A Subjective History of Folk Metal
By 1990, metal was implanted and extremely popular in mainstream culture. Metallica, Pantera, Guns N’ Roses and Judas Priest were playing in stadiums in front of rapturous crowds that were craving powerful emotions. There were still boundaries left to be pulverized, but the picture was clear: everyone knew what metal was. Even the people who didn’t care for it. That’s how you know something has crossed into the mainstream. But something happened that no one could predict: metal started localizing.
Metal is a subculture in itself, but up until then no one had the idea of incorporating that subculture unto a greater cultural paradigm: folk music. A style of music often attached to a centuries old heritage that can differ greatly from country to country. For example, folk music in Ireland and folk music in Slovakia couldn't be any more different. As metal is an anthemic and unifying genre, it feels like folk metal was begging to happen. When it did, it immediately exploded into a galaxy of microgenres.
This is my subjective history of folk metal.
…and then there was Skyclad
Unlike for most metal subgenres, there is no real prehistory of folk metal. There were no bands playing proto-folk metal without knowing it. Metal being partly rooted in psychedelic rock, there is a history of experimentation with atypical instruments and structures (for example Jethro Tull), but the birth of folk metal was a genuine paradigm breaker. It came into existence right away and people understood right off the bat what it was and that it was something different from any other subgenres.
I know you guys are gonna tell me that viking metal came before and you’d be right, but I’d argue that viking metal is a form of folk metal even if I’m planning to grant it with its own chapter. Folk metal pioneers were not inspired by viking metal pioneers and vice versa. These are two things that just happened at the same, for different reasons. If you listen to both genres after one another, you’ll quickly realize they sound nothing like each other. Viking metal is a form of folk metal, but it’s a complex, wayward child.
The first folk metal band was, at the surprise of no one, from the U.K. A largely forgotten outfit called Skyclad was born in 1990 from the ashes of a thrash metal band called Sabbat. Founding member Martin Walkyier originally wanted to make a Robin Hood themed band, but it was dismissed as corny. They incorporated nonetheless atypical instruments in metal songs like fiddles and flutes. The drumming patterns are also quite different from conventional heavy metal and focused on anthemic rhythms.
Skyclad were originally a thrash metal band with folk elements, but there’s very little thrash to their sound now. They’ve turned into a full blown party folk band.
The nice bare chested, kilt wearing folks of Irish band Cruachan followed suit in 1992 with their album Tuatha Na Gael that was full of acoustic guitars, bagpipes and fist pumping chants. As Skyclad clearly pioneered the genre, Cruachan gave folk metal its final form. They were more influenced by black and viking metal than they were by their predecessors, but they less uninterested in burning churches and pissing on Christianity than they were about flaunting their Celtic heritage to whoever wanted to hear.
Seriously, if there is a culture that has folk music worth hearing it’s the Irish. Another band worth mentioning in the pioneering of folk metal is Finland’s Amorphis. They’re not a folk metal band per se. They’re more of a progressive metal outfit, but they showed interest in their own national folklore early on, on records like Tales from the Thousand Lakes that was based on a national folkloric tale called Kalevala. It opened up the genre to new and exciting riffs and song structures that it would later embrace.
The Folk Metal Galaxy
Once metalheads around the world were (metaphorically) granted permission, they fused metal with their own local culture everywhere around the globe. Depending of the country you live in, folk metal might mean something completely different. For as long as you include instruments from your country’s traditional music and nab a cadence and a melody or two as inspiration, you can do any style of metal and be considered to at least wear the prefix folk- in front of it.
In Finland, Finntroll and Korpiklaani explored the instrumentations and imaginary of Norse culture. It’s upbeat and somehow features a lot of accordion. Both bands also dabble with elements of polka, which give their sound a peculiar appeal. German bands like In Extremo are more into blending medieval music and singing techniques with rock and metal. They could totally fit on a bill with Finntroll and Korpiklaani, but their music is unmistakable from the two Norse bands.
