Medieval metal is a subgenre of

folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...

that blends heavy metal music with

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

. Medieval metal is mostly restricted to Germany where it is known as or . The genre emerged from the middle of the 1990s with contributions from

Subway to Sally Subway to Sally is a German folk metal band founded in Potsdam in the early 1990s. Their music has clear folk and medieval influences, later also adding gothic and metal elements. With their continuous inclusion of oriental sounds and elements ...

In Extremo In Extremo (Latin for ''At the Edge''; abbreviated InEx or IE) is a German Medieval metal band originating from Berlin. The band's musical style combines metal with Medieval traditional songs, blending the sound of the standard rock/metal inst ...

and Schandmaul. The style is characterised by the prominent use of a wide variety of traditional folk and medieval instruments.

History

Precursors

The medieval folk band

Corvus Corax The common raven (''Corvus corax'') is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. It is a raven known by many names at the subspecies level; there are at least e ...

was formed in 1989 and released a debut album in the same year. The group relies on period instruments that include the cister,

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vi ...

, biniou,

buccina A buccina ( lat, buccina) or bucina ( lat, būcina, link=no), anglicized buccin or bucine, is a brass instrument that was used in the ancient Roman army, similar to the cornu. An ''aeneator'' who blew a buccina was called a "buccinator" or "bu ...

davul The davul, dhol, tapan, atabal or tabl is a large double-headed drum that is played with mallets. It has many names depending on the country and region. These drums are commonly used in the music of the Middle East and the Balkans. These drums ...

, riq and cornetto curvo with the most prominent being the

shawm The shawm () is a conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissance periods, after which it was gradually eclipsed by th ...

and bagpipes. They describe their approach as "louder, dirtier and more powerful than any interpretation of medieval music before." The result has been associated more with medieval taverns and pubs rather than the royal courts or church. While medieval metal is a German phenomenon, one of the inspirations for the genre is the English

band Skyclad. Formed in 1990 as a

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band, they added violins from session musician Mike Evans on several tracks from their debut album, ''

The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth ''The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth'' is the debut album by British folk metal band Skyclad, and is regarded as one of the first folk metal albums, with the track "The Widdershins Jig" in particular pointing the way for the genre. Front cover ar ...

'', with the song "The Widdershins Jig" acclaimed as "particularly significant" and "a certain first in the realms of Metal". The band added a full time

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

ist to their ranks and has since been credited not only as the originators and pioneers of folk metal but also as a direct inspiration for medieval metal bands.

Origins

The East German band

was formed in 1992 as a

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...

band, singing in English and incorporating Irish and Scottish influences in their music. With their second album ''MCMXCV'' released in 1995, the band adopted a "more traditional approach" and started singing in German. Taking Skyclad as an influence, Subway to Sally performs a blend of hard rock and heavy metal music "enriched with medieval melodies enmeshed in the songs via bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, lute, mandoline, shalm , fiddle and flute" and combined with "romantic-symbolic German-speaking poetry" in their lyrics. With chart success in their native Germany, they have since been credited as the band "that set off the wave of what is known as medieval rock." In the year 1994, a concert was organised in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

that featured a collaboration between a rock band known as Noah and members of the aforementioned medieval group Corvus Corax. The result of this mix of medieval and rock music saw the group Noah turning into

. They began with two acoustic medieval albums before releasing a metal album '' Weckt die Toten!'' in 1998. They have since found chart success in Germany with their "medieval style stage garb and unashamed usage of such bizarre instruments as the Scottish bagpipes." Corvus Corax also joined in the fray with the release of an EP in 1996 that featured metal music with bagpipes. The EP was titled Tanzwut and the group has since continued exploring medieval metal as a side project by that name. Their style blends not only medieval music and heavy metal but also

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

and

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

beats. The year 1999 also saw the release of Schandmaul's debut album. Describing themselves as the "minstrels of today," the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n outfit employs a musical arsenal that includes the bagpipes,

hurdy gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vi ...

, shawm,

and mandolin. Like Subway to Sally and In Extremo, Schandmaul has experienced chart success in their native Germany. Other groups that also emerged during the late 1990s and early 2000s included

Letzte Instanz Letzte Instanz is a German violin- rock band, founded in Dresden, Germany, in 1996, particularly noted for their use of the violin and cello. The founding members included Hörbi, Tin Whistle, Muttis Stolz, Kaspar Wichman, Holly D. and Markus G-P ...

, Morgenstern, Saltatio Mortis and Schattentantz.

21st century

Bands have found continued success throughout 21st century. In 2005, In Extremo's '' Mein rasend Herz'' ranked number three in Germany. Their next album ''Sängerkrieg'' (2008) achieved the top spot on german charts. Schandmaul's '' Unendlich'' (2014) reached number two on the german charts and was later certified gold in Germany. Other groups such as ''Feuerschwanz'' and ''Folkstone'' continued to emerge as older groups achieved more mainstream success.

Musical characteristics

Like its parent genre, medieval rock features the same typical instruments found in heavy metal music: guitars, bass, drums and vocalist. Bands in the genre are known to supplement their sound with a wide range of folk and traditional instruments.

Woodwind instrument Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and r ...

s like the bagpipes, flutes and shawm can be found in the music of Corvus Corax, Tanzwut, In Extremo, Schandmaul, Morgernstern, Schattentantz and Subway to Sally while string instruments like the violin, lute,

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

, harp and mandolin are employed by Subway to Sally, In Extremo, Schandmaul, Morgernstern, and Schattentantz. Many bands also dress in stylized medieval era costumes on stage. Bands adopt musical styles from many medieval era source material. Corvus Corax pulls from many styles such as viking music, celtic music, nordic music, as well as from fantasy stories such as ''

Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

.'' Their 2005 album '' Cantus Buranus'' was written using the text from ''

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreverent ...

.'' To contrast, other bands take a more modern approach to their songwriting while still including traditional medieval or ancient instruments.

References