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A dive into metal's sub genres: Folk/Viking metal
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Boring intro in the spoiler box, skip freely.
So, this thread here is for discussing two certain sub-genres of metal. Viking Metal and, its (intertwined in some cases) cousin, Folk Metal.
Quoting Wikipedia, Viking Metal is “characterised by its galloping pace, keyboard-rich anthemic sound, bleakness and dramatic emphasis on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age.” whereas Folk metal is “a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music which includes the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles.”.
The reason I’m listing these two together is (apart from finding it easier than creating two separate topics) that quite a few of Folk Metal bands find their song themes in their Viking past and, conversely, Viking metal bands make often use of their traditional tunes and/or musical instruments. That’s why you can find certain bands under both categories. Note, however, that Folk metal is a much wider category that Viking metal, as the latter is almost exclusive from Northern Europe whereas the former has some regional variety such as oriental and medieval (see: Haggard).
My personal experience from these two highly addictive genres consist of the following bands: Amon Amarth (V), Eluveitie (F), Ensiferum (V/F), Finntroll (V/F), Korpiklaani (F/V?), Skyclad (F), Turisas (V/F), Tyr (F/V). It’s not that easy to generalize as such bands that their lyrics you sometimes even not understand so excuse if I made any mistakes; this is the gist of it anyway.
Now, why would someone be entranced by such a brutal (at times) theme with lyrics he may not understand (since a lot of these songs are in Finnish or Swedish, even Faroese in the case of Tyr!)? My personal explanation is pretty simplistic, in a way that may seem childish: It’s because they speak of simpler days, when one had only to trust his own strength and there were endless possibilities. When morals actually meant something, heroic deeds were becoming a tale for the next generations, myth and reality were fused. To use Lancer’s words (F/SN), you could feast with people you’d be battling the next morning. The highest reward was to leave a name that would be recognized ages later, die in a MANLY way and spend the afterlife in Valhalla.
Such ideals and many more (p.ex. the importance of a lineage, the nostalgia of your home when you’ve reached the end of your travels) are well followed by the sounds of your typical heavy metal, sometimes with instruments like the bagpipe or the flute and either melodic or harsh phonetics.
Not everything is as good as it looks though and this becomes prominent in songs by Finntroll and Amon Amarth. Namely, it’s the motif of using the part of their history when the catholic church was constantly trying to “civilize” the northern people and the preachers sent were meeting an unfitting end. I admit that nothing is only black and white, the methods used by both sides were not ones you’d like to hear about. Still, putting tortures and eager killing in songs like that is a bit provoking. Luckily, there are people (me included) that can see past that. It’s not that bad things didn’t happen at all during humanity’s progress and if it consists of a nation’s history then it’s only logical for them to remember it and mention it if they want to.
As for enjoying songs that you not know the language just close your eyes and use your imagination..
I made a playlist on youtube while writing this for your enjoyment. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eABVwEgzIss&feature=PlayList&p=ACB329405C44A9C0&index=0&playnext=1
It’s got 4-5 sample songs that I consider above average from each band mentioned before so if you want you can skip 3-4 videos and get to the next band. They’re listed in alphabetical order which doesn’t help much so here’s a lighter-to-harder order if your ears are too delicate to bear a single “Grrarghh”: Tyr<Turisas<Ensiferum<Eluveitie<Korpiklaani<Finntroll<Amon Amarth
Any other fans of such music out there? What’s Fakku’s opinion of Folk/Viking metal? Any additional bands you know of that fit under each of these categories (or both) is more than welcome. Everyone’s invited to write down how s/he came to know of any such bands and, to sum it up, post anything relevant in order to deepen the discussion, like why they like it, etc etc.
Spoiler:
So, this thread here is for discussing two certain sub-genres of metal. Viking Metal and, its (intertwined in some cases) cousin, Folk Metal.
Quoting Wikipedia, Viking Metal is “characterised by its galloping pace, keyboard-rich anthemic sound, bleakness and dramatic emphasis on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age.” whereas Folk metal is “a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music which includes the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles.”.
The reason I’m listing these two together is (apart from finding it easier than creating two separate topics) that quite a few of Folk Metal bands find their song themes in their Viking past and, conversely, Viking metal bands make often use of their traditional tunes and/or musical instruments. That’s why you can find certain bands under both categories. Note, however, that Folk metal is a much wider category that Viking metal, as the latter is almost exclusive from Northern Europe whereas the former has some regional variety such as oriental and medieval (see: Haggard).
My personal experience from these two highly addictive genres consist of the following bands: Amon Amarth (V), Eluveitie (F), Ensiferum (V/F), Finntroll (V/F), Korpiklaani (F/V?), Skyclad (F), Turisas (V/F), Tyr (F/V). It’s not that easy to generalize as such bands that their lyrics you sometimes even not understand so excuse if I made any mistakes; this is the gist of it anyway.
