winter Day EP:-Band members:* Tomi Koivusaari – vocals, rhythm guitar* Esa Holopainen – lead guitar* Olli-Pekka Laine – bass guitar* Jan Rechberger – drums* Kasper Mårtenson – keyboards...
was released in 1994 with "plenty of fascinating melodies and song structures that drew heavily from the traditional folk music of their native country." The album received a favorable reception from fans with "its content quickly being exalted across the Metal underground as perhaps the very pinnacle of atmospheric Death Metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
achievement."
Regional variations
In the years 1994 and 1995, two distinct variations on folk metal emerged from different regions.Medieval metal
Subway to Sally
Subway to Sally was founded in Potsdam, Germany, in the early 1990s. It is a rock band with clear folk and medieval influences, later also with gothic and metal elements added to the mix...
was formed in 1992 as a folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
band, singing in English and incorporating Irish and Scottish influences in their music. With their second album MCMXCV released in 1995, the band adopted a "more traditional approach" and started singing in German. Taking Skyclad as an influence, Subway to Sally performs a blend of hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
and heavy metal "enriched with medieval melodies enmeshed in the songs via bagpipes
Bagpipes
Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
, hurdy-gurdy, lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
e, shalm
Shawm
The shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the 12th century until the 17th century. It was developed from the oriental zurna and is the predecessor of the modern oboe. The body of the shawm was usually turned from a single piece of wood,...
, fiddle and flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
" and combined with "romantic-symbolic German-speaking poetry" in their lyrics. With chart success in their native Germany, they have since been credited as the band "that set off the wave of what is known as medieval rock."
This distinctly German phenomenon has been continued and expanded further by subsequent bands. Formed in 1996, the Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
based In Extremo
In Extremo
In Extremo is a German medieval metal band originating from Berlin. The band's musical style combines metal with medieval traditional songs, blending the sound of the standard rock/metal instruments with historical instruments...
has also found chart success with their "medieval style stage garb and unashamed usage of such bizarre, sometimes hand made, instruments as the Scottish bagpipes." Another band that has experienced commercial success in Germany is the Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n outfit Schandmaul
Schandmaul
Schandmaul is a German medieval folk rock band from the vicinity of Munich.As well as using modern instruments like the bass or electric guitar, the band utilizes instruments typically used in Medieval folk songs, such as the bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy or shawm, to produce their trademark folk rock...
. Describing themselves as the "minstrels of today," the band employs a musical arsenal that includes the bagpipes, barrel organ
Barrel organ
A barrel organ is a mechanical musical instrument consisting of bellows and one or more ranks of pipes housed in a case, usually of wood, and often highly decorated...
, shawm, violin and mandolin.
Celtic metal
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
band Cruachan
Cruachan (band)
Cruachan [kroo-a-khawn] is a Celtic metal band from Dublin, Ireland that has been active since the 1990s. They have been acclaimed as having "gone the greatest lengths of anyone in their attempts to expand" the genre of folk metal. They are recognised as one of the founders of the genre of folk metal...
was formed in 1992 by guitarist Keith Fay with their first demo recording
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
distributed in 1993. Drawing inspiration from Skyclad's first album, Fay set out to combine black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
with the folk music of Ireland
Folk music of Ireland
The folk music of Ireland is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres in Ireland.-History:...
. Their debut album Tuatha Na Gael
Tuatha Na Gael
Tuatha Na Gael is an album released in 1995 by Celtic metal band Cruachan.-Track listing:#"I Am Tuan" – 2:23#"The First Battle of Moytura" – 7:46#"Maeves March" – 3:32#"The Fall of Gondolin" – 8:04#"Cúchulainn" – 7:05...
was released in 1995 and the band has since been acclaimed as having "gone the greatest lengths of anyone in their attempts to expand" the genre of folk metal. Cruachan combination of Celtic music
Celtic music
Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...
and heavy metal is known today as Celtic metal
Celtic metal
Celtic metal is a subgenre of folk metal that developed in the 1990s in Ireland. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal music and Celtic music. The early pioneers of the genre were the three Irish bands Cruachan, Primordial and Waylander...
.
Parallel to Cruachan, the black metal act Primordial
Primordial (band)
Primordial is an extreme metal band from Skerries, County Dublin, Ireland. It was formed in 1987 by Pól MacAmlaigh and Ciarán MacUiliam . Their sound melds black metal with Irish folk music.-Biography:...
also released a demo recording in 1993 and "found themselves heralded as frontrunners in the burgeoning second-wave black metal movement." Irish music plays "a very big role" in Primordial but in "a dark and subtle way" through the chords
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
and timings
Timing (music)
Timing in music refers to the ability to "keep time" accurately and to synchronise to an ensemble as well as "expressive timing" - subtle adjustment of tempo, note or beat duration for aesthetic effect....
. The band has since "established themselves as one of the most unique sounding bands in the folk-meets-black metal field." Other early representatives of Celtic metal include the bands Geasa
Geasa (band)
Geasa is a Celtic metal band originating from Dublin, Ireland. Formed by Fergal Purcell and John Kavanagh in 1993 the band combines traditional Celtic music with black metal to form Celtic black metal. They have released one demo album, one EP, and three full-length albums.They came onto the scene...
and Waylander
Waylander (band)
Waylander is a Northern Irish band influential in the realms of Celtic folk metal. Formed in 1993, the band blends traditional Irish folk with 1990s heavy metal.-Biography:...
with both groups releasing a demo recording in 1995.
