Celtic metal

Celtic metal is a subgenre of folk metal that emerged in Ireland during the early 1990s. It fuses the intensity of heavy metal with traditional Celtic music, incorporating instruments such as the tin

History#

The origins of Celtic metal can be traced to the earliest known exponent of folk metal, the English band Skyclad. Their “ambitious” and “groundbreaking” debut album The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth was released in 1990 with the song “The Widdershins Jig” acclaimed as “particularly significant” and “a certain first in the realms of Metal”. This debut album made an impact on a young Keith Fay who had formed a Tolkien-inspired black metal band by the name of Minas Tirith. Inspired by the music of Skyclad and Horslips, Keith Fay set out to combine black metal with the folk music of Ireland. Like Waylander, Keith Fay also credits the Irish rock band Horslips as a “huge influence on Cruachan,” further noting that “what they were doing in the 70s is the equivalent of what we do now.” With a specific focus on Celtic music and the use of Celtic mythology in their lyrics, Cruachan’s style of folk metal is known today as Celtic metal. Parallel to Cruachan, the black metal act Primordial also released a demo recording in 1993 and “found themselves heralded as frontrunners in the burgeoning second-wave black metal movement.” Irish music plays “a very big role” in Primordial but in “a dark and subtle way” through the chords and timings. The year 1993 also saw the formation of Waylander. With vocalist Ciaran O’Hagan fronting the group, they released a demo recording in 1995. A debut album Reawakening Pride Once Lost was unveiled in 1998. O’Hagan notes that it was a coincidence that “Primordial, Cruachan and Waylander sprang up within little more than a year of each other.” Since then a few other bands from Ireland have emerged to perform Celtic metal including Geasa Ithilien from Belgium, Mägo de Oz from Spain, Suidakra from Germany, Leah from Canada, Skiltron from Argentina, and Gun Ghaol - who perform entirely in Scottish Gaelic - from Scotland. Despite the Irish origins of the genre, Celtic metal is not known to be popular in Ireland. Ciaran O’Hagan of Waylander notes that while “Primordial are Ireland’s biggest Metal band in terms of sales and international profile” the band would be “lucky to sell much more than 500 copies of their albums in their own country or pull more than 300 punters to a gig.”

Characteristics#

Similar to its parent genre of folk metal, the music of Celtic metal is a diverse collection with bands pursuing different subgenres of heavy metal music. While bands such as Suidakra ply their trade with the more extreme subgenres of black or death metal, and Gun Ghaol perform modern metalcore. Many bands in the genre enhance their sound with the use of a folk instrument. Bagpipes are used by bands such as Skiltron and Ithilien. The fiddle is used by such bands as Mägo de Oz, The tin whistle and flute can be found in such bands as Cruachan, Ithilien, Waylander and Eluveitie, while the Irish bands of the genre make use of native instruments such as the uilleann pipe and bodhrán.

Celtic metal

History#

Characteristics#

See also#