Now, why would someone be entranced by such a brutal (at times) theme with lyrics he may not understand (since a lot of these songs are in Finnish or Swedish, even Faroese in the case of Tyr!)? My personal explanation is pretty simplistic, in a way that may seem childish: It’s because they speak of simpler days, when one had only to trust his own strength and there were endless possibilities. When morals actually meant something, heroic deeds were becoming a tale for the next generations, myth and reality were fused. To use Lancer’s words (F/SN), you could feast with people you’d be battling the next morning. The highest reward was to leave a name that would be recognized ages later, die in a MANLY way and spend the afterlife in Valhalla.
Such ideals and many more (p.ex. the importance of a lineage, the nostalgia of your home when you’ve reached the end of your travels) are well followed by the sounds of your typical heavy metal, sometimes with instruments like the bagpipe or the flute and either melodic or harsh phonetics.
Not everything is as good as it looks though and this becomes prominent in songs by Finntroll and Amon Amarth. Namely, it’s the motif of using the part of their history when the catholic church was constantly trying to “civilize” the northern people and the preachers sent were meeting an unfitting end. I admit that nothing is only black and white, the methods used by both sides were not ones you’d like to hear about. Still, putting tortures and eager killing in songs like that is a bit provoking. Luckily, there are people (me included) that can see past that. It’s not that bad things didn’t happen at all during humanity’s progress and if it consists of a nation’s history then it’s only logical for them to remember it and mention it if they want to.
As for enjoying songs that you not know the language just close your eyes and use your imagination..
I made a playlist on youtube while writing this for your enjoyment. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eABVwEgzIss&feature=PlayList&p=ACB329405C44A9C0&index=0&playnext=1
It’s got 4-5 sample songs that I consider above average from each band mentioned before so if you want you can skip 3-4 videos and get to the next band. They’re listed in alphabetical order which doesn’t help much so here’s a lighter-to-harder order if your ears are too delicate to bear a single “Grrarghh”: Tyr<Turisas<Ensiferum<Eluveitie<Korpiklaani<Finntroll<Amon Amarth
Any other fans of such music out there? What’s Fakku’s opinion of Folk/Viking metal? Any additional bands you know of that fit under each of these categories (or both) is more than welcome. Everyone’s invited to write down how s/he came to know of any such bands and, to sum it up, post anything relevant in order to deepen the discussion, like why they like it, etc etc.
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Fucking loved it when I was trying to search for it and ended up getting Ironbound(song name) and still slowly looking for more bands. Pretty brutal if you ask me. \M/
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I know they're a little but more power than anything else, but dont you agree that Iced Earth has a little viking in them? :D
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catfish wrote...
Iced Earth has a little viking in themIn their looks maybe.. In all honesty I've stopped checking their new songs 2 years now. Checking everything I got them since then however, I think I'll disagree, I believe they're more focused in themes from the dark side of religion (Dante's Inferno, Damien) as well as evil (?) fictional characters. As for the music I can't say I feel anything heroic from it (and definitely nothing folk either).
On a side note, I found out this act of "Lady in Black" by Ensiferum and was stunned, hear it out.
Lyrics below
Spoiler:
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Folk metal doesn't really get more epic (or rather over-the-top) than that. Still my favorite in this genre.
Spoiler:
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Yeah i do like Folk Metal as well; uh oh, i am the only finnish guy here so far =d
Finntroll is cool; finnish band which sings in swedish language lol; thou i hate swedish language, in folk metal songs it kind of suits a bit and sounds cool =P (thou i still suck a lot at swedish, so i mostly don't understand it at all nor can speak it fluently even thou it's a required language here in Finland lol).
Amon Amarath is some pwnage as well. From the bands Ranter mentioned up there, i think Amon is best of those, since i like (death) metal a lot.
Ensiferum and Equilebrium are pretty epic indeed.
Well, im not a guy who can come up with lots of words, so i'll just say folk/viking metal is really cool ^^ together with death and black metal, i like it.
Finntroll is cool; finnish band which sings in swedish language lol; thou i hate swedish language, in folk metal songs it kind of suits a bit and sounds cool =P (thou i still suck a lot at swedish, so i mostly don't understand it at all nor can speak it fluently even thou it's a required language here in Finland lol).
Amon Amarath is some pwnage as well. From the bands Ranter mentioned up there, i think Amon is best of those, since i like (death) metal a lot.
Ensiferum and Equilebrium are pretty epic indeed.
Well, im not a guy who can come up with lots of words, so i'll just say folk/viking metal is really cool ^^ together with death and black metal, i like it.
