Line #21 Main/FolkMetal


1	->''"As you sit in your quiet home, surrounded by peace, comfort and civilization, do you, listener, remember those memories, grand and tearful, which still, after hundreds of years, remain now radiant with the brightness of sunlight, and now darkening, like indelible bloodstains? Can your thoughts, torpid with repose, transport themselves back to the horrors and joys of the past? Follow me. I will lead you down into the well. My hand is weak and my sketch humble, but your heart will guide you better than I. Upon that I rely, and begin."''
2	-->--'''Turisas''', Prologue of ''Rex Regi Rebellis''
3
4	[floatboxright:
5	Primary Stylistic Influences:
6	+ FolkMusic, FolkRock, HeavyMetal
7	]
8
9	[floatboxright:
10	Secondary Stylistic Influences:
11	+ BlackMetal, MelodicDeathMetal, PowerMetal
12	]
13
14	[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Folk metal is a combination of folk music and]] HeavyMetal. It's easily one of the most diverse subgenres of metal, due to the wide variety of both metal styles and FolkMusic influences different folk metal bands incorporate. On the Metal side, the primary influence has been DeathMetal and BlackMetal, particularly for bands from Northern Europe (Scandinavia and Germany especially); with the latter being most common in conjunction with strong pagan and/or anti-Christian themes. Substantial influences from PowerMetal, ProgressiveMetal, and [[DoomMetal Doom]] / GothicMetal are also increasingly common, and a few bands even play FolkPunk / Metal [[GenreMashup crossover]]. Folk influences are typically derived from music traditions local to the bands' places of origin or ethnic heritage, but some bands eschew this and incorporate folk music from countries they have no connection to, and many also incorporate a mashup of multiple influences, with Irish and Celtic revival being among the most common in both of these categories. Use of keyboards to replicate the sound of traditional instruments, as well as more atmospheric musical effects, is common; but quite a few bands also employ actual traditional instruments and even preform with them live.
15
16	The first successful folk metal band was Music/{{Skyclad\|Band}}. Though Skyclad's first album was released in 1990, the genre didn't start to pick up steam until 1994, when such bands as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruachan_(band) Cruachan]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphaned_Land Orphaned Land]] were founded. It remained relatively obscure in TheNineties, but became popular in Europe during the [[TurnOfTheMillennium 2000's]]. Finnish bands Music/{{Korpiklaani}} and Music/{{Finntroll}} are often credited with being the primary influence in the recent explosion of FolkMetal's popularity outside of Europe; and Finland has produced arguably the largest percentage of offerings in the genre. Since its founding, the sub-genres [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_metal Celtic metal]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_metal#Oriental_metal Oriental metal]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_metal medieval metal]] have branched off.
17
18	Compare {{Bardcore}}, a genre of music that uses classic instruments to create medieval or antiquity-themed versions of contemporary songs, some of which are metal tunes.
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20	----
21	The more standout bands of Folk Metal are:
22	[[index]]
23	* Music/{{Ade}} - Italian brutal death metal mixed with Roman martial music.
24	* Music/{{Aeternam}} - Canadian melodic death with heavy Oriental influences.
25	* Music/{{Agalloch}} - Includes Folk Metal but is a slight case of GenreMashup
26	* Music/{{Alestorm}} - A combination of {{Pirate}} themed folk metal and largely European styled PowerMetal.
27	* Music/AlienWeaponry - New Zealand-based ThrashMetal[=/=]GrooveMetal band with elements of traditional Maori music, as well as lyrics partly written in native Maori.
28	* Music/AlNamrood - Saudi Arabian Oriental folk/black metal.
29	* Music/{{Amorphis}} - Mixes Folk Metal with elements of death metal (less so now) and prog.
30	* Music/AranduArakuaa - A combination of melodic death metal and Brazilian indigenous music, with lyrics in the Tupi language.
31	* Music/{{Arkona}} - Russian Folk/Pagan band exploiting [[Myth/SlavicMythology Slavic]] themes (the name refers to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Arkona last bastion of Slavic paganism]]). Their vocalist is also one of the few female metal singers to cover both the "soprano" and "gravel" parts of SopranoAndGravel.
32	* Music/{{Bathory}} - TropeMaker for Viking Metal starting with the two epics on ''Blood Fire Death'' (1988), ''Blood on Ice'' (mostly recorded in 1989, but not released until 1996), and ''Hammerheart'' (1990)
33	* Music/{{Battlelore}} - Gothic/Power/Folk Metal
34	* Music/{{Bloodywood}} – Indian (Punjabi, specifically) folk metal mixed with RapMetal, of all things.