Development
Progressive metal
Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...
outfit Orphaned Land
Orphaned Land
Orphaned Land is an Israeli progressive metal band, formed in 1991, that combines Death/doom, Jewish and Arabic influences.- History :In 1992, the band changed its name from the original Resurrection to Orphaned Land....
was formed in 1991 in Israel with their first and only demo The Beloved's Cry released in 1993, "immediately creating a media stir" that "quickly drew attention to their unorthodox style." Members of the group were still teenagers when they released their debut album Sahara in 1994. The music of Orphaned Land "borrow heavily from Middle Eastern music styles" with traditional elements coming from both Jewish and Arabic folk music.
From the middle of the 1990s, other bands gradually emerged to combine heavy metal with folk music. Storm was a short lived Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
supergroup with Fenriz
Fenriz
Leif Gylve Nagell , better known as Fenriz, is the drummer and lyricist of the Norwegian black metal duo Darkthrone...
, Satyr
Sigurd Wongraven
Satyr is the vocalist, lead and rhythm guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Norwegian black metal band Satyricon. He was a founding member of Satyricon and have so far released 7 albums, 2 demos and a live DVD...
and Kari Rueslåtten
Kari Rueslåtten
Kari Rueslåtten is a solo singer, who has also worked with other artists.-Musical History:After taking part of some local bands, she was only 19 when she joined the cult progressive doom metal band The 3rd and the Mortal with whom she recorded the demo The 3rd And The Mortal in 1993, the EP Sorrow...
from the black metal groups Darkthrone
Darkthrone
Darkthrone is a Norwegian black metal band. They formed in 1987 as a death metal band, but after embracing the black metal style in 1991, they became a driving force in the Norwegian black metal scene. For most of this period Darkthrone has consisted of just two musicians, Nocturno Culto and...
, Satyricon
Satyricon (band)
Satyricon is a Norwegian black metal band, and the first one in the genre to join a multi-national record label .-Biography:Satyricon was formed in 1990 by Czral and Wargod. Ulver and Satyr soon joined them...
and the doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
band The 3rd and the Mortal
The 3rd and the Mortal
The 3rd and the Mortal were a Norwegian experimental metal-band, founded in the city of Trondheim, Norway, in 1992 by Rune Hoemsnes, Finn Olav Holthe, Geir Nilssen, Trond Engum and singer Kari Rueslåtten...
respectively. Their only album Nordavind was released in 1995 with the use of keyboards to imitate the sound of folk instruments. The Germans Empyrium
Empyrium
Empyrium is a German symphonic folk/doom metal and neofolk/dark folk band.- Band's history :Empyrium was founded in 1994 by Markus Stock and Andreas Bach, but later many other participated....
also relied on synthesizers and guitars to deliver their "dark folklore" black metal music with the release of their 1996 debut album A Wintersunset.
The year 1996 also saw the debut album of the "one-man black metal project of multi-instrumentalist Vratyas Vakyas" from Germany known as Falkenbach
Falkenbach
Falkenbach is a Viking metal group from Germany that is currently signed to Prophecy Productions. The name means "Falconbrook" in German. The one permanent member is Vratyas Vakyas.-History:...
. Even though Falkenbach was formed as early as 1989, the band didn't get much attention until the debut, that includes epic music that is "rife with keyboards, Viking themes, and folk music tendencies," Falkenbach was effectively a merge of Viking metal
Viking metal
Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its galloping pace, keyboard-rich anthemic sound, bleakness and dramatic emphasis on lyrical themes of Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age...
with folk metal. They were joined in the next two years by other bands combining the two genres including Windir
Windir
Windir was a black metal band from Sogndal, Norway. The band combined black metal with folk music and mythology. The band was formed in 1994 and released its debut album in 1997...
, Månegarm
Månegarm
Månegarm is a Swedish Viking/black metal band from Norrtälje. The band's name comes from Mánagarmr, a wolf in Norse mythology.-History:The band started from the ideas of Svenne Rosendal, Jonas Almquist, and Pierre Wilhelmsson in 1995. After securing another guitarist in Mårten Matsson and a drummer...
and Thyrfing
Thyrfing
Thyrfing is a viking metal band from Sweden. The band is named after the royal sword Tyrfing from Norse mythology.-History:Thyrfing was formed in 1995 by Patrik Lindgren , Jocke Kristensson , Peter Löf and Kimmy Sjölund...
.
Predating most folk metal groups, the Spanish band Mägo de Oz
Mägo de Oz
Mägo de Oz is a Spanish folk/heavy metal band from Begoña, Madrid formed in mid-1988 by drummer Txus di Fellatio. In 1992, the band were finalists in the Villa de Madrid contest. Then, they went onto achieve great success in Spain, and in 1995, were declared Revolution Rock Band...
was formed as far back as 1989 with a self-titled debut album
Mägo de Oz (album)
Mägo de Oz was Mägo de Oz's debut album, released in 1994. It was edited and re-released in 1999.-Track listing:#"T'esnucaré Contra'l Bidé" - 3:51#"El Lago" - 4:29#"Rock Kaki Rock" - 3:14#"Gerdundula" cover of Status Quo] - 1:51...
, released in 1994. With nine members in their lineup, including a violinist and flutist, the band has evolved over the years into a combination of power metal
Power metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...
and Celtic flavored folk metal. They have experienced strong chart success in their native Spain as well as in South America and Mexico.
