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 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 consider it more a cross-genre term than genre, but it is typically manifested as black metal with influences from Nordic folk music. Common traits include a slow-paced and heavy riffing style, anthemic choruses, use of both clean and harsh vocals, a reliance on folk instrumentation, and often the use of keyboards for atmospheric effect.

Viking metal emerged during the late-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 uses 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 have 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 Hordanes Land (1993) and 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 in the early 1990s, also adopted Viking themes, broadening the style from its primarily black metal origin.

Band	Formed	Origin	Notes
Adorned Brood	1993	Germany	[1]
Amon Amarth	1992	Sweden	[2][3][4]
Ancient Rites	1988	Belgium	[5]
Ásmegin	1998	Norway	[6][7]
Barbariön	2007	Australia	[8]
Bathory	1983	Sweden	[9]
Black Messiah	1992	Germany	[1]
Borknagar	1995	Norway	[10][11]
Burzum	1988	Norway	[12]
Claim the Throne	2004	Australia	[13]
Darkwoods My Betrothed	1992	Finland	[14]
Destroy Destroy Destroy	2003	United States	[15]
Doomsword	1997	Italy	[16]
Drottnar	1996	Norway	[17][18]
Einherjer	1993	Norway	[3]
Elexorien	2004	Netherlands	[19]
Eluveitie	2002	Switzerland	[20]
Emperor	1991	Norway	[21]
Ensiferum	1995	Finland	[22]
Enslaved	1991	Norway	[3][23]
Equilibrium	2001	Germany	[24]
Falkenbach	1989	Germany	[25]
Fejd	2001	Sweden	[26]
Finsterforst	2004	Germany	[27]
Folkearth	2003	International	[28]
Folkodia	2007	International	[29]
Forefather	1997	England	[30]
Glittertind	2001	Norway	[31]
Grand Magus	1996	Sweden	[32]
Heidevolk	2002	Netherlands	[33]
Hel	1999	Sweden	[34]
Helheim	1992	Norway	[35]
Holy Blood	1999	Ukraine	[36]
Isengard	1989	Norway	[37]
Ithilien	2005	Belgium	[38]
Kampfar	1994	Norway	[39]
Kivimetsän Druidi	2002	Finland	[40]
Korpiklaani	2003	Finland	[39]
Leaves' Eyes	2003	Germany Norway	[41]
Månegarm	1995	Sweden	[42]
Metsatöll	1999	Estonia	[43]
Mithotyn	1993	Sweden	[44]
Myrkgrav	2003	Norway	[45]
Moonsorrow	1995	Finland	[46][47]
Obscurity	1997	Germany	[48]
Primordial	1987	Ireland	[49]
Satyricon	1991	Norway	[37]
Skálmöld	2009	Iceland	[50]
Skeletonwitch	2003	United States	[51]
Slechtvalk	1999	Netherlands	[36][52]
Solefald	1995	Norway	[53]
Storm	1994	Norway	[54]
Svartsot	2005	Denmark	[55]
The Sword	2003	United States	[56]
Thyrfing	1995	Sweden	[57][58][59]
Trollech	1999	Czech Republic	[60]
Turisas	1997	Finland	[61]
Týr	1998	Faroe Islands	[62][63]
Ulver	1993	Norway	[37]
Unleashed	1989	Sweden	[2][3][64]
Vardøger	1994	Norway	[65]
Vintersorg	1994	Sweden	[66]
Windir	1994	Norway	[67]
Wintersun	2003	Finland	[68]
Wolfchant	2003	Germany	[69]

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 978-1-84520-399-3.
• Weinstein, Deena (2014). Weston, Donna; Bennett, Andy (eds.). "Pagan Metal". Pop Pagans: Paganism and Popular Music. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781317546658.

Notes