Everytime one tries to oppose Folk (or any other metal subgenre, in fact) metal bands, one gets criticized for not including not so good yet very influential bands. I am one of those guys, and my precedent poll was rejected by connoisseurs since it didn't feature Skyclad, etc. So here's a band battle confronting only old school gladiators in the Folk metal colosseum. Which one will be worth your thumb up?

The mighty Windir of course!

A way better poll that the first, indeed!

And once again my vote goes to Skyclad, even if Orphaned Land is a close second !

The overwhelming Windir, evidently. Even if I like all of the mentioned bands, they didn't hype me up as much as Windir. Also, the merging of Viking metal and Black Metal is one of the best combination metal has to offer and Windir executes it flawlessly.

The root of everything comes from Skyclad. No doubts in this poll

Most influential... Skyclad, although they started off as a thrash folk hybrid.
most talented... Primordial
most original... Orphaned Land/Melechesh

Primordial of course!

Amorphis what bulshit is it, thay never played folk metal , but as far I can lsiten all, so I cant wote , because influances are influances, as far for me its Amorphis, Windir, and Primordiar

Well, if I had to chose I'd go with Cruachan, since they are one of my first metal bands. But when it comes to influence, I think Amorphis and Skyclad since Skyclad is probably first really pure folk metal band, and Amorphis had a lot of finnish folk infulences, and they are very influential and popular metal band, considering any genre ...

Many good bands in that poll, but my vote goes to Subway To Sally, I really like the whole medieval folk sceneand especially Subway To Sally

No ensiferum here

Primordial.

Written by ImNotMetal on 05.07.2010 at 05:07

No ensiferum here

Not including Ensiferum or Finntroll is this poll's whole point. Read the first post, please.

Written by Bad English on 04.07.2010 at 18:03

Amorphis what bulshit is it, thay never played folk metal

Them playing folk metal themselves is debatable, but they still helped an entire Finnish folk metal scene to emerge because of the lyrical influence.

Agonized over this one. I went with Windir, since in my mind they are the most influential. My favorite band of these, however, is Orphaned Land, whom I consider to be the most talented. Given that Skyclad was the truly the first Folk Metal band, they would have to be the most original.

Anybody who says anything else than Skyclad on the influential part should get their head examined... They were basically the first to incorporate folk music into the metal, even if their influence came from the old folk rock bands such as Jethro Tull. I actually think they win the talent and originality prizes as well.

As for viking metal, the most influential band would have to be none other than Bathory.

My pick is Windir, even though they're not really founders of anything. Walfar had a rare talent and Windir's music truly is art.

As for Bathory, they certainly have had a huge influence on the Viking scene, but their genre is debatable, from black metal to folk-influenced blackened trash... Anyway, the choice of bands in the poll was not easy and I had to select bands from varied horizons, which implies not only Scandinavian viking-themed bands.

Written by MétalNoir on 07.07.2010 at 02:48

My pick is Windir, even though they're not really founders of anything. Walfar had a rare talent and Windir's music truly is art.

Windir is an okay and even nice band. But imo theyvare overpraised cause one of their members died.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 07.07.2010 at 02:51

Written by MétalNoir on 07.07.2010 at 02:48

My pick is Windir, even though they're not really founders of anything. Walfar had a rare talent and Windir's music truly is art.

Windir is an okay and even nice band. But imo theyvare overpraised cause one of their members died.

Probably, since Valfar's death prevented any commercial downhill, known the folk trend going on at the moment... But I really loved this band long before knowing Valfar was dead, so my opinion concerning them, that they are a wonderful bm and folk band, has nothing to do with that. You must be right for some fans, though; a musician's death gives his material some mystical nature, for some reason.

In my opinion, the most talented, original and influential folk/viking metal band is Bathory. The composer Quorthon was a real genius who knew how to create powerful and soulful music. And I have always considered the band as the founder of this genre, though Falkenbach is also a very good band.

Oh, come on... You can't seriously expect people to cast a single vote for talent, originality and influence COMBINED into a single thing.

Skyclad definitely gets top marks for originality and influence, no question about it. They pretty much started it all! But most talented? Probably not, IMHO.