The Lord Weird Slough Feg
The Lord Weird Slough Feg
Slough Feg is a Heavy Metal band that formed in Pennsylvania in the early 1990s and is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Taking their name from the Celtic folklore-influenced comic Sláine, the band released their self-titled debut album in 1996...
from Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, United States also had an early formation dating back to 1990. Their self-titled debut album
The Lord Weird Slough Feg (album)
The Lord Weird Slough Feg is the first full-length album by the American folk/heavy metal band The Lord Weird Slough Feg. The album was re-released on Miskatonic in Europe in 2002 with bonus tracks from the band's early demos.- Original track listing :...
was released in 1996 and the band has pursued a "unique style of combining traditional/power metal with folk metal."
The Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
band Silent Stream of Godless Elegy
Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy
Silent Stream of Godless Elegy is a Moravian folk metal band from the Czech Republic that was formed in 1995. They won an award in 2000 from the Czech Academy of Popular Music for their album Themes in the "Hard & Heavy" category.-Albums:...
had formed in 1995 as a doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
band "laced with Pagan imagery and adventurous enough to include violins and cellos alongside the expected modern day arsenal." With the release of their second album Behind the Shadows
Behind the Shadows
Behind the Shadows is an album by Moravian folk metal band Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy, originally released in 1998 by Redblack.-Track listing:# "Wizard" – 4:13# "Garden" – 4:40# "The Last Place" – 4:53# "Old Women's Dance" – 3:15...
in 1998, the band began to use "folklore influences" in their music.
Explosion
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
known as Finntroll
Finntroll
Finntroll is a folk metal band from Helsinki, Finland. They combine elements of black metal and folk metal. Finntroll's lyrics are mostly in Swedish, the only exception being the song "Madon Laulu" on Visor Om Slutet...
. The band was formed in 1997 with a demo recorded the following year and a debut album Midnattens Widunder
Midnattens Widunder
Midnattens widunder is a folk metal album by the Finnish band Finntroll. It was released in Finland in 1999 by Spinefarm.-Concept:The lyrical content of the album follows the story of the legenday Rivfader , "king-shaman" of the trollish race, and his war against Christian encroachment of the...
released in 1999. They have since developed a reputation for being "obsessed with all things troll
Troll
A troll is a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, the term troll was a generally negative synonym for a jötunn , a being in Norse mythology...
ish." Their lyrics are sung exclusively in Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
instead of the Finnish language
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
"apparently because this language was better to evoke the trollish spirit", even though the real reason for this lies in the band's original vocalist belonging to the Swedish-speaking minority. The music of Finntroll features a "real innovation" in the marriage of black metal music with a style of Finnish polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
called humppa
Humppa
Humppa is a type of music from Finland. It is related to jazz and very fast foxtrot, played two beats to a bar . Typical speed is about 220 to 260 beats per minute. Humppa is also the name of a few social dances danced to humppa music. All dances involve bounce that follows the strong bass of the...
. Specifically, the band took from humppa "the alternate picking bass lines accompanied with the drumbeat, and the use of accordion." This unlikely mix of polka and extreme metal has received a mixed reception from critics. Andy Hinds of Allmusic laments the polka influence as undermining "the intended threat of a death metal band" while his colleague Alex Henderson praises the band for their "solid, consistently likable effort," declaring that Finntroll has set themselves apart from their peers "because of their emphasis on Finnish humppa" and "the humor and irony they bring to the table."
Finntroll's second album Jaktens Tid
Jaktens Tid
Jaktens tid is a folk metal album by the Finnish band Finntroll. It was released in 2001 by Spinefarm Records.-Track listing:There is a bonus song on the final outro track: after approximately half a minute of silence, a drunken-sounding polka-type song begins...
was released in 2001 and became a chart success in their native Finland. Some of the songs on the album feature vocals performed by Jonne Järvelä
Jonne Järvelä
Jonne Järvelä is the vocalist/guitarist of the Finnish band Korpiklaani and of former project Shaman. He is known in the Verga folk metal scene for his yoiking and contributed the yoik on the Finntroll album, Jaktens Tid. He once was a member of the Sami music group Angelin tytöt.- See also...
of Korpiklaani
Korpiklaani
Korpiklaani is a folk metal band from Finland who were formerly known as Shaman.-Biography:While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani started with folk music before turning metal...
, another band from Finland. While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani started with folk music before turning metal. The roots of Korpiklaani can be traced back to a Sami
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
folk music group under the name of Shamaani Duo, an "in house restaurant band" created in 1993. An album of folk music was released under this name before Jonne Järvelä relocated and formed a new band Shaman. The folk metal act Shaman was based on the folk music of Shamaani Duo. Two albums were released in 1999 and 2001 before Shaman changed their name to Korpiklaani. The change in name was accompanied by a change in the music. The traditional yoik vocals and the use of the Sámi language
Sami languages
Sami or Saami is a general name for a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sami people in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and extreme northwestern Russia, in Northern Europe. Sami is frequently and erroneously believed to be a single language. Several names are used for the Sami...
were dropped while the synthesizer was replaced with real folk instruments. Jonne Järvelä credits his work with Finntroll as the catalyst for the shift in emphasis from folk to metal.
Henri Sorvali
Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali, born October 19, 1978, in Finland, is the guitarist and keyboardist of the pagan metal band Moonsorrow, and keyboardist for Finntroll, and also plays for The Wicked....
who also performs in Moonsorrow
Moonsorrow
Moonsorrow is a pagan metal band formed in Helsinki, Finland, in 1995. Musically, the band incorporates elements of black metal and folk metal in their sound...
