Folk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal that developed in Europe during the 1990s, fusing traditional folk music with various styles of metal. This includes the widespread use of folk instruments and traditional vocal styles. and diverse languages.
Discussion
It has come to attention that I can't find much of any avant-garde sounding folk metal bands or songs. The avant-garde metal band Sigh has an album called Heir To Despair (2018) and that album has a few avant-garde folk metal songs or folk metal adjacent songs. The first track of the album titled "Aletheia" is what I considered to be the most folk metal sounding song of the album.
So what I want to know is are there any avant-garde folk metal songs or bands? If they exist, please recommend those songs to me. If you can't find them, then recommend me a folk metal song, but it has to be adjacent to avant-garde metal. Or you can recommend me an avant-garde metal song that is folk metal adjacent.
Ultimately, I'm looking for some avant-garde folk metal songs or bands. I'm asking for recommendations because I want to make an avant-garde folk metal playlist. I don't know of any bands that I would consider to be primarily avant-garde folk metal, but something tells me that there are folk metal bands that have composed at least one avant-garde sounding folk metal song. If you know of any, please recommend them. Thank you very much in advance.
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Check out Völur.
I've never heard of this band before. After your recommendation, I went to listen to some of their music in order to see what they sound like. Based on the few songs I just heard, this band definitely has the sound that I'm looking for. I consider the style of Völur to be avant-garde folk/doom metal. Thank you very much for this recommendation.
I try to get specific with my genres in my database, but I apparently do not have "Avant-Garde Folk Metal", though I do have some Avant-Garde Black Metal and Avant-Garde Metal (a larger general category). Here is what I can share:
Aastraal
Arcturus
In The Woods...
Maudlin Of The Well
Nocte Obducta
Notre Dame
Oranssi Pazuzu
Quadrivium
Solefald
Thy Catafalque
Ulver
Many of these bands have very folky sounding songs in there arsenal, but not as an overall theme. So it's a bit of exploration.
I'm familiar with only a few of these bands, but the ones I'm familiar with such as Arcturus, In the Woods, and Oranssi Pazuzu, I haven't done a deep dive into their discographies. I have done a quick search for the bands that I haven't heard of and some of them have extensive discographies. So I'll dive into their discographies when I have time. Thank you for these band recommendations.
Not a problem, you will have a fun weekend ahead checking all that out!
Just in general, I'd say you won't find a lot of bands that sound like Sigh in all of metal. They're definitely one of my top bands of all time, and I do value a unique sound quite a lot.
The album Elegy by Amorphis is imo the most "avant-garde" folk metal adjacent album - in that it has a very unique, out there sound that I've yet to hear any other band replicate. I'd say there's similarities to Sigh's newer stuff like Shiki.
Die Apokalyptischen Reiter generally have a very "out there" sound, mixing melodeath, prog, folk and Neue Deutsche Härte, but especially their album The Divine Horsemen had a very avant-garde feel to me (though very different from Sigh's sound).
Dornenreich is a band that exists somewhere in the space between black metal and neofolk. They're very minimalist and oddly quiet for a metal band (though they can also be very extreme), and for the most part they just consist of vocals, guitar and violin (some albums have drums, too - a lot don't).
I had the pleasure of seeing them do an unplugged show in a church last autumn, and it might have been one of the most awesome experiences I've ever had.
And that, along with Sigh, would be 4 out of my top 5 favorite metal bands, btw. The fifth being Skálmöld, who are very awesome, but not very avant-garde.
Scorched Vatika are maybe not quite folk metal, but occupy a similar space in my mind as Sigh do, being very jazz-inspired and avant-garde.
Yes, I agree with you about Sigh. They are very unique and they're an awesome band. I used their song "Aletheia" as an example for the avant-garde folk metal sound that I'm looking for because avant-garde folk metal is an uncommon metal style.
