10. Korpiklaani - Sophie Lancaster Stage - Saturday, August 10th 2024

The normal trajectory for a folk metal band is to start with metal and then drift towards folk. Korpiklanni turned that on its head. In the late 90s, they were a Sami folk music collective playing the guttural sounds of the indigenous Finnish people. It was only after a number of changes in personnel that they drifted towards the metal in the early noughties. The folk element is still very much in the fore and they use traditional instruments such as the accordion and violin as opposed to having them synthesised through a keyboard.

The Finnish folk features alcohol highly as a subject matter so expect jaunty odes to vodka, beer and homemade moonshine. In fact, expect a riotous after hours extravaganza where the folk does the heavy lifting, and the metal chivvies along in the background. But be warned this is not fake swords aloft folk metal, this is grubby organic humanic folk that celebrates that the protagonists have managed to get to the end of the day alive. Life-affirming but also firmly based in realism, this is folk metal for those who left the fantastical imagery back at sixth form.