, another folk metal band from Finland that he formed with his cousin Ville Sorvali
Ville Sorvali
Ville Sorvali is a Finnish musician and music journalist. He is the vocalist, bass guitarist and lyricist for the Finnish pagan metal band Moonsorrow. His cousin Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali is the rhythm guitarist and main songwriter.He speaks fluent Finnish and English, and personally admits to...
in 1995. They released two demos, the first in 1997 and another in 1999, before the 2001 debut album Suden Uni
Suden Uni
Suden uni is the first full-length album by Finnish pagan metal band Moonsorrow. It was originally released in 2001, and then re-released in 2003 with one bonus track, different cover art, and a 40-minute DVD.-Track listing:...
. Moonsorrow blends folk metal with Viking metal by incorporating "Finland's traditional folk music forms into elaborate symphonic arrangements typical of Viking metal outfits such as Bathory
Bathory (band)
Bathory was a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by Quorthon in 1983. They are regarded as pioneers of both black metal and viking metal. Quorthon remained the main songwriter and member of Bathory for more than two decades. Bathory was permanently ended after Quorthon's death in 2004...
and Enslaved
Enslaved (band)
Enslaved is a progressive black metal band formed in June 1991 in Sveio, Norway, and currently based out of Bergen, Norway.-History:Enslaved was formed in June 1991 by Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson when they were 13 and 17 years old, respectively. The band name was inspired by an Immortal demo...
." The adoption of folk elements was "becoming all the rage" in Finland by this point and other folk metal bands from Finland that began to emerge in the early 2000s included Cadacross
Cadacross
Cadacross was a Finnish heavy metal band formed in 1997. They went through a major line-up change after their debut album So Pale Is the Light. Georg Laakso, guitarist and vocalist, was the only remaining member from the previous lineup...
, Ensiferum
Ensiferum
Ensiferum is a Finnish folk metal band from Helsinki. The members of the band label themselves as "heroic folk metal." Since their formation, Ensiferum has released four full-length albums, one EP, one compilation, three singles, and three demo albums and one unreleased album.-Musical...
and later on Turisas
Turisas
Turisas is a Finnish folk metal band from Hämeenlinna. It was founded in 1997 by Mathias Nygård and Jussi Wickström and named after an ancient Finnish God of war....
and Wintersun
Wintersun
Wintersun is an extreme metal band from Helsinki, Finland.Wintersun was originally created by guitarist Jari Mäenpää as a side project to folk metal band Ensiferum, for whom he was lead singer and guitarist. In 2003, Mäenpää began culling together songs that he'd been working on since 1995. These...
. Ensiferum notably found themselves at the top of the Finnish charts with their 2007 single "One More Magic Potion
One More Magic Potion
"One More Magic Potion" is the second single of the viking / folk metal band Ensiferum. The song comes from their third album, Victory Songs. It was released on February 7, 2007 by Spinefarm.-Track listing:# "One More Magic Potion"...
". Finntroll, Korpiklaani, Moonsorrow and Turisas have all experienced chart success in their native Finland as well.
Folk metal acts are not uncommon in the other Scandinavian countries. Bands from Sweden include the aforementioned Thyrfing and Månegarm along with other acts such as Otyg
Otyg
Otyg was a folk metal band from Sweden, featuring Andreas Hedlund, the frontman for Vintersorg.During their existence, Otyg released two albums with songs written in traditional Scandinavian folk style, featuring traditional Scandinavian instruments not frequently heard in heavy metal, such as the...
and Vintersorg
Vintersorg
Vintersorg is a Swedish band from Skellefteå, formed in 1994 under the name Vargatron . Musically, Vintersorg has covered a wide number of heavy metal genres; while the band is mostly rooted in extreme metal styles, particularly black metal and Viking/folk metal, it has also expanded into...
. Norway has produced the aforementioned Storm and Windir as well as more recent groups such as Kampfar
Kampfar
Kampfar is a black metal band from Fredrikstad, Norway. According to their singer, Dolk, their name is an ancient Norse battle cry which means Odin or Wotan.-History:...
, Lumsk
Lumsk
Lumsk is a folk metal band from Trondheim, Norway. It combines traditional Norwegian folk music and folklore with rock, progressive rock and metal...
,, Ásmegin
Ásmegin
Ásmegin is a Norwegian folk/viking metal band formed in 1998. The name comes from Old Norse and means "by the might of the gods". Ásmegin's lyrics are written in Norwegian as well as some in Old Norse and older Norwegian...
and Trollfest
Trollfest
Trollfest are a Norwegian folk metal band.The band released their first full-length album, Willkommen Folk Tell Drekka Fest, on the Solistitium Records label on March 15, 2005. The album name translates roughly to "Welcome Folk To The Drinking Feast" in English. Their second album, Brakebein , was...
. Folk metal bands from Denmark include Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights (band)
Wuthering Heights is a Danish heavy metal band, with a somewhat eclectic musical style which falls in somewhere between progressive, folk, and power metal.- Biography :...
, Svartsot
Svartsot
Svartsot is a Danish folk metal band formed in 2005 in Randers. Svartsot blend death and black metal with contemporary metal-styles and Nordic folk music.-History:On December 17, 2008, Michael Lundquist Andersen, Niels Thøgersen, Claus B...
, and the Faroe Islanders
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...
Týr
Týr (band)
Týr, , is a folk metal band from the Faroe Islands. Their subject matter revolves almost entirely around old Nordic lore, mythology, and history, taking their name from a Norse god of war. They signed a worldwide deal with Austria's Napalm Records in early 2006, while signed to the Faroese record...