35	* Music/{{Brezno}} - Slovenian folk metal
36	* Music/{{Burzum}} - neo-medieval
37	* Music/CellarDarling - incorporates the hurdy-gurdy and transverse flute
38	* Music/{{Cemican}} - Mexican Progressive/Power/Thrash/Folk Metal
39	* Music/{{Chthonic}} (Chinese name: 閃靈 - Shǎnlíng, or "Elusive Spirit") - Taiwanese black metal featuring the erhu, a classical Chinese stringed instrument.
40	* Music/{{Cruachan}} - Celtic Metal
41	* Music/{{D}} - Medieval music and folk dance
42	* Music/DArtagnan — medieval metal
43	* Music/{{Dalriada}} - Hungarian Folk Metal; notable for covering several of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arany_János János Arany's]] ballads in 10+ minute [[EpicRocking epics]].
44	* Music/{{Drudkh}} - Ukrainian Folk[=/=]BlackMetal
45	* Music/{{Eluveitie}} - Gaulish for 'The Swiss'; Celtic/Melodic Death Metal, with some of the lyrics in Gaulish.
46	* Music/{{Elvenking}} - Power/Folk metal
47	* Music/{{Ensiferum}} - Death/Power/Folk Metal
48	* Music/{{Enslaved}} - They tend more towards BlackMetal and ProgressiveMetal than folk metal, but as the primary TropeCodifier for Viking metal, they deserve a listing here. Some of their songs, such as "Yggdrasil", are unmistakable examples of folk metal.
49	* Music/{{Equilibrium}} - Symphonic folk metal
50	* Music/FairToMidland - [[GenreMashup A mixture of folk, country, and metal]].
51	* Music/{{Falconer}} - Power/Folk metal
52	* Music/{{Falkenbach}} - mixed with Viking metal and (on some releases) BlackMetal.
53	* Music/{{Finntroll}} - Black/Folk Metal with a heavy dose of ''humppa'' (a sort of Finnish polka) and strictly troll-themed lyrics. One of the odder examples of... anything.
54	* Music/{{Finsterforst}} - Mixed with ProgressiveMetal and a bit of BlackMetal. They've earned quite a lot of comparisons to Moonsorrow due to the strong similarities, though they've developed a bit more of a distinctive sound on their more recent albums. It helps that they have a full-time accordion player.
55	* Music/HammersOfMisfortune -
56	* Music/{{Heilung}}: The band describe their sound as "amplified history," and the music is mostly voices, drums and subtle electronic effects with no guitars. Amazon still class them as Heavy Metal, possibly because the band sing in Old Norse and write their album track lists in runes. After all, you don't get much more metal than Vikings.
57	* Music/{{Hollenthon}} - Symphonic death metal mixed folk metal
58	* Music/HolyBlood - Christian Black/Folk Metal
59	* Music/TheHu - Mongolian folk/blues metal (they describe their genre as "hunnu rock"). Notable for their use of the ''morin khuur'' and mixing HarshVocals with throat singing.
60	* Music/InExtremo - Medieval Metal. They were the ones who evolved the genre from the Medieval Folk Rock Music/SubwayToSally and Ougenweide played to actual Metal.
61	* Music/{{Jambinai}} - Korean post-metal with heavy folk influence. Use traditional Korean instruments such as the ''haegeum'' and ''geomungo'' for the bulk of their sound.
62	* Music/{{Kontrust}} - Austrian/Polish Folk
63	* Music/{{Korpiklaani}} - More Folk than Metal, often sings about booze. Use both modern and traditional instruments. According to lead singer Jonne Järvelä, could be described as 'old people's music with heavy metal guitars' in Finland.
64	* Music/MagoDeOz: They started as Spanish Folk/Celtic Metal, although they have marched throughout almost every metal style.
65	* [[Music/MaelMordha Mael Mórdha]] - Celtic/Doom Metal
66	* Music/{{Melechesh}} - Assyrian-Armenian[[note]](often mistakenly assumed to be Israeli because they formed in Jerusalem, but none of them are ethnically Israeli and most of their lyrical themes are based around Mesopotamian/Sumerian mythology and occult themes)[[/note]] Oriental/Black metal
67	* [[Music/{{Metsatoll}} Metsatöll]] - Estonian folk metal, most notable for using the torupill (Estonian bagpipes).
68	* Music/MonoInc - A rather unusual example; they started out as GothRock, gradually incorporating more metal and folk elements and medieval theming. It's difficult to say ''exactly'' when the balance tipped into FolkMetal, but ''Welcome to Hell'' is a good candidate.
69	* Music/{{Moonsorrow}} - Melodic black/folk metal, with substantial ProgressiveMetal influence from ''Verisäkeet'' on (three of their songs approach 30 minutes in length, one of them being seconds over that)
70	* Music/{{Moonspell}} - Their early material, as they later took a more gothic-oriented direction.
