Viking Metal

Viking metal wraps metal in Norse mythology, Viking history, and pagan revival, using epic, mid-paced anthems, folk melodies, and often chanted, choir-like vocals to conjure ancient Nordic atmosphere. Sweden’s Bathory pioneered it on Blood Fire Death and Hammerheart around 1988-1990, trading raw black metal for slow, majestic battle hymns, and Norway’s Enslaved carried the torch. It ranges from black-metal harshness to melodic, folk-tinged grandeur, often with acoustic passages and horns of war. Amon Amarth are its best-known modern act, though musically they are melodic death metal with Viking themes.