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.

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]
Amon Amarth 1992 Sweden [2][3][4]
Ancient Rites 1988 Belgium [5]
Antestor 1990 Norway [6]
Ásmegin 1998 Norway [7][8]
Barbariön 2007 Australia [9]
Bathory 1983 Sweden [10]
Black Messiah 1992 Germany [1]
Borknagar 1995 Norway [11][12]
Brothers of Metal 2012 Sweden
Burzum 1988 Norway [13]
Claim the Throne 2004 Australia [14]
Darkwoods My Betrothed 1992 Finland [15]
Destroy Destroy Destroy 2003 United States [16]
Doomsword 1997 Italy [17]
Drottnar 1996 Norway [18][19]
Einherjer 1993 Norway [3]
Elexorien 2004 Netherlands [20]
Eluveitie 2002 Switzerland [21]
Emperor 1991 Norway [22]
Ensiferum 1995 Finland [23]
Enslaved 1991 Norway [3][24]
Equilibrium 2001 Germany [25]
Falkenbach 1989 Germany [26]
Fejd 2001 Sweden [27]
Finsterforst 2004 Germany [28]
Folkearth 2003 International [29]
Folkodia 2007 International [30]
Forefather 1997 England [31]
Glittertind 2001 Norway [32]
Grand Magus 1996 Sweden [33]
Heidevolk 2002 Netherlands [34]
Hel 1999 Sweden [35]
Helheim 1992 Norway [36]
Holy Blood 1999 Ukraine [37]
Isengard 1989 Norway [38]
Ithilien 2005 Belgium [39]
Kampfar 1994 Norway [40]
King of Asgard 2008 Sweden [41]
Kivimetsän Druidi 2002 Finland [42]
Korpiklaani 2003 Finland [40]
Leaves' Eyes 2003 Germany
Norway		 [43]
Månegarm 1995 Sweden [44]
Metsatöll 1999 Estonia [45]
Mithotyn 1993 Sweden [46]
Myrkgrav 2003 Norway [47]
Moonsorrow 1995 Finland [48][49]
Obscurity 1997 Germany [50]
Primordial 1987 Ireland [51]
Satyricon 1991 Norway [38]
Skálmöld 2009 Iceland [52]
Skeletonwitch 2003 United States [53]
Slechtvalk 1999 Netherlands [37][54]
Solefald 1995 Norway [55]
Storm 1994 Norway [56]
Svartsot 2005 Denmark [57]
The Sword 2003 United States [58]
Thyrfing 1995 Sweden [59][60][61]
Trollech 1999 Czech Republic [62]
Turisas 1997 Finland [63]
Týr 1998 Faroe Islands [64][65]
Ulver 1993 Norway [38]
Unleashed 1989 Sweden [2][3][66]
Vardøger 1994 Norway [67]
Vintersorg 1994 Sweden [68]
Windir 1994 Norway [69]
Wintersun 2003 Finland [70]
Wolfchant 2003 Germany [71]

See also

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
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  12. Freeborn 2010, pg. 846.
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