#utmarken

This is my very short quality-over-quantity list of my favourite promising, half-discovered folk metal bands of the moment.

Boisson Divine (France)

I have to look up the name of their language every time. It’s a regional language - not a dialect - called Gascon. Clean vocals, a melodic and pleasant sound, but without sounding generic or commercial, this is music I can listen to every day.

Utmarken (Sweden)

Utmarken have actually been among my absolute favourites for a couple of years already, but I’m including them anyway, because their first two albums are criminally underrated and it seems they’re starting to gain more traction with the third one. A mix of folk, power and heavy metal with great clean vocals, the nyckelharpa or “keyed fiddle” as solo instrument, and, despite the often dark lyrical subject matter, tons of energy and drive.

They also have an even more nyckelharpa-centric heavy folk sister project called Norrsinnt.

Kallomäki (Finland)

Kallomäki have a darker sound than the other entries on this list. What’s characteristic about them is the home-built electric tagelharpa that plays a central role in their songs. Imagine if someone took Korpiklaani’s music, killed it and brought it back to life as an undead monstrosity. That’s Kallomäki. Uh, I mean that as a compliment.

Zmey Gorynich (Russia)

This band from Moscow is definitely the strangest entry on this list. I discovered them on VK by coincidence one day. Try listening to an entire album of theirs and you will definitely be surprised a number of times by the sudden, often comedic twists and turns the songs take. They’ve got growls, they’re got symphony, they’ve got... schlager? Fun fair music..? They... I don’t...

Fun. They have fun.

I en ensliger gård, längs en avlägsen väg står en ensammen man med blicken fästad mot skyn Han har gått där i ensamhet så många år och sett järtecken hopas och förebuden nalkas för sin inre syn

At a lonely farm, along a remote path stands a man, alone, with his eyes fixed on the sky He has walked there in solitude for so many years and seen signs and portents with his inner sight.

“Jag har brukat min mark, jag har sått det jag sått Jag har sökt att förtälja men få har hörsammat mig Ni har gjort era val! Nu ska bilan slå ner! Nu jer tärningen kastad och räkenskapens bödlar har kallats in.”

"I have tilled my land, I have sowed what I've sowed I have tried to tell folk but few have listened. You have made your choice! Now the axe shall fall! Now the die is cast and the reckoning has come!"

Jag skådar paniken med lugn i mitt sinn’ Jag vet vad som väntar när fåren till slut kallas in He schko’ snart börj’ å brinn’...”