.
Outside Scandinavia, other European nations have contributed to the growing genre. Groups from the Baltic states
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
of Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
and Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
includes Metsatöll
Metsatöll
Metsatöll is an Estonian folk metal band.The name "Metsatöll" is an ancient Estonian euphemism for wolf, which is reflected in the harshness of their lyrics...
, Raud-Ants
Raud-Ants
Raud-Ants is an Estonian folk metal band from Viljandi that was formed in 2002. Raud-Ants combines Estonian folk music with Heavy metal. The band was raised in Tartu and Tallinn....
, and Skyforger
Skyforger
Skyforger is a heavy metal band from Latvia which was formed in 1995 out of the remains of doom metal band Grindmaster Dead. Most of their songs are about pagan gods and warfare; they also play traditional Latvian folk songs and metal covers. Although Skyforger is known for their folk metal, their...
while representatives from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
include Alkonost
Alkonost (band)
Alkonost is a Russian heavy metal band formed in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russia in 1995. Starting small and gradually building a local Russian fanbase, they are now known to rock fans throughout Eastern and Northern Europe.-Popularity:...
, Arkona
Arkona (band)
Arkona is a Russian pagan metal band. Their lyrics are heavily influenced by Russian folklore and Slavic mythology, and their music incorporates several traditional Russian musical instruments...
and Butterfly Temple. More isolated examples across Europe include Divlje Jagode
Divlje jagode
Divlje Jagode is a Yugoslav and Bosnian hard rock and heavy metal band.-1970s:Divlje Jagode were formed in 1977 in Bihać by guitarist Zele Lipovača...
(wild strawberries) from Bosnia, Balkandji
Balkandji
Balkandji is a folk metal band from Bulgaria. They freely mix traditional Bulgarian music with hard rock and heavy metal. As Bulgarian folk music is very complex, in Balkandji songs odd time signatures and constant time signature changing are very common...
from Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Elvenking
Elvenking (band)
Elvenking is a folk/power metal band from Italy. As of 2010, the band has released one demo, one single, and six full-length studio albums.- Biography :...
from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Eluveitie
Eluveitie
Eluveitie is a folk metal band from Winterthur, Switzerland. The band formed in 2002 and their first EP, Vên came out in 2003. The band then released a full-length album, Spirit in June 2006. In November 2007, Eluveitie was signed by Nuclear Blast....
from Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Folkearth
Folkearth
Folkearth is an international music project created in 2003 by musicians playing folk and viking metal. The name symbolizes musicians from all over the world playing folk music...
is an international folk metal project with members from several different European countries. At its inception, the project consisted of 14 musicians from separate backgrounds in folk and metal music. With their second album By the Sword of My Father
By the Sword of My Father
By the Sword of My Father is the second studio album of the musical project Folkearth.-Track listing:# "Introduction" — 4:24# "The Lady's Gift" — 3:48# "By the Sword of My Father" — 5:26# "Naglfar Sets Sail" — 5:18# "The Death of Beowulf" — 6:04...
released in 2006, the project boasted the participation of 31 musicians.
Beyond the European continent, folk metal is relatively rare with only a few known acts including the aforementioned The Lord Weird Slough Feg and their fellow Americans Agalloch
Agalloch
Agalloch is an American metal band formed in 1995 in Portland, Oregon. The band is led by vocalist and guitarist John Haughm and so far have released four limited EPs, four full-length albums, two demos, one split album, one compilation album and one live DVD....
. The latter's music "made for a stark geographical anomaly, since its eclectic, avant-garde folk-metal was the sort of thing one would expect to emerge from Scandinavia -- not Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
." Tuatha de Danann
Tuatha de Danann (band)
Tuatha de Danann is a Brazilian Celtic metal band from Varginha, Minas Gerais; known for the merryful celtic dance rhythms, flute melodies, Celtic mythology-inspired lyrics and the original jesting tones such as gnome-choirs, etc...
is another geographical anomaly with their Celtic metal from Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
Music
Midnattsol
Midnattsol is a Symphonic metal band from Germany and Norway, The band was formed in 2002 by singer Carmen Elise Espenæs and guitarist Christian Hector.- History :...
blends the genre with gothic metal
Gothic metal
Gothic metal or goth metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines the aggression of doom metal with the dark melancholy of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music...
. Progressive tendencies can be found among some bands including Elvenking, Lumsk and Týr. Some bands are known to adopt more than one different styles of heavy metal. Orphaned Land combines folk metal with progressive and doom/death
Death/doom
Death/doom, sometimes writes as death-doom or deathdoom, is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep growling vocals and double kick drumming of death metal...
metal while Ensiferum mix folk music on top of a power and death metal hybrid. A few groups are also known to incorporate the styles of other music genres outside of heavy metal. Examples include the punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
in the Norwegian act Glittertind
Glittertind (band)
Glittertind is a Norwegian folk metal and viking metal project which started in 2001.The band consist of Torbjørn Sandvik, Geirmund Simonsen and various guest musicians....
and the neofolk
Neofolk
Neofolk is a form of folk music-inspired experimental music that emerged from post-industrial music circles. Neofolk can either be solely acoustic folk music or a blend of acoustic folk instrumentation aided by varieties of accompanying sounds such as pianos, strings and elements of industrial...
and post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
tendencies of Agalloch
Agalloch
Agalloch is an American metal band formed in 1995 in Portland, Oregon. The band is led by vocalist and guitarist John Haughm and so far have released four limited EPs, four full-length albums, two demos, one split album, one compilation album and one live DVD....
