Lately, I have been revisiting (with much enjoyment) the first two Borknagar albums. While I was browsing through the Archives my eye fell on the Viking/Folk/Black metal tag, and as I kept listening I tried to distinguish the Viking parts, the folk parts, etc. It is something I often do with many of the bands I listen to just to dig deeper into the music and get a better understanding of the influences. Then I though of Pagan Black Metal, another subgenre deeply rooted in folk music, and things got perplexed. The definition of the genres, according to rateyourmusic.com, is the following:
Quote:
Viking metal is a subgenre of metal music with roots in Blood Fire Death and Hammerheart albums by Bathory. Those releases created a clean transition from earlier Black Metal music to embody what is now known as Viking metal. Some of the most common features of Viking metal are powerful, clean vocals and "epic" choirs, galloping riffs and drumming, rich anthemic keyboards, the use of Nordic Folk Music instruments such as fiddles, flutes, and blowing horns; as well as a cold, sad atmosphere. Additionally, bands often incorporate black metal shrieks and blast-beats. Also, as the name suggests, the lyrical content of the music is often focused on Norse mythology and the Viking Age.
Pagan Black Metal is a subgenre of Black Metal that includes certain folk elements in its sound. It usually features replicated and sometimes real folk instruments, with frequent addition of acoustic guitars. The guitars are generally more melodic and played in a less abrasive way than those in typical Black Metal. The drums are mostly mid or fast paced, with blast-beats not being uncommon. The vocals utilized are usually a combination of harsh, Black Metal shrieks with clean and epic vocals. Raw production is very common, many times made intentionally to recreate a cold and primitive atmosphere. The subject matter usually concerns paganism, nature, mysticism and other similar and related topics. The genre is mostly underground with important regional and national acts in the Nordic, Slavic, and Central European countries. There are also important acts in Spain and France.
Folk metal is a subgenre of Metal music that developed primarily in Europe throughout the early 1990s. As the name suggests, the music itself is a fusion of metal with Traditional Folk Music, usually with heavy usage of folk instruments such as the flute, violin, accordion, and various others. However, while retaining folk melodies in their music, some bands rely more on standard metal instrumentation, thus partly or completely neglecting the usage of folk instruments, which are frequently replicated on keyboards. Lyrical content of the genre is most commonly related to nature, mythology, paganism and fantasy.
We see that all three sub-genres are basically a blend of folk with metal instrumentation. Folk metal is the most discernible of the three, because, to my mind, the folk element is obviously prevalent, with the metal parts taking a secondary role; some songs are simply folk songs, music and lyric-wise, played with metal instruments. Storm's
Nordavind, Isengard (albeit more metal) or the second Myrkur album provide some good examples of folk black metal albums. But what about the other two? Where do we draw the line? Where is the viking element in Borknagar? If we accept that both Viking and Pagan metal make use of folk music, traditional folk instruments, acoustic guitars and the occasional clean epic vocals, are the lyrics responsible for the final categorisation of the band? Any song examples would be more than welcome.
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Invocation wrote:
Terri23 wrote:
No. Metal is not a higher form of music.
Yes it is.