Viking metal

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Viking metal

Development phase: Late 1980s, early 1990s
Stylistic precursors
Black metal , death metal and
Scandinavian folklore
Pioneers
Bathory , Enslaved
Instruments typical of the genre
Electric guitar - electric bass - drums - folk instruments

The term Viking Metal denotes a metal sub-genre that mixes musical elements of Black Metal and Death Metal with the folk melodies of Scandinavia , with the lyrics mainly dealing with the life, legends, battles and the mythology of the Vikings in general .

Must be distinguished from the Viking Metal, however, is the viking rock , likewise the Vikings to the fore in which the lyrics, but the music is more like the rock or punk inspired. Often difficult to distinguish from Viking Metal is Pagan Metal , which deals with pagan and mythological topics, especially from Europe, but also from other continents .

history

Sign of the Hammer , the fourth album by the heavy / true metal band Manowar , can be described as a trailblazer for Viking Metal . Many of the lyrics of this band, especially on this album, are directly related to Germanic mythology or depict, accompanied by epic music, the life and death of Viking warriors and gods. Nevertheless, the preoccupation with the Germanic world of gods remains relatively superficial and is not a central aspect of the band, so that they cannot be counted as Viking Metal themselves.

The wild hunt from Norse mythology on the cover of Bathory's album Blood Fire Death .

The Swedish band Bathory with their fourth album Blood Fire Death from 1988 or its successor Hammerheart is often regarded as the founder of this genre . Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg stated that he was influenced by Richard Wagner , among others, on this album . In 1991, one year after Hammerheart , in the course of the rise of Black Metal in Norway, the band Enslaved was founded, whose lyrics did not devote themselves to the usual satanic topics, but stories about the Vikings, incorporated many folkloric elements into their music and as the authors the term "Viking Metal" applies; this appears on a flyer for Enslaved's debut album Vikingligr Veldi and in the supplement of their second album Frost . It also appeared in connection with the Norwegian band Mock and their demo recording Cold Winter , but according to Quorthon also in connection with the front cover of the album Hammerheart , on which the painting The Funeral of a Viking by Sir Frank Bernard Dicksee can be seen. The Norwegian band Einherjer also emphasizes that they have called their own music Viking Metal since they were founded in 1993. In Viking Metal Art, the Norwegian band Borknagar combined black metal and Scandinavian folk elements on their debut album Borknagar , but without using lyrics about Vikings.

In the course of the pioneering work of these bands, other groups and albums were created in the following time that belonged to the style of Viking Metal, such as B. Windir from Norway, Mithotyn and Thyrfing from Sweden or Falkenbach from Germany.

style

Vocals and instrumentation

When it comes to vocals, many bands orient themselves to the typical chants of the respective metal sub-styles. So the typical Black Metal screams , the growling native to Death Metal , or a combination of both can be found, whereby singing with a clear voice (especially anthemic male singing in unison ) is not uncommon. Fenriz von Darkthrone explicitly differentiates Bathory's albums from Folk Metal , which he vehemently rejects; the first Pagan / Viking Metal albums were created independently of this, and Viking Metal takes up less traditional instruments and melodies than Norse mythology as a source of text; In contrast to folk metal, it cannot fall back on musical examples from the received culture and is therefore also referred to as “ahistorical 'Viking music'”, which can nevertheless be viewed as a sub-category of folk metal. Just as Viking songs in feature films are mostly sailor songs sung in unison, as in the portrayal of pirates , this scheme is also taken up by Viking metal bands, for example Einherjer's Odin Owns Ye All .

The band line-up is often typical of the genre, i. H. with two guitars, bass and drums, often supported by a synthesizer. The guitars are not clearly divided into lead and rhythm guitars. They often take turns or perform complex melodies at the same time. These are often more dominant and harmonious and therefore usually more catchy than in Black or Death Metal. The synthesizer is not only used for background music, but often also for active melody management and is therefore an instrument on an equal footing with guitars. Often one can also find folkloric instruments such as jew's harps , fiddles or accordions in the compositions .

Texts

In addition to some of the topics that frequently occur in Black Metal, such as nature and anti-Christianity, Viking Metal mainly focuses on the life, battles and wars as well as the mythology of the Vikings. An equally common theme is the pride of the Northmen and their struggle against the Christians. Examples of this include:

  • Einherjer - The Conqueror from the album Dragons of the North (Battles and War)
  • Falkenbach - Heathenpride from the album … En their medh riki fara… (fight against Christians)
  • Enslaved - Fenris from the album Frost (Norse Mythology)

The language of the lyrics is, besides English, often the national language of the respective band. So sing z. B. Enslaved in addition to English also Norwegian, Thyrfing Swedish, Falkenbach Icelandic and Thrudvangar German. The band Týr often sings their lyrics in Faroese and also interprets classical Nordic poems in their original language.

