Viking Metal

Haha what, you arn't this out there on EoFF Jrgen. :p

If folk metal isn't a metal genre, then please explain the following bands to me:

Ashtar
Korpiklaani
Otyg
Sig:at:tyr
Moonsorrow

I mean, they mix metal in with folk ... and it is quite obvious that they are not able to be called, black, death, folk, doom, etc ...
 
byrne said:
folk and viking are not sub-genres of metal. end of argument.

viking metal has to be the most worthless description i have ever heard a band be given as it is entirely meaningless. as dodens said before, all bands that are described as viking, can be more suitabley linked to another meaningful genre.

folk is also not a genre as it is simply an influence on playing style. by definition a metal band can't play folk music as folk music is traditional music of a culture. a band can have folk influences, but cant play "folk metal".

also, amon amarth is melodic death metal. not black metal.

I can kinda agree that folk metal isn't necessarily a style rather than an add-on but some bands are hard to classify other than simply folk metal. Especially bands like Ensiferum and Moonsorrow because they don't really fit comfortably into any other genre.
 
Authentic Metalhead said:
Just this one album alone is good enough to get someone acquainted with viking metal. :kickass:


Hahhah I played it for my friend at work and he did not like it... he said he probably had to listen to it more than once, though we didn't have time. Oh well.
 
Ex-cally-boo said:
Haha what, you arn't this out there on EoFF Jrgen. :p

If folk metal isn't a metal genre, then please explain the following bands to me:

Ashtar
Korpiklaani
Otyg
Sig:at:tyr
Moonsorrow

I mean, they mix metal in with folk ... and it is quite obvious that they are not able to be called, black, death, folk, doom, etc ...
Let me guess, Crushed Hope? :)

I suppose folk metal could be considered a metal genre when the metal apect is clearly influenced by folk music, although that would raise the question whether it is mainly folk or mainly metal. If playing folk music with metal instrumentation is metal, then a band playing metal music with folk instruments should be considered a folk band. (I don't have a concrete example of the latter, but I suppose it could be done with stuff like distorted bagpipes and string intruments. Though not folk, what Apocalyptica does is essentially the same.) I suppose it's, in practice, only a matter of drawing a line.
 
Susperia said:
Hahhah I played it for my friend at work and he did not like it... he said he probably had to listen to it more than once, though we didn't have time. Oh well.

Quorthon's voice does take some getting used to, since he's off-key a lot and doesn't have a good range, but he has a unique voice that's just great. :) He grows on you like fungus in Hillary Clinton's vagina.
 
Authentic Metalhead said:
Quorthon's voice does take some getting used to, since he's off-key a lot and doesn't have a good range, but he has a unique voice that's just great. :) He grows on you like fungus in Hillary Clinton's vagina.


Fuck man now i could never listen to him again...ever. *goes to vomit and swears hilarry will never be president...ever*
 
I think it's pointless labeling things onside of metal. When you play an instrument it would be logical to maybe play blues or jazz classical etc.. because it's instrument and you learn. Why go JAZZ metal or whatever.

I think at a point sub-genre's get really ridiculous. You can have a death metal band with blues playing or classical, but it's still the same genre being 'death metal'. This goes for anything in music.

If a guitarist plays blues solos and one has classical solos does that really change the genre when both band have the same musically intent on a genre. does not change anything.


Are we going to start calling things woods metaletc

christ.

It's all metal music with people with different backrounds playing metal in the fashion they think it is. Regardless what someonea unfluences are or what people are raised on music does not change the fact they are playing metal.

If we start labelling things 'metal' more artists will be heard because you would have to do your own search and find what you like and figure on by yourselves the influences being brought in metal bands.

There is so many sub-genre's in metal it's almost harder to find what you want to hear because it's a circus.
 
Teh Grimace said:
jade-the-folk-singer.jpg


folk

Brutal.

Seriously though, these genre wars make baby jesus cry (which I guess is not all bad now I mention it).
 
The Greys said:
I think it's pointless labeling things onside of metal. When you play an instrument it would be logical to maybe play blues or jazz classical etc.. because it's instrument and you learn. Why go JAZZ metal or whatever.

I think at a point sub-genre's get really ridiculous. You can have a death metal band with blues playing or classical, but it's still the same genre being 'death metal'. This goes for anything in music.

If a guitarist plays blues solos and one has classical solos does that really change the genre when both band have the same musically intent on a genre. does not change anything.


Are we going to start calling things woods metaletc

christ.

It's all metal music with people with different backrounds playing metal in the fashion they think it is. Regardless what someonea unfluences are or what people are raised on music does not change the fact they are playing metal.

If we start labelling things 'metal' more artists will be heard because you would have to do your own search and find what you like and figure on by yourselves the influences being brought in metal bands.

There is so many sub-genre's in metal it's almost harder to find what you want to hear because it's a circus.

Yeah, so when in your Utopian vision someone hears, let's say Judas Priest and the sticker on the label says "Metal", or the magazine describes it as "Metal", how fucking irritated are they going to be when they get their new Suffocation disc home?

Agreed, some of the quibbling over genres is (hilariously) over intellectualising distorted rock n' roll, but much of it is there for a reason, hombre.:kickass:
 
byrne said:
my point is, the mere influence of folk styles on any given bands music does not make it "folk music" (and therefore, not folk metal). that is, metal and folk are respectively in their strictest senses, mutually exclusive.

What? Nobody is claiming that folk metal is folk music in the strict sense, just like nobody calls Atheist a jazz band. What the hell are you even trying to say here? And why is this shit supposed to be relevant? Obviously metal with folk influences does not = folk music. That doesn't preclude us from justifiably regarding folk metal as a real subgenre. It's as simple as this:

A lot of metal bands use folk influences extensively in their music.
Bands that do this are easily distinguishable from metal bands that don't.
We find it kind of annoying to always have to say of these bands "the metal bands with folk influences", therefore we attach a name to said group of bands, namely "folk metal".

edit: although we'd probably want to exclude bands that are more easily categorizable under existing subgenres.