I've been turned off by the "folk" label so far. Really not an enjoyer of folk, usually. But I keep being told Arkona give it their own spin, and 'progressive black' should be up my alley.
I might be biased, but in mid 2000s there was a huge resurgence of folk rock and folk metal in Russian scene, and it produced the most earnest records. But everyone's different
Pretty self-explanatory, with a couple caveats: first, this is mostly just a list of my favorite metal bands in approximate order (after the top 10 or so the order matters far less), with extra weight given to influence and timelessness of sound; and second, the albums selected are not necessarily the band's "best" album, or even my personal favorite -- they are the albums that I feel best represent the band's classic sound and/or well-represent the span of their career. List includes all sub-genres of metal and some post-metal metal. Feel free to spew your hatred below. \m/ (xx) \m/