---
title: "Celtic Metal"
type: "MusicGenre"
url: "https://themetalnet.com/genre/celtic-metal"
parent: "Folk Metal"
bands: 8
era: "mid 1990s"
---

# Celtic Metal

**Celtic Metal** is a metal sub-genre, formative in the mid 1990s. TheMetalNet maps 8 bands and 12 albums under it.

Celtic metal fuses metal’s power with the melodies, rhythms, and instruments of Celtic folk — tin whistles, bodhrans, fiddles, and bagpipes woven through distorted guitars. Ireland’s Cruachan, inspired by Skyclad and Horslips, pioneered it in the early 1990s by grafting Irish folk onto black metal, while Dublin’s Primordial brought a darker, epic black/doom flavor. Lyrics draw on Irish and wider Celtic mythology, history, and identity. The result ranges from rousing and folky to somber and grand.

## Facts

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Genre | Celtic Metal |
| Level | Sub-genre |
| Parent genre | Folk Metal |
| Formative era | mid 1990s |
| Bands | 8 |
| Albums | 12 |
| Formation span | 1977 to 2025 |

## Bands

- [Geasa](https://themetalnet.com/band/geasa) (Ireland, 1994)
- [Heol Telwen](https://themetalnet.com/band/heol-telwen) (France, 1999)
- [CrystalMoors](https://themetalnet.com/band/crystalmoors) (Spain, 1999)
- [Ilbeltz](https://themetalnet.com/band/ilbeltz) (Spain)
- [Barbar'O'Rhum](https://themetalnet.com/band/barbar-o-rhum) (2014)
- [Freya Fleur Noire](https://themetalnet.com/band/freya-fleur-noire) (United States, 1996)
- [Patrick R. Golden](https://themetalnet.com/band/patrick-r-golden) (1977)
- [Amber Witches](https://themetalnet.com/band/amber-witches) (2025)

## Where it is played

- [Spain](https://themetalnet.com/country/es): 2 bands
- [France](https://themetalnet.com/country/fr): 1 bands
- [Ireland](https://themetalnet.com/country/ie): 1 bands
- [United States](https://themetalnet.com/country/us): 1 bands

## Bands formed by decade

| Decade | Bands formed |
| --- | --- |
| 1970s | 1 |
| 1990s | 4 |
| 2010s | 1 |
| 2020s | 1 |

---

Source: [TheMetalNet https://themetalnet.com/genre/celtic-metal](https://themetalnet.com/genre/celtic-metal). Catalog data from MusicBrainz and Metal Archives. Full site index: https://themetalnet.com/llms.txt