.
The folk elements in the genre often reflect the ethnic background of the musicians as is the case for the Scandinavian folk music in Finntroll and Korpiklaani, the Baltic folk music in Metsatöll and Skyforger or the Middle Eastern background of Orphaned Land
Orphaned Land
Orphaned Land is an Israeli progressive metal band, formed in 1991, that combines Death/doom, Jewish and Arabic influences.- History :In 1992, the band changed its name from the original Resurrection to Orphaned Land....
. Celtic music can be found among such Irish groups as Cruachan and Waylander as well as bands outside Ireland like Eluveitie (although Switzerland can be considered a country with a Celtic history), and Tuatha de Danann (from Brazil, a country that has no cultural ties with the Celts whatsoever, despite the similarity of the country's name to an island in Irish myth
Brazil (mythical island)
Brasil, also known as Hy-Brasil or several other variants, is a phantom island which was said to lie in the Atlantic ocean west of Ireland. In Irish myths it was said to be cloaked in mist, except for one day each seven years, when it became visible but still could not be reached...
). Folk music from multiple regions are employed by some groups like Elvenking and Ensiferum.
The genre also offers a variety of atmosphere and moods. A fun and cheerful nature is characteristic of groups like Finntroll and Korpiklaani. Both bands are also noted for playing music that one can dance to. In contrast, other acts such as Thyrfing and Primordial are known for their contemplative atmosphere. Lumsk offers a more mellow style while Agalloch are known for their "depressive ambient" sound.
An epic atmosphere is characteristic of some folk metal bands like Primordial, Moonsorrow, Turisas and the music project Folkearth. Groups like Ensiferum and Wintersun are known to have a melodious side while bands that favor a more blistering or brutal approach can be found in groups like Finntroll and Månegarm.
Instruments
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist in their line up. This includes Skyclad, Subway to Sally, Schandmaul, Mägo de Oz, Silent Stream of Godless Elegy, Korpiklaani, Lumsk, Elvenking, Eluveitie and Tuatha de Danann. The tin whistle
Tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
and flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
can be found in such Celtic metal bands as Cruachan, Waylander and Eluveitie. The flute can also be found in other bands such as Metsatöll, Schandmaul and Morgenstern
Morgenstern (Mittelalter band)
-Albums:*Feuertaufe *Heute ist die Rache mein *Rausch *Fuego -External links:** at Napalm Records...
. Some bands are also known to highlight more exotic instruments from their ethnic background or country, including Skyforger
Skyforger
Skyforger is a heavy metal band from Latvia which was formed in 1995 out of the remains of doom metal band Grindmaster Dead. Most of their songs are about pagan gods and warfare; they also play traditional Latvian folk songs and metal covers. Although Skyforger is known for their folk metal, their...
's use of the Latvian kokle
Kokle
The kokle is a Latvian plucked string musical instrument , related to the zither. It is similar in construction and origin to the Lithuanian kanklės, Russian gusli, Estonian kannel and Finnish kantele.-Origin:...
, Metsatöll
Metsatöll
Metsatöll is an Estonian folk metal band.The name "Metsatöll" is an ancient Estonian euphemism for wolf, which is reflected in the harshness of their lyrics...
's use of the Estonian torupill
Torupill
The torupill is a type of bagpipe from Estonia.-Place in Estonian folk music:It is not clear when the bagpipe became established in Estonia...
, Korpiklaani's use of the Finnish kantele
Kantele
A kantele or kannel is a traditional plucked string instrument of the zither family native to Finland, Estonia, and Karelia. It is related to the Russian gusli, the Latvian kokle and the Lithuanian kanklės. Together these instruments make up the family known as Baltic psalteries...
, Eluveitie's use of the hurdy-gurdy, and Orphaned Land's use of the oud
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
and saz
Baglama
thumb|180px|Cura and bağlamaThe bağlama is a stringed musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia....
.
In the absence of folk instruments, other bands in the genre resort to using keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
to replicate the sound of folk instruments. This includes the aforementioned Storm, Empyrium and Finntroll as well as other acts like Midnattsol. Bands that supplement a folk instrument like the violin with keyboards include Skyclad, Mägo de Oz, and Tuatha de Danann.
Summoning (band)
Summoning is an Austrian black metal band. They are known in part due to their extensive use of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth mythology as lyrical subject.-Biography:...
. Other folk metal bands expand their regular roster to include more musicians and consequently, it is not uncommon to find bands in the genre featuring six or more members in their line-up. Some of the sextets in the genre are Schandmaul, Cruachan, Korpiklaani, Turisas, and Midnattsol, while septets include Subway to Sally, In Extremo, and Lumsk. Both Silent Stream of Godless Elegy and Eluveitie boast eight members each while the line up of Mägo de Oz totals nine performers. Even when a band includes members dedicated to folk instruments, they might still rely on guest musicians to further enhance their sound. As an example, Lumsk added thirteen guest musicians to the band's seven members on their debut album Åsmund Frægdegjevar
Åsmund Frægdegjevar (album)
Åsmund Frægdegjevar is the first full-length album by the Norwegian folk metal band Lumsk. It was released on August 25, 2003 by Spikefarm...
. At times, guest musicians are known to become full fledged members of the band as was the case in Skyforger and Turisas.
Vocals
The diverse range of music styles and instruments is matched by a variety of vocal styles in the genre. From the "spine-chilling death shrieksDeath growl
A death growl, also known as death metal vocals, guttural vocals, death grunts, and harsh vocals among other names, is a vocalisation style usually employed by vocalists of the death metal and black metal music genre, but also used in a variety of heavy metal and hardcore punk subgenres.Death...
