Half-discovered experimental Nordic heavy folk recs
Niche? Yeah. Best music ever? HELL yeah!
Tagged “folk metal” because that’s the intended audience. I'd define heavy folk as "folk music that's reminiscent of metal without actually being metal".
Hindarfjäll (Sweden)
Ah, how I love Hindarfjäll! They became one of my favourite bands before they even released their first album, just because their demos had a sincerity and depth to them that honestly moved me to tears. They started out as a Wardruna-inspired folk band, but by the time their debut Från Tidernas Begynnelse came out in late 2020, they were 1) a solo project and 2) a delightful, unique voice in today’s Nordic folk scene. Hindarfjäll’s music is almost too gentle to really count as “heavy folk”, but the songwriter comes from a metal direction and a large percentage of the fans seem to do so too.
Hindarfjäll also have some great music videos!
Norrsinnt (Sweden)
Now this one - also a solo project - goes much more into a metal direction. In fact many Norrsinnt songs are straight up folk metal. But there’s also the 10 minute long ritual tracks and the nyckelharpa-centric more-or-less-acoustic stuff. The first album, Dåvahugg, came out in 2019, and there's another album's worth of material on Bandcamp already. Sophisticated, majestic, and as heavy as heavy folk gets without being quite "just metal".
Fuimadane (Denmark)
If every music list has its weird entry, this is the one on this list. Someone once said on FB that since the artist behind this project (another solo thing!) is an immigrant, the name should probably be read as “F U Im A Dane”. Very experimental neofolk that goes into many different stylistic directions. Just listen to the song below, you’ll see what I mean.
Nordein (Norway)
I think everything on this list is just “one dude with a lot of instruments” ahaha. Nordein's music is atmospheric, something for fans of soundtrack or ambient music. The artist calls the genre “Norwegian mountain music”, and I for one think you can hear the mountains in the song below. The album it is from, the project’s 2020 debut Nordariket, is a trip. I mean this literally, it’s like a journey.
Also, here's a translation of the lyrics to the song below. Powerful stuff!
Narehell (Netherlands?)
And maybe every list has its “dark” entry too. In that case, this is it. Narehell aren’t technically from a Nordic country (I think), but the nyckelharpa and the tagelharpa are the main instruments, their debut came out only last month, and I at least can’t really see the stylistic difference, so I’m including them. If you like Heilung, check out this... another... solo project (shakes fist).