Opinions on Melodic Viking Metal!

Cafe Society
1

I generally enjoy all ranges of music and hold appreciation for even those styles I do not listen to often.

But over the last 6 months or so I was (re)exposed to a few bands that can only be described as heavy growling death metal. The funny thing is I have heard this type of music in years past and dismissed it almost immediately.

However a friend turned me on to a band called Amon Amarth and I cannot get enough. Yes there is growling, yes its heavy but the stories they tell are like fables and mythology to music.

I have to believe that this music probably appeals to a younger crowd and my wife thinks I have gone insane, but I am hooked. Does anyone here experience with this band or this type of music? I particularly like the song Embrace the Endless Ocean.

I can only imagine what my colleagues would think if they heard my playlist! :eek:

I feel like I should be listening to classical just for appearances but the ear wants what the ear wants :smiley:

So do you guys think I am crazy? :dubious:

2

Falkenbach is very good. One man project, Icelandic if I recall correctly.

Enslaved is probably the standard-bearer of all things Viking metal. They’re heavily black-metal influenced, and while I haven’t really kept up on their latest output, they started to move in more experimental/avant garde directions starting with their album Mardraum: Beyond the Within.

Finally, there’s the guy who started it all: Quorthon, with the Hammerheart/Twilight of the Gods era of his band, Bathory. (We also have him to thank for black metal.) Hammerheart is a favorite album of mine; Twilight I almost never listen to. It’s not bad, it’s just that Quorthon wasn’t very good at clean vocals at that point in his career and they make it a bit painful to listen to. There are a couple(?) of later albums where he returns to the viking mold, but I forget their titles.

3

You owe it to yourself to give Opeth a listen. Youtube has their full concert DVD The Roundhouse Tapes. Opeth is, IMO, the cream of the crop with the mix of growling and clean vocals, full-on metal mixed with quiet and beautiful passages, and overall musicianship and songcraft.

4

I don’t know as I’d call Opeth viking metal, though certainly black-influenced melodic/“progressive” metal (using that term not really to refer to the specific genre known as “progressive metal” here. I’ve only got Orchid, but they don’t have the viking themes in the lyrics or the “epic” feel to their songs that’s seen as a hallmark of the viking metal subgenre.

If we’re gonna open this up to “just any ol’ pretty metal” there’s a lot more I could recommend.

5

True enough regarding the lack of viking themes, though to be fair Orchid isn’t really a good representation of Opeth’s music; I would suggest Blackwater Park, Deliverance, Damnation, Ghost Reveries and Watershed as being better choices, and they certainly do have lots of epic songs on those albums.

But getting back to the viking thing: though it’s not in the “growling/melodic vocal mix” category, there are abundant viking themes in Leave’s Eyes’ music. Nightwish has a lot of the epic storytelling stuff, though again it’s not really very Vikingish.

So are Viking themes essential, chargerrich, or are you just looking for the storytelling aspect?

6

Maybe I just really like the vocals from Amon Amarth, Johan Hegg the lead singer has - to me - the perfect balance of growl and clarity.

I just watched their full one hour set on You Tube from Wacken 2012. I am going to check out some other bands, namely Bathory, Hellhammer and Opeth. I have heard Nightwish and they do not really grab me.

7

If you enjoy Amon Amarth, you might also like Turisas, a Finnish band I discovered after seeing them open for Dragonforce a few years ago. They’re much more on the melodic side of metal (they have an accordionist and a violinist in their core lineup) and have a lot of similar themes. If you look them up on Youtube, I’d recommend the songs Battle Metal (about the forge of the gods), One More (a drinking song), or Rex Regi Rebellis (about the Thirty Years War- and make sure you listen to its spoken word intro too, it’s great).

8

And then there’s always Dream Evil, though their lyrical themes are more Dungeons and Dragons than viking, usually.

9

Viking metal is a specific genre of music, not just a catch-all term for bands that sing with viking themes. Wikipedia has a pretty good list of Viking metal bands which doesn’t quite mesh with the previous article, but it’s a good starting point beyond what’s been discussed in this thread.

10

Tyr might be worth checking out, although they have clean vocals not death growls. They’re a folk metal band from the Faeroe Islands, and mix traditional Faeroese music and lyrics with more modern metal.

11

Interesting that a thread about Viking metal was inspired by Amon Amarth, because the band actually do not consider themselves to be Viking metal. They’re a melodic death metal band and count the likes of In Flames and Dark Tranquillity as their peers.

Viking metal was pretty much invented by Bathory, who had previously established the Norwegian black metal genre before going all-out Viking with Hammerheart (which is highly recommended). Before Quorthon’s death in 2004, he had released two more Viking metal albums, Nordland I and Nordland II

The Viking metal phenomenon has inspired a broader Folk Metal genre, which includes non-Scandinavian bands celebrating their own cultures’ mythologies and frequently incorporates traditional instruments like accordions and violins. Of these, my favorites include four bands from Finland that I have dubbed the “Finn Four”:

Finntroll: Highly energetic black and death metal fused with Humppa (Finnish polka), and lyrics are Swedish in spite of the band being from Finland.

Moonsorrow: Founded by Fintroll’s keyboardist (and his cousin), this band is comparable to Bathory with an epic, progressive sound.

Korpiklaani: Probably the most “folk” of the bands listed here, this band features clean vocals and has an accordionist and a violinist instead of synthesizers.

Ensiferum: This band’s sound is more akin to melodic death metal, but frequently uses clean vocals and incorporates a wide variety of musical styles.

I would also recommend Eluveitie from Switzerland, who fuse extreme metal with Celtic folk, and also features authentic folk instruments instead of synthesizers.

Týr, Falkenbach and Turisas have already been mentioned and are also very good recommendations. I would also add Månegarm, Wyrd and Svartsot as more obscure examples worth checking out.

12

I used to work with the guitarist and the drummer of Claim the Throne (god help me if that’s my only claim to fame ever!). Wikipediadescribes them as folk metal now but they described themselves as Viking metal when I knew them.

I went to their album launch and their CD came with a fantasy novel some of the band had written. I couldn’t tell you if they were any good as far as Viking metal goes but they were bloody awful writers!

13

Very true, I watched an interview with Johann Hegg who said exactly that although he was quick to say that they indeed have a strong Viking theme but do not want to be labeled.

I also really like In Flames so that makes sense.

I will also check out Dark Tranquility.

14

An Aesir and Vannir worshiping friend turned me on to Viking metal. I can’t remember the band we listen to the most. Though I do remember they are Dutch.

I’ve had “Invick vulgares, magistares” stuck in my head for days now. That’s almost certainly spelled wrong.

15

Cleanish, anyway. Plus, a lot of their songs are about drinking and partying (e.g., “Happy Little Boozer”).

16

Try drinking every time they say “vodka” in this song. If you survive, you are worthy.

17

Make it a twofer with this one for a bad night.

18

I hearken back to those halcyon days when metal was metal, hard rock was hard rock and disco sucked. Denim jackets with patches, bandanas tied around legs, studded leather codpieces and Gwar.

Seriously though: how many frigging sub-genres of metal are there these days? Damn kids. Get off my lawn with your metal categorizations!

19

Amon Amarth definitely call themselves Death Metal “officially”. All I know is I there is not a single song I dislike and cannot find another band that grabs my attention as they do.