List of Viking metal bands

This is a list of Viking metal bands. Viking metal is a style of heavy metal music with origins in black metal and Nordic folk music, characterized by a lyrical and thematic focus on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age. Viking metal is quite diverse as a musical style, to the point where some consider it more a cross-genre term than genre, but it is typically manifested as black metal with influences from Nordic folk music. Common traits include a slow-paced and heavy riffing style, anthemic choruses, use of both clean and harsh vocals, a reliance on folk instrumentation, and often the use of keyboards for atmospheric effect.

Enslaved performing live at Roadburn Festival, April 2015

Viking metal emerged during the late-1980s through the mid-1990s as a rejection of Satanism and the occult, instead embracing the Vikings and paganism as the leaders of opposition to Christianity. It is similar, in lyrics, sound, and thematic imagery, to pagan metal, but pagan metal has a broader mythological focus and uses folk instrumentation more extensively. Most Viking metal bands originate from the Nordic countries, and nearly all bands claim that their members descend, directly or indirectly, from Vikings.

Though artists such as Led Zeppelin, Yngwie Malmsteen, Heavy Load, and Manowar have previously dealt with Viking themes, Bathory from Sweden is generally credited with pioneering the style with its albums Blood Fire Death (1988) and Hammerheart (1990), which launched a renewed interest in the Viking Age among heavy metal musicians. Enslaved, from Norway, followed up on this burgeoning Viking trend with Hordanes Land (1993) and Vikingligr Veldi (1994). Burzum, Emperor, Einherjer, and Helheim, among others, helped further develop the genre in the early through mid-1990s. Through the work of artists such as the German project Falkenbach, Viking metal soon spread from the Nordic countries to other nations with Viking history or an even broader Germanic heritage, and has since influenced musicians across the globe. The death metal bands Unleashed and Amon Amarth, which emerged in the early 1990s, also adopted Viking themes, broadening the style from its primarily black metal origin.

Band	Formed	Origin	Notes
Adorned Brood	1993	Germany	[1]	Ingeborg Anna Baumgärtel of Adorned Brood, 2007
Amon Amarth	1992	Sweden	[2][3][4]	Ted Lundström of Amon Amarth
Ancient Rites	1988	Belgium	[5]
Ásmegin	1998	Norway	[6][7]
Barbariön	2007	Australia	[8]	Barbariön, 2010
Bathory	1983	Sweden	[9]
Black Messiah	1992	Germany	[1]	Black Messiah, 2016
Borknagar	1995	Norway	[10][11]
Claim the Throne	2004	Australia	[12]	Claim the Throne
Darkwoods My Betrothed	1992	Finland	[13]
Destroy Destroy Destroy	2003	United States	[14]
Doomsword	1997	Italy	[15]
Drottnar	1996	Norway	[16][17]	Sven-Erik Lind of Drottnar
Einherjer	1993	Norway	[3]	Einherjer
Elexorien	2004	Netherlands	[18]
Eluveitie	2002	Switzerland	[19]	Eluveitie, 2012
Emperor	1991	Norway	[20]
Ensiferum	1995	Finland	[21]	Ensiferum, 2016
Enslaved	1991	Norway	[3][22]	Ivar Bjørnson of Enslaved
Equilibrium	2001	Germany	[23]	Jen Majura of Equilibrium
Falkenbach	1989	Germany	[24]
Fejd	2001	Sweden	[25]	Fejd, 2013
Finsterforst	2004	Germany	[26]	Finsterforst
Folkearth	2003	International	[27]
Folkodia	2007	International	[28]
Forefather	1997	England	[29]
Glittertind	2001	Norway	[30]	Torbjørn Sandvik of Glittertind
Grand Magus	1996	Sweden	[31]	Janne Christoffersson of Grand Magus
Heidevolk	2002	Netherlands	[32]	Heidevolk
Hel	1999	Sweden	[33]
Helheim	1992	Norway	[34]	Helheim
Holy Blood	1999	Ukraine	[35]
Isengard	1989	Norway	[36]	Fenris of Isengard, seen here in 2007
Ithilien	2005	Belgium	[37]	Ithilien in 2016
Kampfar	1994	Norway	[38]	Kampfar
Kivimetsän Druidi	2002	Finland	[39]
Korpiklaani	2003	Finland	[38]	Tuomas Rounakari of Korpiklaani
Leaves' Eyes	2003	Germany Norway	[40]	Liv Kristine of Leaves' Eyes
Månegarm	1995	Sweden	[41]	Månegarm
Metsatöll	1999	Estonia	[42]	Lauri Õunapuu of Metsatöll
Mithotyn	1993	Sweden	[43]
Myrkgrav	2003	Norway	[44]	Lars Jensen of Myrkgrav
Moonsorrow	1995	Finland	[45][46]	Ville Sorvali of Moonsorrow
Obscurity	1997	Germany	[47]	Agalaz of Obscurity
Primordial	1987	Ireland	[48]	Alan "Nemtheanga" Averill of Primordial
Sabaton	1999	Sweden	[49]	Joakim Brodén
Satyricon	1991	Norway	[36]	Sigurd Wongraven "Satyr" of Satyricon, 2008
Skálmöld	2009	Iceland	[50]	Björgvin Sigurðsson of Skálmöld
Skeletonwitch	2003	United States	[51]	Scott Hendrick of Skeletonwitch
Slechtvalk	1999	Netherlands	[35][52]	Slechtvalk
Solefald	1995	Norway	[53]
Storm	1994	Norway	[54]	Kari Rueslåtten of Storm, seen here with The Sirens, 2015
Svartsot	2005	Denmark	[55]	Svartsot
The Sword	2003	United States	[56]	J. D. Cronise of The Sword
Thyrfing	1995	Sweden	[57][58][59]	Thyrfing
Trollech	1999	Czech Republic	[60]
Turisas	1997	Finland	[61]	Warlord Nygård of Turisas
Týr	1998	Faroe Islands	[62][63]	Heri Joensen of Týr
Ulver	1993	Norway	[36]	Kristoffer Rygg of Ulver, 2007
Unleashed	1989	Sweden	[2][3][64]	Johnny Hedlund of Unleashed
Vardøger	1994	Norway	[65]
Vintersorg	1994	Sweden	[66]
Windir	1994	Norway	[67]
Wintersun	2003	Finland	[68]	Wintersun
Wolfchant	2003	Germany	[69]	Gvern of Wolfchant

