List of Viking metal bands

Enslaved performing live at Roadburn Festival, April 2015

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 common 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 scholars consider it more of a term than a genre, but it is typically manifested as black metal with influences from Nordic folk music. Some common traits include a slow paced and heavy riffing style, anthemic choruses, use of both clean and harsh vocals, a frequent reliance on folk instrumentation, and, often, the use of keyboards for atmospheric effect. Viking metal developed in the 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 utilizes 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 had 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 the EP Hordanes Land (1993) and full-length 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 during the early 1990s, also adopted Viking themes, broadening the style from its primarily black metal origin.

Band	Formed	Origin	Notes
Amon Amarth	1992	Sweden	[1][2][3]	Ted Lundström of Amon Amarth
Ancient Rites	1988	Belgium	[4]
Ásmegin	1998	Norway	[5][6]
Bathory	1983	Sweden	[7]
Borknagar	1995	Norway	[8][9]
Burzum	1988	Norway	[10]	Varg Vikernes of Burzum
Claim the Throne	2004	Australia	[11]
Darkwoods My Betrothed	1992	Finland	[12]
Destroy Destroy Destroy	2003	United States	[13]
Drottnar	1996	Norway	[14][15]	Sven-Erik Lind of Drottnar
Einherjer	1993	Norway	[2]	Einherjer
Elexorien	2004	Netherlands	[16]
Emperor	1991	Norway	[17]
Ensiferum	1995	Finland	[18]	Markus Toivonen of Ensiferum
Enslaved	1991	Norway	[2][19]	Ivar Bjørnson of Enslaved
Equilibrium	2001	Germany	[20][21]	Jen Majura of Equilibrium
Falkenbach	1989	Germany	[22][23]
Finsterforst	2004	Germany	[24]	Finsterforst
Folkearth	2003	International	[25]
Forefather	1997	England	[26]
Glittertind	2001	Norway	[27]	Torbjørn Sandvik of Glittertind
Grand Magus	1996	Sweden	[28]	Janne Christoffersson of Grand Magus
Heidevolk	2002	Netherlands	[29]	Heidevolk
Hel	1999	Sweden	[30]
Helheim	1992	Norway	[31][32]
Helrunar	2001	Germany	[33]
Holy Blood	1999	Ukraine	[34]
Kampfar	1994	Norway	[35]	Kampfar
Kivimetsän Druidi	2002	Finland	[36]
Korpiklaani	2003	Finland	[35]	Tuomas Rounakari of Korpiklaani
Leaves' Eyes	2003	Germany/Norway	[37]	Liv Kristine of Leaves' Eyes
Lumsk	1999	Norway	[38]
Månegarm	1995	Sweden	[39][40][41]	Månegarm
Mithotyn	1993	Sweden	[42]
Moonsorrow	1995	Finland	[43][44]	Ville Sorvali of Moonsorrow
Obscurity	1997	Germany	[45]	Agalaz of Obscurity
Primordial	1987	Ireland	[46]	Alan "Nemtheanga" Averill of Primordial
Sabaton	1999	Sweden	[47]	Joakim Brodén
Skálmöld	2009	Iceland	[48]	Björgvin Sigurðsson of Skálmöld
Skeletonwitch	2003	United States	[49]	Scott Hendrick of Skeletonwitch
Slechtvalk	1999	Netherlands	[34][50]	Slechtvalk
Solefald	1995	Norway	[51]
Storm	1994	Norway	[52]
Svartsot	2005	Denmark	[53][54]	Svartsot
The Sword	2003	United States	[55]	J. D. Cronise of The Sword
Thyrfing	1995	Sweden	[56][57][58][59]
Trollech	1999	Czech Republic	[60]
Turisas	1997	Finland	[61][62]	Warlord Nygård of Turisas
Týr	1998	Faroe Islands	[63][64]	Heri Joensen of Týr
Unleashed	1989	Sweden	[1][2][65]	Johnny Hedlund of Unleashed
Windir	1994	Norway	[66]
Wolfchant	2003	Germany	[67]	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 1-84520-399-2. 
• Weinstein, Deena (2014). Weston, Donna; Bennett, Andy, eds. "Pagan Metal". Pop Pagans: Paganism and Popular Music. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781317546658. 

Notes