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Heavy Metal Thunder Folk Metal

Genres Heavy Metal Folk Metal

Folk Metal

Fiddles, flutes and hurdy-gurdies over distorted guitars. Frequently joyful, and occasionally performed in face paint and horns.

Active years
1991 – present
Origin
UK / Finland
Family
Folk / Viking / Pagan
Bands here
16

Start here

Four records in order of how easy they are to get into — which is not the same as best first.

  1. The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth Skyclad, 1991 The landmark

    Recorded in 1990 and released in October 1991 — the date is worth stating because this record is the reason anyone dates folk metal at all.

    Listen to The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth

  2. Voice of Wilderness Korpiklaani, 2005

    Drinking songs with a fiddle, played completely straight. The most fun and the least serious thing here.

    Listen to Voice of Wilderness

  3. Jaktens Tid Finntroll, 2001

    Black metal played over Finnish humppa, which is a polka rhythm. It should not work at all and it is magnificent.

    Listen to Jaktens Tid

  4. Slania Eluveitie, 2008

    Eight people, a hurdy-gurdy and a bagpipe over melodic death metal. The most musically ambitious folk metal record.

    Listen to Slania

What it sounds like

Real instruments you would not expect. Fiddles, flutes, accordions, hurdy-gurdies, tin whistles and bagpipes, played alongside distorted guitars rather than over the top of them, with folk melodies and dance rhythms doing the work a riff usually does. Vocals range from clean singing to harsh, and gang choruses are everywhere. Most of it is upbeat — this is the happiest music in the collection, frequently by some distance, and a lot of it is openly comic. The melodies come from actual traditional repertoire, which is why folk metal from Finland, Ireland and Turkey sounds genuinely different rather than just differently costumed.

  • Heaviness 3 out of 5
  • Speed 3 out of 5
  • Aggression 2 out of 5
  • Technicality 3 out of 5
  • Darkness 2 out of 5
  • Melody 4 out of 5

Where the name came from

A descriptive compound for the fusion of metal with traditional folk music. Skyclad, formed in 1990 by ex-Satan vocalist Martin Walkyier, are widely credited as the pioneers. The name gained wider use as Finnish bands like Finntroll and Ensiferum built the genre into a major movement through the mid-to-late 1990s.

The bands

Hear these first

  • Skyclad UK
  • Finntroll Finland
  • Korpiklaani Finland
  • Ensiferum Finland
  • Eluveitie Switzerland

And 11 more

  • Månegarm Sweden
  • Arkona Russia
  • Turisas Finland
  • Cruachan Ireland
  • Waylander UK
  • Mägo de Oz Spain
  • Saratoga Spain
  • Avalanch Spain
  • Warcry Spain
  • Bucovina Romania
  • Metsatöll Estonia

Where it happened

Counting this genre and everything descended from it.

  • Egypt / Arab World Arab Metal — Egypt, Lebanon & the MENA Underground 14 bands
  • Russia Russian Folk, Pagan & Extreme Metal 9 bands
  • Israel Middle Eastern Metal 5 bands
  • Mongolia Mongolian Folk Metal & Hunnu Rock 5 bands
  • Finland Finnish Metal — Folk, Symphonic & Extreme 4 bands
  • Iceland Icelandic Black & Post-Metal 4 bands
  • Spain Spanish Heavy & Folk Metal 4 bands
  • Turkey Turkish Metal & Anatolian Heavy Music 4 bands

What it led to

If you liked this

Closest in sound outside this family, leaning towards the similar or the gentler rather than straight into the deep end.