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Post by curious on Nov 16, 2012 4:24:47 GMT 2
How did you discover folk metal and what about it drew you in and made you not only love this genre but made you want to be a member of its community?
I know this has been vaguely discussed in another forum, but I am looking for more in depth answers. I am doing a research project for a cultural anthropology class I am currently taking and I chose to research the online culture of Northern European Folk Metal. I will start out with my story. I was first introduced to this genre about four years ago when I went to a Tyr and Korpiklaani concert in San Francisco with my brothers and I immediately fell in love. I never really thought about what exactly made me love the music until recently. To start with the concerts are super fun and there seems to be a strong community feeling amongst the people who attend them. Another for me is that my ancestry is almost exclusively Scandinavian and so there is a connection to my family roots in the music. Anything you would like to share is extremely appreciated. I think its wonderful and interesting that there are so many fans from all over the world.
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WitchRider
Wolfcub
...still shine the stars and the ancient trees!
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Post by WitchRider on Nov 16, 2012 12:49:26 GMT 2
I've been listening to folk metal since the age of 17, then i used to listen to every new folk-metal band appearing and it always gave me tre feeling of inner fire and ardour... later, the folk metal wave flushed away, and unfortunately now i can state that there are not enough perspective newbies to shock me anymore, and the oldies (e.g. Finntroll, Ensiferum) are releasing uninteresing albums and so losing their positions.
Since then i've got deep into underground scene, and now the most enjoyable bands for me in the folk metal genre are Agalloch, Wyrd, Forefather and Winterfylleth, and i seek the primordial archetypes in varoius other music genres. A few days ago i've discovered a community of guys here in Petersburg who are going to create some courses of throat singing and playing traditional instruments, and i'll try to get in that.
Well, my example fits your statement well - I'm on the other side of the terrestrial globe from you!
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Post by curious on Nov 23, 2012 2:27:38 GMT 2
Awesome, I will have to check out the bands you mentioned. The throat singing and traditional instrument courses sound like they will be very interesting, hopefully it ends up happening.Thank you again for your perspective and if you think of anything else you feel like sharing please do. ;D
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Post by Nordis on Nov 23, 2012 12:57:14 GMT 2
Great thread  Takes me back to so many great things I've had and shared with the community. I think I was first introduced to folk metal back in 2001 when Finntroll's Jaktens Tid was released. Den Hornkrönte Konungen was played on a weekly metal show on radio and being a fan of Iron Maiden, Children of Bodom, Stratovarius and all kinds of fantasy stuff I instantly fell in love with the song and the simple folky lead melody. Fast forward few weeks or months and I had found Moonsorrow, Thyrfing and Turisas through Finntroll's forum, some album reviews and of course from quite a few downloads from Audiogalaxy and Napster. Next year I was introduced to Shaman and eventually to Korpiklaani when I saw the video for Kanohta Lávlla* on a finnish metal portal Imperiumi. There was a forum called Vladimir's viking metal page or so which was the predecessor of Viking Blood community. I was active in there for a while until in 2003 another member, and later a friend of mine from Finntroll forum founded a community called Trolleve. The site and forum quickly became THE community for all things folk and viking metal, hosting the official forums for Turisas, Eluveitie and some other I can't recall. The community was fairly large, international and active and there were regular album reviews, interviews and all that jazz. Many members from the forum also travelled to European festivals from overseas to meet each other and I still have some good friends who I met back then  There was also a sense of competition with Viking Blood who were doing exactly the same thing with their page and forum. I suppose there were enough people in the scene to actually divide into two camps and take sides, something which looks really silly nowadays  That era is what I'd call the golden age of folk metal. Over the years the forums got more quiet and Trolleve was closed around 2007, about the same time as Viking Blood. There wasn't anymore a single hub for the fans, but some registered to different bands' forums' while many just disappeared from the radar. I agree that there's still this good feeling of community on gigs. The spirit is still there even though the fan base has split into smaller, more band-oriented groups Edit: Wayback Machine has a few snapshots from Trolleve's forum index. Didn't remember we hosted forums also for Asmegin, Månegarm, Forefather, Heathen Crusade (pre- Pagan / Heidenfest tour), Tyr and almost all of the major bands back then. I remember Korpiklaani didn't want to move over, so we're still running on the same forum as in 2003 web.archive.org/web/20060713063131/http://forums.trolleve.com/Edit 2: I forgot to mention Viking Blood was re-opened last spring -> www.vikingblood.net/ . Unfortunately the site looks pretty quiet though  ...aaand Edit 3: To answer the question how I become involved in the scene, I'd put all the blame on Finntroll's forum which was really active back then. I became a regular member, then a moderator for a few years until I got too pissed with all the n00bs who didn't respect any rules. Discovering the new bands that kept emerging across Europe kept the communities busy, it seemed like there was a new good demo out almost weekly. The fact that band members used to be really active on the forums was also a huge thing, it really created a special bond between the community and the artists when you could casually discuss about food, pets, politics or the print of their next shirt on their forums. Actually I could say that the artists were members of the community just like everyone else *) Seeing the video again right now I think I realised where I got the idea for my red hair... |
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Post by mountainfisherman on Jan 3, 2013 8:57:09 GMT 2
honestly?