Orphaned Land are, in my view, very very talented and highly original, but most influential? Certainly not. How many bands are out there playing Middle Eastern metal since they started it more than decade ago? A handful at most?

And where the hell is Ensiferum? Yes, they are "latecomers" and not really roots, so they probably don't have a huge claim to originality or direct influence, but I would say it's been their massive traction which has been responsible for much of the rise in popularity in folk metal in this decade, which had been mostly relegated to the underground before the turn of the century. Of the cited bands + Ensiferum, only Ensiferum and Amorphis can claim to have more than a million Google hits (and let's face it, Amorphis isn't really much of a Folk metal at all) That has to count for big influence, I think. They are obviously also quite talented.

Anyway... I have grudgingly voted for Skyclad, because in spite of there being arguably more talented bands around, they certainly take it in terms of originality and influence, no doubt. Anyone who claims otherwise is living in their own little bubble without looking at the big picture of Folk in general.

Since when is Amorphis folk metal? Don't get me wrong: I like them alot, but not for their folk metal... I have to agree with Dologan: Ensiferum isn't perhaps 'roots' but don't underestimate their inluence.

Orphaned Land, Mabool one of my favorite albums

Written by metalwolf on 17.07.2010 at 15:47

Since when is Amorphis folk metal? Don't get me wrong: I like them alot, but not for their folk metal... I have to agree with Dologan: Ensiferum isn't perhaps 'roots' but don't underestimate their inluence.

Amorphis was one of the first bands to include Kalevala and this kind of stuff in their lyrics, plus they include loads of folk elements in their music. If you don't know what I mean, listen to tracks like "Shaman", "The Smoke" or "Skyforger". Their earlier stuff indeed isn't that mcuh folk, but yet you don't have to drown you metal into fiddle and accordion to make it Folk. Primordial is a good example of this.

Einherjer were not mentioned at all? Sure they're not "folk" metal, but they were viking metal pioneers when everyone else in Norway was putting on corpsepaint and being all satanic and shit. And if Amorphis are mentioned in this poll, Einherjer should be too, and they get my vote hands down.

And don't forget about Mithotyn!

These bands tried forging a path for themselves in the 90's long before folk metal became an acceptable popular subgenre, and were greatly ahead of their time. Both bands eventually split out of that uncertainty, but it's great to see Einherjer reunited and Falconer having risen out of the ashes of Mithotyn.

Of the bands provided in the poll, I voted for Windir, for their still underrated talent and folkloric imagination.

Modern viking metal was born with Falkenbach, there are not doubt!

Bathory is also quite an obvious influence. Apart from that I'd say Skyclad were pretty early and unfortunately often uncredited band in the folk metal movement.

I was hoping to see Einherjer and vote for them, but given the choices I picked Primordial. Not as old as many of the other choices, but Primordial has done their fair share of pioneering in their own musical realm.

Written by ForeverDarkWoods on 07.07.2010 at 01:26
They were basically the first to incorporate folk music into the metal, even if their influence came from the old folk rock bands such as Jethro Tull. I actually think they win the talent and originality prizes as well.

Couldn't agree more. No matter what anyone thinks of them, they were the true pioneers of the genre. Anyone who denies that, doesnt know their folk metal. Id give them the talent and originality prize as well. Originality, well... they quite obviously were, seeing as they did folk metal before anyone else. So when they started, it was totally original and a very fresh sound. Might be hard to believe now, with the tons of folk metal bands around, but back then, they were unique. Talent, yep, absolutely. Primordial are also a hugely talented band as well, but Id also give that to Skyclad. As Marcel said, they started off as a thrash/folk hybrid, and that is actually quite a rare thing in the folk metal scene now. The first album contained a lot of thrash, although for 2 songs, the thrash sound was totally stripped away. "The Widdershins Jig" is undoubtedly the first real folk metal song, At least to the extent of the style that many of the folk metal bands that followed started playing. And the folk ballad "Moongleam And Meadowsweet". Hugely talented, and true innovators. I have to go with Skyclad in this poll! xD

Windir gets my vote, even though I really like Falkenbach as well!

And I liked Windir before I even knew who Valfar was and that he died lol.