" in Finntroll to the black metal rasps of Skyforger or Moonsorrow, there is no shortage of extreme vocals in folk metal. Other bands to feature extreme vocals include Cadacross, Ensiferum and Equilibrium
Equilibrium (band)
Equilibrium is a Folk metal band from Germany. The band's music combines elements of folk and symphonic metal with various instruments including electric guitars, strings and flutes. Their riffs reflect traditional Germanic melodies....
. In contrast, bands like Mägo de Oz and Metsatöll are known to feature "clean" singing in line with their more traditional metal approach. Numerous other bands in the genre are known to feature both extreme vocals and clean singing. This includes Primordial, Turisas, Windir and Wintersun.
Traditional folk singing can also be found among some folk metal bands. The yoik
Yoik
A joik, , luohti, vuolle, leu'dd, or juoiggus is a traditional Sami form of song.Originally, joik referred to only one of several Sami singing styles, but in English the word is often used to refer to all types of traditional Sami singing...
vocals of Jonne Järvelä
Jonne Järvelä
Jonne Järvelä is the vocalist/guitarist of the Finnish band Korpiklaani and of former project Shaman. He is known in the Verga folk metal scene for his yoiking and contributed the yoik on the Finntroll album, Jaktens Tid. He once was a member of the Sami music group Angelin tytöt.- See also...
have been featured in varying degrees in the music of Shaman, Finntroll and Korpiklaani. Folk singing or folk-inspired singing can also be heard in the music of Equilibrium, Metsatöll, Skyforger and Orphaned Land. The music of Orphaned Land also features the use of chants and choirs, commonly encountered in the genre of folk metal. Bands that are known to use a choir include Arkona, Turisas, Lumsk and Eluveitie, while chants can be found in the music of Týr and Windir. Some bands like Falconer
Falconer (band)
Falconer is a Swedish power metal band from Mjölby, formed in 1999. Founded by the former guitarist of Mithotyn, Stefan Weinerhall. Falconer carry on many of the traditions set by Weinerhall's previous band and play a style of power metal that utilises folk instrumentation and melody to create a...
and Thyrfing are also known to feature "yo-ho-ho folk melodies" in their vocals to suit their Viking metal style.
Orphaned Land mostly uses English lyrics, but they are known to feature other languages as they "go well with the music and also sound more exotic and unique." Týr has also been known to use multiple languages in their music. Other bands in the genre are known to sing exclusively or almost entirely in their native language, including Mägo de Oz in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Moonsorrow in Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
, Metsatöll in Estonian
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
and Lumsk in Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
. Bands in the medieval metal subgenre also tend to sing largely or entirely in their German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, including Subway to Sally, Morgenstern
Morgenstern (Mittelalter band)
-Albums:*Feuertaufe *Heute ist die Rache mein *Rausch *Fuego -External links:** at Napalm Records...
and Letzte Instanz
Letzte Instanz
Letzte Instanz, founded in Dresden, Germany in 1996, is a German metal band particularly noted for their use of the violin and cello. The founding members included Hörbi, Tin Whistle, Muttis Stolz, Kaspar Wichman, Holly D. and Markus G-Punkt. Benni Cellini and Robin Sohn entered the group a year...
.
Lead female singers are not uncommon in the genre and can be found in Cruachan, Otyg, Lumsk, Arkona and Midnattsol. Other groups like Orphaned Land and Elvenking have employed guest female vocalists in their music.
Lyrics
Popular subjects in folk metal include paganismPaganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
, nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
, fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
and history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
.
Folk metal has been associated with paganism ever since its inception, when Martin Walkyier left his former band Sabbat to form Skyclad, in part because the band "wasn't going to go far enough down the pagan, British way that we wanted to do it." Consequently, the lyrics of Skyclad have been known to deal with pagan matters. The band Cruachan was also founded by a self-described pagan, Keith Fay. For Ville Sorvali of Moonsorrow, the label "pagan metal" is preferred "because that describes the ideological points in the music, but doesn’t say anything about the music itself." Other bands that also prefer to use the term "pagan metal" as a self-description include Cruachan, Eluveitie, Obtest and Skyforger. In contrast to bands with pagan themes, some folk metal bands such as Orphaned Land
Orphaned Land
Orphaned Land is an Israeli progressive metal band, formed in 1991, that combines Death/doom, Jewish and Arabic influences.- History :In 1992, the band changed its name from the original Resurrection to Orphaned Land....
have themes of Abrahamic religion.
The pioneers of the genre Skyclad avoided fantasy lyrics because "there was already enough fantasy in the world, told to us by our politicians every day." Nonetheless, other folk metal bands have been known to feature fantasy themes in their lyrics including Ensiferum, Midnattsol and Cruachan. For Elvenking, fantasy themes are used "as a metaphor to cover deeper meanings." Similarly, the fantasy themes in Turisas belie the coverage of issues "that are deeper and have greater significance."
The Celtic metal subgenre is known to feature lyrics based on Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
. The history of the Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
s is another popular source for the lyrics of Celtic metal bands like Cruachan, Eluveitie, Primordial and Mael Mórdha
Mael Mórdha
Mael Mórdha is a doom metal band from Dublin, Ireland. Its name can also be written in traditional Irish typography, as Mael Mórḋa. The band's music melds doom metal with Irish folk music to create what has been referred to as "Gaelic doom metal".-History:...
. Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
can be found in the lyrics of such Scandinavian bands as Falkenbach, Týr, Finntroll and Mithotyn
Mithotyn
Mithotyn was a folk metal/black metal band from Mjölby, Sweden.-History:Formed in 1992 as a blackened death metal act under the name Cerberus by founding members; Christian "Christer" Schütz, Stefan Weinerhall who stayed with the band to the end, and Johan who left shortly afterward. After one...
. Skyforger is known for featuring lyrics based on both the history and mythology of their Latvian culture. Other bands that have treated history to song include Falconer and Slechtvalk
Slechtvalk
Slechtvalk is an extreme metal band from The Netherlands, formed in 1999. Previously signed to Fear Dark Record and currently to Whirlwind Records, the group has released four albums, a split-CD with Kekal, a single and a DVD...
.
A few National Socialist black metal
National Socialist black metal
National Socialist black metal is black metal that promotes National Socialist beliefs through their lyrics and imagery. These beliefs often include: white supremacy, racial separatism, antisemitism, heterosexism, and Nazi interpretations of paganism or Satanism...
(NSBM) bands like the Ukrainians
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
Nokturnal Mortum
Nokturnal Mortum
Nokturnal Mortum is a Ukrainian black metal band from Kharkiv.-History:Nokturnal Mortum started as death metal band Suppuration in 1991, then turned to black metal and changed name to Crystalline Darkness but "had to change the name back in 1993/94 to Nocturnal Mortum because there already existed...
, Temnozor
Temnozor
Temnozor is a pagan metal NSBM band formed in 1996 in Obninsk, Russia. According to the band in statements on its website, it was formed to express the pride its members had of being Slavic. Temnozor started out as a raw black metal band with folk influences, but folk music has increasingly...
and Kroda have been known to cross over into folk metal, a circumstance that Ciaran O'Hagan, the vocalist of Waylander, views as "an insult to people like myself who don’t hold with fascist ideals at all." He further suggests that the NSBM bands are playing folk metal "for all the wrong reasons." Due to the misappropriation of pagan symbols by Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
, several folk metal bands have also been mistaken for being part of the NSBM scene. Consequently, such bands as Cruachan, Skyforger, Moonsorrow, Månegarm and Týr have had to disassociate themselves with Nazism, fascism or racism. Skyforger went as far as to add the words 'No Nazi Stuff Here!' on the back of their album covers. Richard Lederer of Summoning has also publicly denounced National Socialism in a self-penned essay on his band's website. In April 2008, performers on the folk metal festival Paganfest were subject to accusations of being Nazis, racists and fascists from the German Antifa. Ville Sorvali of Moonsorrow and Heri Joensen of Týr issued a joint video statement to refute these accusations, noting that "one of the biggest issues seems to be that we use ancient Scandinavian symbols in our imagery like the S in the Moonsorrow logo
Sig Rune
Sig is the name given by Guido von List for the Sigel or s rune of the Armanen Futharkh, and is also used by Karl Maria Wiligut for his runes.-Nazism:...
and the T in the Týr logo
Tiwaz rune
The t-rune is named after Týr, and was identified with this god. The reconstructed Proto-Germanic name is *Tîwaz or *Teiwaz.-Rune poems:Tiwaz is mentioned in all three rune poems...
[even though] that is how the S and the T runes
Runic alphabet
The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...
have been written for thousands of years." Moonsorrow has also issued a written statement in response to the controversy while Týr notes on their official website that they "got the idea for the rune logo" from the Black Sabbath album
Tyr (album)
TYR is the fifteenth studio album by heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in August 1990 by I.R.S. Records.The album title and several song titles are taken from Norse mythology, which led many to call TYR a concept album, although bassist Neil Murray dispelled that in 2005, stating that while...
of the same name.
The original folk metal band Skyclad was also known to deal with serious political subjects but through lyrics that were littered with puns and humor. Other bands have continued to feature fun and humorous lyrics. This includes Finntroll with their obsession on trolls. The lyrics of Korpiklaani also "focused on having a good time, drinking [and] partying." In a review of Turisas' The Varangian Way
The Varangian Way
The Varangian Way is the second full-length album from Finnish folk metal band, Turisas and was released in 2007. It is a concept album that tells the story of a group of Scandinavians traveling the river routes of medieval Russia, through Ladoga, Novgorod and Kiev, down to the Byzantine Empire.A...
album, James Christopher Monger of Allmusic commented that some listeners might be put off by "the concept of grown men in pelts" singing such lyrics as "come with us to the south, write your name on our roll." Heri Joensen of Týr contends that a listener needs to be confident in his masculinity
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
to listen to such traditional Faeroese lyrics as his own "young lads, happy lads, step upon the floor, dance merrily."
See also
- Pagan metalPagan metalPagan metal is an umbrella term for heavy metal music which fuses extreme metal with "the pre-Christian traditions of a specific culture or region through thematic concept, rustic melodies, unusual instruments or archaic languages", usually referring to folk metal or black metal. The Norwegian band...
- List of folk metal bands
- Tang DynastyTang Dynasty (band)Tang Dynasty is a Chinese ethnic-art rock and prog-metal band that is often credited as being the first heavy metal band in China.-Biography:...
External links
- http://www.folk-metal.nl Nederlandse Folk-metal site
- Folk metal at About.comAbout.comAbout.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
Folk, Viking, Pagan, Medieval Folk metal community - MetalFolk.org - [irc://irc.quakenet.org/FolkMetal Official Folk Metal IRC]