I've been a huge part of the punk and hardcore scene in my community for many years, and after a while and once you reach the magical age of 30.... you just want to listen to something besides someone screaming to 3 power chord chaos.....
alot of people knock me for it, but folk metal takes an extreme amount of talent to play, and most of all perform live.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2013 21:11:05 GMT 2
Since then i've got deep into underground scene, and now the most enjoyable bands for me in the folk metal genre are Agalloch, Wyrd, Forefather and Winterfylleth, and i seek the primordial archetypes in varoius other music genres. A few days ago i've discovered a community of guys here in Petersburg who are going to create some courses of throat singing and playing traditional instruments, and i'll try to get in that. Only now read....just glad to see you're into Forefather nowadays too. Those courses sound so great, would love to hear you've gotten stuck into it...and don't drop out like with the last musical attempt of yours.  *) Seeing the video again right now I think I realised where I got the idea for my red hair... ;D Read all you wrote, but found this extremely interesting. a lot of people knock me for it, but folk metal takes an extreme amount of talent to play, and most of all perform live. Amen to that! My turn now: not sure the year when it all started, but could say I had an epiphany sometimes in the 9th or 10th grade when I first saw Skyclad on a late night TV heavy metal show....it was different from all the heavy metal I was used to it and separately I had an affinity for traditional music: as varied, as far as it could be from my country (and all I knew)... all in all, was dreaming for some heavy stuff combined with lots of traditional sounds and Skyclad thunderstruck me. Had to post about this episode, as since then, too much has happened with my personal FM saga, and it cannot be resumed otherwise than in the length of Young and Restless and nobody wants that. I got actively involved with the FM community veeeeeeeeeeeery late, that is in 2009 when I came to this board where people were really into the same music as me and not just played occasionally FM as my friends did. Also wanted to check what the hell forums are about, and now I know. As for the reason why....well,guess some things are done from the heart and for me FM is among the closest music to my heart....so felt drawn into checking what's out there on interwebs, if any people felt like me, since back then (before joining this board) had only a few friends to listen FM and not even those understood my addiction to the genre. Results nowadays that I am stuck with it and with a bunch of people who feel the same. Took me many years to get in touch with these people , but when I did discovered them was great! I think strongly that I know some of the most open minded, tolerant, mind inquisitive and cool folks in the world and they're members of this community...and helvete! I learned and continue to a lot from them. |
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Post by hukkakaura on Jan 12, 2013 15:00:02 GMT 2
Humm... I don't remember when... maybe with 16-17 years?? When I started listening metal I started with black metal (why not XD), some death metal... and friends lend me some CDs: Children of Bodom, Old Man's Child, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames... then Aes Dana, Cruachan, a band from here called Numen, Amon Amarth, Finntroll... I look for more folkish bands, I still listen to black and death metal but I like folk since I was a child, I used to listen folk since I was born so I love to listen Korpiklaani, Finntroll, Asmegin, Otyg, Månegarm, Cruachan, Eluveitie, Aes Dana... Also I play some music instruments (from here where I live like a flute called "txistu" and a horn-pipe called "alboka", and violin), know some basque folk dances, a little irish dancing and I really love pagan stuff basque (we have a lot of nature deities), nordic, celtic, finnish.... It's like 2+2=4 hahahaha |
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Post by curious on Apr 3, 2013 22:35:16 GMT 2
Wow, thank you all for replying. I used quite a bit of what you all told me in my research paper, which turned out very successful and 23 pages long . I am now attempting to write another paper about the gender roles in music sub cultures (I'll post a separate topic for those questions), but I just wanted to thank you all for your responses I really appreciate all of your input. |
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Post by sejten11 on May 15, 2013 10:08:48 GMT 2
Folk metal is one of many genres in metal, that I listen to. It's actually third one, I got into after heavy (Iron Maiden etc, bands that everyone knows) and power metal. I've discovered folk metal as genre in pretty strange way... school project where I had to describe "modern music with ethnic/folk instruments" (I was 15 years old then and I still was "newbie" in metal). I've ran into messageboard, where folk metal was mentioned and someone recommended Finntroll. As fan of metal I was curious about how it would sound and checked their music on YouTube. I've fell in love instantly and started digging this genre. Then I've found Moonsorrow, one of most epic folk metal band, I've ever heard, Korpiklaani which is capable of bringing smile back on Your face every time and You just can't sit tight while listening to it or very atmospheric Falkenbach who have made one of my favourite folk/viking metal (I have problem with finding difference between those two genres in anything except lyrics) songs ever- Homeward Shore. Then I've found many other bands like Ensiferum (Treacherous Gods \m/ ) or Eluveitie for example. I think this is whole story behind me being folk metal fan. I listen to many other genres, but I'm not going to do offtopic here |
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Takes me back to so many great things I've had and shared with the community.
There was also a sense of competition with Viking Blood who were doing exactly the same thing with their page and forum. I suppose there were enough people in the scene to actually divide into two camps and take sides, something which looks really silly nowadays 
