MetalSucks

The other day I engaged in a friendly argument with Rod (not Rob) of Metal Injection about folk, pagan and viking metal. Rod objected to the piece in which I claimed that the current pagan/folk metal trend is over, arguing that none of this “new” generation of pagan/folk bands are as good as the generation that preceded them (which, to be fair, I can’t really comment on as my knowledge of the subject is limited). In particular he didn’t seem into the Swiss outfit Eluveitie at all, which is unfortunate because Eluveitie are a legitimately good band who stand at the top of the folk metal pantheon.

Evocation I – The Arcane Dominion, released earlier this year, was an almost entirely acoustic affair — all of the folk and none of the metal — and was summarily greeted with a shrug by all but the band’s most die-hard fans. The band’s new single “Thousandfold,” however, gets back to the Gothenburg-flavored folk metal that made 2008’s Slania so special. We can only hope the rest of Everything Remains (As It Never Was), which comes out February 19th, is this good. Watch the video for “Thousandfold” below.

-VN

In early 2008, around the time of the original Paganfest USA tour, Pagan and Folk metal were all the rage. Bands from all over Europe were suddenly gaining attention in America with their blend of traditional European folk and modern metal, and by the end of that year and early 2009 there were Pagan/Folk tours aplenty. Revolver Magazine even ran a special feature highlighting the sub-genre. When the first Paganfest USA tour rolled through America there was a palpable excitement… nothing like that had ever transpired before.

Fast forward only a few months to the end of 2009 and it would seem as if the metal-loving public has had enough of Pagan Metal. As labels rushed to sign and promote Pagan and Folk Metal bands we ended up with a surplus of them, much like we did with the re-thrash trend of 2006-2008. In an effort to cash in, the metal record labels unwittingly did themselves in. The result has been that there are too many pagan metal bands, too many pagan metal records, and too many pagan metal tours. Oversaturation. I can’t even keep track of it all.

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