It's been a long time since I last listened to Amorphis' album Elegy. Upon relistening to that album, it certainly has multiple songs that represent what I'm looking for. Yes, I agree that this album does have some similarities to Sigh's album Heir To Despair and somewhat similar to Shiki.
The "out there" sound that Die Apokalyptischen Reiter possesses is enough to qualify them for an avant-garde folk metal playlist. After listening to the album you recommended, I'm impressed with the music. In regards to Dornenreich, I think the originality of this band is enough for me to consider them to be at least adjacent to avant-garde metal and the neofolk (dark folk) influences cover the folk elements. Their sound is definitely minimalist and I think they sound mellower compared to other black metal bands. When I listened to their album Hexenwind, even the heavier parts of the music sounded more soothing than many other black metal bands.
The final band you recommended, Scorched Vatika is indeed avant-garde metal and they have a unique sound similar to Sigh. However, I don't hear much of any folk in their music, but I hear the classical music influences though. The music here was fascinating and outstanding, but it's not folk metal enough for me to consider for my playlist.
Lastly, I want to say that your suggestions were helpful. Thank you very much for these recommendations.
Yeah, I also tend to find it hard to find that kind of music - Amorphis is my favorite band, and I consider Elegy the best metal album of all time. My taste definitely goes into that direction too, this "out there" and very proggy, very original style of metal, and it's hard to find a lot that hits that spot.
I present you E-An-Na from Romania. They started as a more traditional folk metal band (with romanian folk) but they like to experiment. Their third album, fascinathanatango is a departure from metal in just weird stuff, a mix between romanian lăutărească music, latino, jazz and horror sounds. After that they experimented even more with balkan folk and with the metal stuff.
Here are some songs that might be what you're looking for:
Ies,
Pielea,
'Colo 'mbia
Toropeală,
Bun la toate
And here's a playlist if you're curious for more
First, I want to say that the band name E-An-Na is an interesting name for a band. Secondly, I listened to all of the metal sounds you recommended for this band. Quite frankly, I don't know what style of folk metal to even call their metal music. I would probably consider it as avant-garde or experimental folk metal because they have some eccentric (for lack of better words) sounding influences. Furthermore, I also listened to some of their non-metal songs from the album Fascinathanatango and that stuff sounds about as eccentric as their metal songs, if not more. The song "Toropeală" is my favorite of the recommended songs. Thank you for suggesting this band.
Try the band Aarni, particularly the Bathos album. They got a folk vibe going on alongside avantgarde doom. Maybe the track Kivijumala
This is another band that I'm unfamiliar with. The song you recommended to me is very captivating. It definitely has the avant-garde folk metal sound that I'm looking for. As for the album as a whole, Bathos is very psychedelic sounding and it's avant-garde throughout most of the album. However, this album definitely sounds more doom metal than folk metal, but the song you recommended to me and a few other songs such as "V.I.T.R.I.O.L.", "Mental Fugue", and "Quinotaurus (Twelve Stars in Sight)" have the avant-garde folk metal sound I'm looking for. Overall, this album was amazing. Thank you recommending this album. I'm going to check out more of this band.
Definitely Thy Catafalque, though not a folk band strictly speaking. I would recommend checking "Naiv" and "Vadak" - these 2 albums are the most folk influenced.
Thank you for your recommendation. This is the second time that someone has recommended Thy Catafalque and that's just more of an indication that this band is probably what I'm looking for. Furthermore, you also suggested for me to listen to two of their albums and I'm glad you suggested some albums because they have an extensive discography. After listening to both of these albums, I can say this band is avant-garde metal and multiple songs are folky in some places. So I'll certainly consider them for this avant-garde folk metal playlist.
You've peaked my interest and confusion 😂 I remember a*vant garde *from musicology at Uni as this and this and this and maybe Aphex Twin, so that Alethesia track definitely isn't avant garde; There's a very clear structure and predictable rhythm - nothing at the forefront, really - so I'd just call it "folk metal". Are you just looking for instrumentation/timbres that aren't usually in western music? i.e., arguably the major most component of folk metal.
