| Name | Viking metal |
|---|---|
| Color | white |
| Bgcolor | #BB0022 |
| Stylistic origins | Black metal |
| Cultural origins | Late 1980s, Scandinavia |
| Instruments | Electric guitar - Bass guitar - Drums - Keyboards and/or Nordic folk instruments |
| Popularity | Low |
| Fusiongenres | Folk metal |
| Other topics | Bands - Norse mythology - Norse paganism |
Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its galloping pace, keyboard-rich anthemic sound, bleakness and dramatic emphasis on lyrical themes of Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age. In most cases the Viking-themed metal consists of any combination of black and folk metal.
The year 1991 saw the formation of the Norwegian group Enslaved. Their debut album Vikingligr Veldi arrived in 1994 with "many melodies being borrowed from ethnic Scandinavian folk music to lend additional authenticity to the vicious, fast-paced black metal." Inspired by Bathory, Enslaved set out to "create Viking metal devoted to retelling Norway's legends and traditions of old." Their second album Frost, also from 1994, was "an important release for the extreme music subgenre of Viking metal." With "Viking themes, razor sharp guitars, blastbeat drums, and an ear for orchestration resulting in complex structures, bountiful harmonies and time changes,"
* Category:Heavy metal subgenres Category:Norse mythology in popular culture
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