71	* Music/{{Myrath}} - Tunisian Progressive/Oriental Metal, crossing over with PowerMetal
72	* Music/{{Nawather}} - Tunisian progressive/Oriental metal
73	* Music/NeguraBunget - Black/folk/progressive/folk-metal from Romania with a strong Transylvanian theme.
74	* Music/{{Oathean}}
75	* Music/OrphanedLand - Israeli [[ProgressiveMetal Progressive]]/Oriental Metal (also death and doom metal influence)
76	* Music/PaganReign - Russian folk metal
77	* Music/{{Panopticon}} - US black metal crossed with bluegrass.
78	* Music/{{Primordial\|Band}} - Irish blackened doom/folk metal
79	* Music/{{Rotting Christ}} - Started out as straight black metal, though they started infusing gothic metal into their sound, along with Greek folk and neofolk.
80	* Rudra - Indo-Singaporean blackened death/folk metal
81	* Music/{{Salem}} - Oriental Metal
82	* Music/{{Saltatio Mortis}} - Medieval metal
83	* Music/{{Saurom}} - Spanish Folk/Celtic metal
84	* Music/{{Schandmaul}} - Medieval metal
85	* Music/{{Skagos}} - Canadian folk/black/post-metal
86	* Music/{{Skyclad\|Band}} - Folk Metal
87	* Music/{{Skyforger}} - Latvian folk metal
88	* [[Music/SoiDen Sói Đen]] - Vietnamese folk metal
89	* Music/{{SloughFeg}} - TraditionalHeavyMetal with Celtic influences.
90	* Music/SubwayToSally - Medieval metal
91	* Music/{{Suidakra}} - Celtic/Melodic Death Metal (some of their early stuff was Black Metal)
92	* Music/TenggerCavalry - Mongolian folk metal
93	* Trivax - Iranian[[note]]Founder and mainman Shayan S. was born and raised in Tehran and started the band there, but emigrated to the United Kingdom in his teens; he is currently the only Iranian member, though guitarist Sully is a Syrian immigrant to the UK[[/note]] folk/blackened death metal
94	* Music/{{Turisas}} - Viking themed Folk Metal
95	* [[Music/{{Tyr}} Týr]] - Folk Metal with progressive elements from the Faroe Islands.
96	* Music/{{Ulver}} - Their first album, which serves as a possible TropeCodifier for folk/black metal fusions. Afterwards, they delved into GenreRoulette; every single album by this band is a NewSoundAlbum.
97	* Music/{{Unbowed}} - Canadian brutal folk metal band with heavy black metal influences.
98	* Music/WagakkiBand - traditional Japanese music mixed with metal. Name literally translates to "traditional instrument band".
99	* Wayfarer - US folk/black with prominent gothic country elements
100	* Music/{{Waylander}}- Celtic metal.
101	* Wilderun - US progressive metal with extremely prominent prog folk elements
102	* Music/{{Wintersun}} - Finnish folk metal
103	* Music/WutheringHeights - Celtic elements incorporated with a few other genres
104	* Music/YaotlMictlan — Mayan (!) folk/black metal
105	[[/index]]
106	----
107	!!The following tropes can be found in folk metal:
108	* EverythingsLouderWithBagpipes: Very frequently, to the point where it's almost easier to count the acts that don't employ this. Nigh-omnipresent in Celtic metal in particular (aside from Primordial, who rather notably eschew them altogether).
109	* GoodOldWays: Quite many bands express longing for the old times, include pagan themes in their songs, or are neo-Pagan themselves.
110	%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * HeavyMithril: Displayed by a fair number of bands within the genre.
111	* LighterAndSofter: ''Relatively'' speaking, as it's still pretty hard, but the sub-subgenre of medieval metal is this to FolkMetal as a whole. Drawing more influence from TraditionalHeavyMetal, hard rock, and [[{{UsefulNotes/Punk}} folk punk]] than MelodicDeathMetal and BlackMetal tends to mellow it out a bit, and it's more inclined to do acoustic-only FolkRock songs.
112	* OurTrollsAreDifferent: For some reason (possibly through Finntroll), trolls became a sort of a mascot for certain currents within the genre.
113	%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * TropeCodifier: Korpiklaani.
114	* TropeMaker:
115	** Skyclad. Of the three offshoots of folk metal: Cruachan is the TropeMaker for Celtic Metal, Orphaned Land is the TropeMaker for Oriental Metal, and InExtremo is the TropeMaker for Medieval Metal.
116	** Irish folk-rockers Music/{{Horslips}} were early pioneers of this genre: rock guitars and keyboards alongside traditional instruments, playing modern takes on old songs.

Context Main / FolkMetal