See also

• Viking metal
• List of folk metal bands
• List of heavy metal bands
• Heavy metal subgenres

References

• Freeborn, Robert (June 2010). Anderson, Rick (ed.). "A Selective Discography of Scandinavian Heavy Metal Music". Sound Recording Reviews. 66 (4): 840–850.
• Hoad, Catherine (2013). Wilson, Oli; Attfield, Sarah (eds.). "'Hold the Heathen Hammer High' - Viking Metal from the Local to the Global". Shifting Sounds: Musical Flow - A Collection of Papers from the 2012 IASPM Australia/New Zealand Conference. Dunedin: International Association for the Study of Popular Music: 62–70. ISBN 9780975774793.
• Kahn-Harris, Keith (2007). Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge. Oxford: Berg Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84520-399-3.
• Weinstein, Deena (2014). Weston, Donna; Bennett, Andy (eds.). "Pagan Metal". Pop Pagans: Paganism and Popular Music. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781317546658.

Notes

1. Manea, Irina-Maria (April 16, 2015). "Primal Roots: Ancestry and Race in Extreme Music Discourses". Proceedings of IAC-SSaH 2015: International Academic Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities in Prague 2015. Czech Institute of Academic Education: 187–188. ISBN 978-80-905791-2-5.
2. Kahn-Harris 2007, pp. 106
3. von Helden, Imke (2010). Rosemary Hill and Karl Spracklen (ed.). "Scandinavian Metal Attack: The Power of Northern Europe in Extreme Metal" (PDF). Inter-Disciplinary Press: 34. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 28, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
4. Bowar, Chad. "Amon Amarth interview". About.com. Retrieved 2009-03-13.
5. Steiff (February 2015). "Review - Ancient Rites - Laguz" (PDF). Metal Only.de (in German). Wolfgang Steiner. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
6. Matthijssens, Vera (April–May 2015). "Asmegin - Arv". Lords of Metal. Horst Vonberg (157). Retrieved May 8, 2015.
7. Van Horn, Jr., Ray. "Asmegin - 'Arv'". About.com. IAC. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
8. Staff Writer (March 6, 2015). "Hear Why This Viking Metal Band Should Have Gone To Eurovision". The Music. Street Press Australia. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
9. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Blood Fire Death review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-03-13.
10. Weinstein, pg. 60.
11. Freeborn 2010, pg. 846.
12. Giffin, Brian (2002). Encyclopaedia of Australian Heavy Metal. Bendigo: Moonlight Publications. p. 2051. ISBN 978-0-9943206-1-2.
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33. "Hel". MusicMight. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
34. Hoad 2013, pg. 63.
35. Beck, Chris. "The Patriot review". HM. Archived from the original on 2012-03-18. Retrieved 2009-11-04. "Compared to their first two albums, The Patriot is slightly heavier and has a stronger Viking metal influence a la Slechtvalk."
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39. Hoad 2013, pg. 64.
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