666 : What is Viking Metal?

The weekend of the 4th-5th of December will see HRH bring the third chapter of its Viking themed mayhem to Sheffield. ROCKFLESH will be there with our drinking horns (full of very un-Viking rum) and plastic swords. This has led to discussions in ROCKFLESH towers about what actually constitutes Viking Metal. As ROCKFLESH’s resident Nordic and Black Metal obsessive (the two are not un-connected) I have been asked to explain.

Metal’s obsession with all things long boats and horned helmeted is not new (although Vikings did not actually have horns on their helmets). Led Zeppelin were talking about Valhalla and hammer of the gods as far back as ‘Immigrant Song’ in 1970 and Manowar adopted viking-esque fur and loins cloth as their stage attire in the early eighties. However, Viking Metal as a genre is actually a bit a misnomer. It is not a style per se and more actually a catch all term that covers a number of Metal’s many sub-genres. It has also developed hugely over the last thirty odd years, starting with being about subject matter, moving to a point where it encapsulated music that encompassed folk and pagan influences and now arriving at a point were it includes stuff that actually ditches Metal altogether and concentrates on authentic Viking folk (Wardruna, Mykur, Heilung). But more about that later.

Myrkur at the O2 Ritz in Manchester on April 12th 2018

Being Metal, there is a distinct starting point for Viking Metal and that is Bathory. For their first four albums these Swedes were devotees of satanic Geordie’s Venom, going as far as stealing their name from the track ‘Countess Bathory’. Along with Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost they were the first wave of Black Metal and essentially created a style that still stands true today. However Quorthon had a musical form of attention deficit disorder and after “Blood Fire Death” he abandoned the sub-genre he had helped create. Instead, he embraced his Scandi routes and created “Hammerheart”, Metal’s first Viking obsessed record (but in no way its last). Bathory may only have channelled the spirit of their ancestors for two records (“Hammerheart” was followed by the equally fabulous “Twilight of the Gods”) but they awoke something in many other bands from across the frozen north.

Over the border in Norway the second wave of Black Metal was stirring. Dis-enfranchised middle class teenagers across the land felt that Grunge had stripped metal of its mysticism and were looking for a new way to rebel. In the Satanic obsessed Black Metal they found it. However, there were some bands who felt uncomfortable with the obsession with old nick and instead wanted to use this music to explore Norway’s pagan past. Enslaved felt that Christianity had stripped Norway of its heritage. They took Bathory’s template and ran with it, injecting their take on Black Metal with tales of warriors and raiding parties. Slowly itself Black metal started to reject the ridiculous devil worship and instead become preoccupied with the daring do’s of their forefathers. Back In Sweden a number of emerging Death Metal bands (including Amon Amarth and Unleashed) also started to use Vikings as the subject matter for their tracks and adopting both the look and aesthetic.

Amon Amarth at Download 2019

Come the noughties metal started its grand masterplan to preserve itself by merging with all other genres. Folk Metal emerged and bands such as Eluveitie , Ensiferum and Equilibrium started to embed their brand of Metal with dark Nordic folk. This took Viking Metal in a different direction, moving away from anthemic tales of battles and towards a much more authentic attempt at capturing the pagan roots that many felt that the Scandinavian countries had lost. This led to the latest evolution as the aforementioned Wardruna and Heilung started using traditional Viking instruments and vocal style. Slowly they abandoned Metal altogether, creating instead a dark hypnotic style that embraced pre-Christian traditions. And we reach the point where we are now, where Viking Metal encapsulates a whole host of different styles and approaches, unified not by musical style but instead by a shared fascination with a long-gone warrior race.