Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Metal Music
- Cambridge Companions to Music
- The Cambridge Companion to Metal Music
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Get Your Double Kicks on Route 666
- Part I Metal, Technology and Practice
- Part II Metal and History
- 7 Mesopotamian Metal
- 8 Sparta and Metal Music’s Reception of Ancient History
- 9 Viking Metal
- Part III Metal and Identity
- Part IV Metal Activities
- Part V Modern Metal Genres
- Part VI Global Metal
- Select Academic Bibliography
- Select Journalistic Bibliography
- Index
9 - Viking Metal
Obsessed with the Past?
from Part II - Metal and History
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 August 2023
- The Cambridge Companion to Metal Music
- Cambridge Companions to Music
- The Cambridge Companion to Metal Music
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Get Your Double Kicks on Route 666
- Part I Metal, Technology and Practice
- Part II Metal and History
- 7 Mesopotamian Metal
- 8 Sparta and Metal Music’s Reception of Ancient History
- 9 Viking Metal
- Part III Metal and Identity
- Part IV Metal Activities
- Part V Modern Metal Genres
- Part VI Global Metal
- Select Academic Bibliography
- Select Journalistic Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Viking metal is one of the few varieties of metal music defined by the songs’ contents and visual elements rather than its sonic aspects. While a band’s music can be affiliated with folk metal, death metal or black metal, the lyrics and visual elements are clearly centred around the Viking Age, Old Norse mythology and the portrayal of Nordic nature. Time is an important feature in Viking metal lyrics and imagery and appears in the shape of a ‘past’ that can be identified as the Viking Age or as a past that lacks a time stamp. Often without a specific description of the underlying idea, the past is frequently attributed with wisdom and continuity. It appears in song lyrics and is depicted in various scenes from a seeming past or with direct reference to the Viking Age in the cover artwork of Viking metal bands. Why is the past such an important feature of Viking metal? What other aspects are deemed important? What ideological aspects do the references to the past entail? To answer these questions, I will identify defining features of Viking metal to then analyse the connotations of ‘the past’ in Viking metal.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Metal Music , pp. 114 - 126Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023