The words ‘Folk Metal’ give us a smile because the two words are diametrically opposed. In the USA, it is strictly underground. In Europe, this genre of Metal has been around for more than two decades.
Primarily this is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk instruments and/or traditional themes and singing styles from each bands’ country of origin. Not until the mid-1990’s did the genre begin to emerge from other areas of Europe and the Middle East.
Early on, from Ireland came ‘Cruachan’ and the English band ‘Skyclad’ each created a regional variation of what we now think of as ‘Folk Metal’.
In 2000, the genre exploded with ‘Turisas’ and ‘Finntroll’ are from Finland, ‘Orphaned Land’ and ‘Distorted’ are from Israel, and my personal favorites, and feature the first all-female line-up. The German band ‘Subway to Sally’ found chart success metal medieval melodies with a mixture of bagpipes, lute, mandolin, flute, and violin. This particular sub-genre has been termed Medieval Metal.
From Norway comes ‘Storm’, formed from three previous ‘black metal bands’ combining Viking themes with folk music and ‘dark metal’. In Spain, ‘Mago de Oz’ formed in the late-1980’s and flavored their ‘power metal’ with folk music that includes violin and flute. Some lace pagan imagery with politics, while others drape poetry and legend over a smattering of violins and cellos, solidly intertwined with folk music and your choice of metal.
By far, Germany and the Scandinavian countries form the largest contingent of Folk Metal bands. ‘Ensiferum’ also hails from Finland and had a 2007 chart success with the single ‘One More Magic Potion’ . Lesser known examples hail from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, namely ‘Skyforger’, and ‘Raud-Ants’. Russia gave us ‘Alkonost’ and ‘Butterfly Temple’ . ‘Eluveite’ comes from Switzerland and ‘Balkandji’ from Bulgaria. Pretty incredible, the meld of Bulgarian culture and rock-n-roll.
The International Folk Metal Project, Folkearth consists of members from multiple countries and various musical backgrounds. Their 2006 release included contributions from over 31 musicians. Much of this genre will have appeal to not only the open-minded, but also the more traditional listener. When vocals are sung in a language you don’t understand, it becomes another instrument. I think it is incredibly interesting and although ‘Metal’ is not my thing, I like it a lot.
