Short History of Folk Metal

Folk Metal: Essentially, any band that uses folk music in their songwriting is a Folk Metal band, but there is a wide array of bands under this rubric, and this makes classification difficult. There are Power Metal bands that make use of Folk elements, such as Tuatha De Danaan and Elvenking, Traditional bands that do the same like Tyr and Ensiferum, and more than a few Black Metal bands that do it as well Falkenbach and Skyforger come to mind. Skyclad were undoubtedly the pioneers of this style, and one of the very few Folk Metal bands that does not cross over from some other genre there are very, very few pure Folk Metal bands. There is a lot of crossover with Viking Metal, and the two are often found together, but not always. So if a band uses Folk influences they can be described as a Folk Metal band, but that is probably not all they are. Pioneers: Skyclad. Notable Bands: Tuatha De Danaan, Elvenking, Tyr, Ensiferum, Skyforger, Falconer, Mithotyn, Finnugor, Slough Feg, Summoning.