Folk Metal

Folk metal fuses metal with traditional folk music — acoustic and folk instruments, regional melodies, and lyrics rooted in mythology, history, nature, and heritage. England’s Skyclad pioneered it on The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth, grafting fiddle onto thrashy metal, and the style exploded in 2000s through Finntroll, Korpiklaani, Ensiferum, and Eluveitie. It spans rowdy, drinking-song energy to epic, battle-ready grandeur, and overlaps with its Celtic, Viking, medieval, and pagan offshoots. Flutes, fiddles, accordions, and hurdy-gurdies sit alongside the guitars.