Celtic metal is another bag of bones. Black metal-tinged Primordial are the forerunners of the genre (and a personal favorite), but they owe a lot of their "Celticness" to their frontman Alan Averill's timeless, souful voice. Bands like Gaesa and Waylander are also proud flag bearers for this hyperlocal microgenre. If you drift East into Oriental cultures, bands like The Hu provide their own spin of what folk metal means to people of Mongolia. It’s another, different spin off the same idea.
As you might’ve noticed, folk metal is more of a set of guidelines than a proper genre to properly speak of. You’re folk as long as you pay tribute to the music of your ancestors. Native American black metal outfit Blackbraid has important folk elements to its music. So does Ifernach in a more subtle and yet more uncompromising way, although I would still call them firmly rooted in black metal. American band Slough Feg are also considered folk metal even if they sound more like a power metal band.
Although not folk metal, the whole Appalachian black metal is worth mentioning here, ranging from Panopticon’s bluegrass infused infamy to Agalloch and Wolves in the Thrones Room atmospheric, meditative and melodic spin off the genre. The hybrid of folk music and metal spread like wildfire and filled the cracks in various metal genres everywhere it went. It has become a stalwart of any sophisticated form of the genre to to back to its primordial roots in order to create something new.
The Party Metal Nerds Are Among Us
The popularity of folk metal exploded around the turn of the millennium.
Bands like Finntroll, Korpiklaani, Eluveitie and Ensiferum became the coolest thing in metal for a couple of years. Their accessible sound, fun live performances and dedication to a common language (LARPing, D&D) attracted a different crowd and turned festivals into parties like they never quite could be prior. Folk metal has always remained primarily a paneuropean phenomenon as traditional folk music isn’t all the rage in America, but celebration and inclusion always remained guiding principles.
I wouldn’t say it broke into the mainstream, but it created a paradigm that permeated the ancient ways of metal. Other bands emerge that were never quite as popular as the big four, but brought the genre forward anyway: Glitterind, Trollfest, Skyforger, Varang Nord, etc. Iconic viking metal bands like Falkenbach and Vintersrog leaned heavier on folk influences later in their career, creating uptempo hybrids that contented both purists and the party crow altogether. Folk is almost never not fun.
Of course, who says cultural heritage, says there’s-a-possibility-of-racists-playing-that-style-of-music. Infamous French black metal outfit Peste Noire blended folk and black metal in a way that is quite enticing if you don’t understand what they’re talking about (I do, French is my first language). Many National Socialist Black Metal bands take inspiration from folk music and heritage, so you have to be careful what you decide to put into your ears if flute and accordions are your think. Be responsible.
There was never a strong evolution arc for folk metal. It is what it is and there are plenty of evolutive possibilities within the genre, but it’s never going to become djentified or metalcore will never start using accordion out of the blue. It’s a style that exists beyond the evolutive paradigms of metal and it’s why it lost steam over the last couple years, but it’s also why it will live a long life. It knows what it is and its crowds know what to expect. Party, beer and accordions are party, beer and accordions.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Without further ado, here are five songs to help you understand the genre.
Skyclad - Sky Beneath My Feet : Arguably the first song in the genre. It’s very much rooted in thrash metal, but the drumming pattern and the melodies are completely foreign to the genre. There are also keyboards and chanted lyrics announcing something completely different to come.
Cruachan - The Marching Song of Fian Mc Hugh : Another pioneering band, but listen to how different it is from Skyclad. Cruachan were embracing their Irish heritage fully. It’s electrified Celtic music more than it is metal to properly speak of and this is an important aspect of folk metal.
Primordial - Gallows Hymn : I believe this is one of the bands that blended folk music and metal the best. Primordial sounds like nothing else I know. It carries the power and the melancholy of Irish culture and yet sounds completely contemporary. Gallows Hymn is very much a modern day folk song.
Finntroll - Trollhammaren : The canonical example of what folk metal is. Upbeat, theatrical and leaning heavily on traditional instruments in order to give the music a more widespread appeal. It sounds nothing like conventional metal and it’s by design.
Stadaconé - Cannonball Terror : New band I’ve discovered like six weeks ago at Wacken Metal Battle. A very Canadian spin off folk metal. It’s cold, fast and party focused. Not quite revolutionary, but evolutionary in its own way. It’s a band that no one can really hate on. Especially not live.
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