And thanks for turning me onto Sigh, this track is a banger.
I'm sorry for the confusion. I'm definitely looking for folk metal that is avant-garde. The examples you provided are definitely more avant-garde than the Sigh song that I mentioned in my initial post description. It makes sense that you are knowledgeable about avant-garde music because the music studies class at university.
I don't think that aspect is what I'm looking for, but that aspect definitely draws me into most folk metal songs. I guess what I'm definitely looking for are eccentric folk metal songs and Sigh's song "Aletheia'' sounds eccentric. I think a lot of avant-garde music sounds eccentric. However, what you're describing is what I consider to be the base component of avant-garde music. The structure shouldn't be clear and rhythms should be unpredictable. Moreover, I think there is some confusion between avant-garde and progressive music.There are times when I fall for this confusion. Also, Sigh's song "Aletheia" could be described as progressive folk metal because it seems to follow some of the fundamentals of progressive metal such as uncommon time signatures.
I'm guessing that I'm probably being too loose with what I'm considering to be avant-garde because I was thinking there isn't a lot of avant-garde folk metal out there. Of the bands that people already recommended to me, I think the bands Völur, E-an-na, and Dornenreich were the top three bands. E-an-na sounds very eccentric in their music. Meanwhile, Völur and Dornenreich have sounds that are very original and unique sounding to folk metal because the music sounds atypical to folk metal. So it seems that what I'm looking for is folk metal that is eccentric, original, atypical, or unusual. However, if you're able to suggest bands that meet your understanding of avant-garde music (such as unclear song structures and unpredictable rhythms), then those suggestions are certainly welcome.
I hope this clarifies to you and everyone reading this about what I'm looking for. I definitely want something that is avant-garde and folk metal. The avant-garde element can be either primary or secondary. Likewise, the folk element can be the same. However, I need to hear both the avant-garde and folk metal influences clearly and simultaneously at least to some degree.
E-Na-Ra
Edit: Nothing comes up when I Google this, so I'm assuming I'm misspelling the name. I swear they exist!
I think the band that you're trying to recommend to me is misspelled. I think the correct spelling is E-an-na. If E-an-na is the band that trying to recommend to me, then that is the second time this band has been suggested to me. Since, this band has been suggested more than once that indicates this band strongly fits the description of avant-garde folk metal and I believe they do based on the few songs I just heard from them. Thank you for recommending this band again.
Yup! Them!
Solefald - Red for Fire & Black for death albums
Ashenspire - "Hostile Architecture" is like Primordial, Dodheimsgard and skyclad in a blender
Thank you for these recommendations. It's the second time Solefald has been recommended, but at least you gave me some albums to start with. These two albums were delightful to listen to. They sounded more folk metal than I expected because I was under the impression that Solefald wasn't folk metal. These albums certainly have something I'm looking for.
I actually have heard of Ashenspire because of A Forest Of Stars and I wanted to find something similar to them, but I never got around to listening to them until now. Ashenspire sounds similar to A Forest Of Stars, but they're more avant-garde than A Forest Of Stars. The avant-garde sound is perfect and it sounds unconventional, disjointed, and random. As for the folk elements of this album, they mixed in pretty well with the classical and jazzy elements, so they can be difficult to hear at times. Nonetheless, I can still hear the folk elements in multiple songs of this album. So the music here is avant-garde metal that is folk adjacent. Overall, this album is excellent.
Best suggestion I can come up with is The Horn.
Experimental Black Metal from Australia, adapts an Ancient Egyptian funerary text known as "The Book of the Dead" using the translation by R.O. Faulkner (I believe considered the best translation of the text)
While the project is more on the experimental/industrial Black Metal sound, he (one man band) utilises various "folk" instruments (saz, arghul, violin, mandolin, percussion, flute/recorder). So it might be your thing.