Optical appearance

Many bands support the musical and textual concept through their visual appearance at concerts and in photos. Although this is not a unique selling point typical of the genre, it sets them apart considerably from the appearance of pure black or death metal bands. Many musicians appear in medieval clothing with appropriate armor and weapons, whereby a typical style from the early Middle Ages is preferred. Thor hammers and other pieces of jewelry are often worn. Bands like Windir, who use the black and white corpse paint typical of Black Metal , are an exception in Viking Metal. However, the faces are often smeared with dirt, earth or blood in order to underline the warlike image of the Vikings.

In photos for promotional purposes and for record and CD covers, many bands depict scenes from the everyday life of the Vikings. In addition to landscapes, aspects of war are often depicted. Typical motifs are landscape shots with the northmen's dragon boats, landing on enemy shores, untouched forests, fighting against enemies, but also peaceful get-togethers at the campfire and drinking parties.

criticism

Similar to Pagan Metal and Viking Rock , bands of the genre often convey values ​​(which their critics regard as outdated) such as honor, masculinity and militarism, sometimes combined with unhistorical claims and pronounced "ancestor worship". As a result, the scene is exposed to critical scrutiny by outsiders. Since the listeners of Viking Metal often move in the Black and Pagan Metal scenes, Viking and Pagan Metal in particular are summarized by most of the critics in their observations.

Some well known Viking metal bands

The Swedish bands Amon Amarth and Unleashed almost completely lack black metal elements, the music is based on death metal . Because of the lyrics, which (with Unleashed partly, with Amon Amarth exclusively) deal with Viking themes, some fans still count them as Viking Metal, at least with Unleashed the term "Viking Death Metal" is also circulating. Amon Amarth are skeptical about the genre name Viking Metal ; Singer Johan Hegg stated in an interview:

“We play Death Metal. We write about Vikings so therefor [sic!] Some refer us to Viking metal, but I have no idea what that is. "

- Johan Hegg : themetalweb.de

literature

  • Bénard, Nicolas: De la légende viking au hard rock: Les références culturelles du Métal nordique. In: Nordiques 5 (été automne), 2004, pp. 55–68. (French)
  • Heinen, Serina: "Odin rules". Religion, media and music in Pagan Metal. Transcript Verlag , Bielefeld 2017, ISBN 978-3-8376-3431-0 .
  • von Helden, Imke: Wikinger sucht Walküre: To depict the Viking Age in heavy metal. In: Cheauré, Elisabeth et al. (Ed.): Gender and history in popular media , transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2013, ISBN 978-3-8376-2373-4 .
  • von Helden, Imke: Barbarians and Literature: Viking Metal and its Links to Old Norse Mythology. In: Scott, Niall et al. (Ed.): The Metal Void. First Gatherings , Inter-Disciplinary Press, Oxford 2010, pp. 257-264. ( online , PDF; 2 MB, English)

swell

  1. ↑ a b Luxi Lahtinen: BATHORY - An Epic Interview With Quorthon. Metal Rules, 2001, accessed February 22, 2010 .
  2. ↑ Cast iron pans: Bathory - Blood Fire Death. Bloodchamber.de, November 11, 2008, accessed April 23, 2010 .
  3. ↑ Leaflet for Enslaved's debut album Vikingligr Veldi . (English, blackmetal.nu [accessed April 17, 2010]).
  4. ↑ Mock . Cold winter . In: Tales of the Macabre , No. 1.
  5. ↑ Aaron Patrick Mulvany: “REAWAKENING PRIDE ONCE LOST”: INDIGENEITY AND EUROPEAN FOLK METAL . Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, May 2000, p. 33.
  6. ↑ dirk-bengt: Darkthrone - Interview with the metal missionary, drummer and non-musician Fenriz .
  7. ↑ Aaron Patrick Mulvany: “REAWAKENING PRIDE ONCE LOST”: INDIGENEITY AND EUROPEAN FOLK METAL . Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, May 2000, p. IV.
  8. ↑ a b Aaron Patrick Mulvany: “REAWAKENING PRIDE ONCE LOST”: INDIGENEITY AND EUROPEAN FOLK METAL . Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, May 2000, pp. 36-41.
  9. ^ "But instrumentation is a stack distinction of many folk metal bands. Even the Viking metal sub-category typically avoids non-standard instruments, but folk metal groups often depend upon them. Clearly either metal codes must be re-inscribed to include more than loud, distorted timbres of guitar, bass, drums and voice - though this does describe the vast majority of metal bands - or folk metal must be re-defined outside of metal. " Aaron Patrick Mulvany: “REAWAKENING PRIDE ONCE LOST”: INDIGENEITY AND EUROPEAN FOLK METAL . Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, May 2000, p. 47.
  10. ↑ Christian Dornbusch in: Heidnischer Germanen-Metal , Polylux from April 27, 2006, by Alexander Dluzak.
  11. ↑ Dawn: Amon Amarth Interview. The Metal Web, archived from the original on January 25, 2010 ; accessed on October 16, 2015 .