Viking metal

Blood Fire Death by Bathory.

Viking metal is a heavy metal music subgenre inspired by Norse mythology.^[1] Swedish metal band Bathory's fourth album, released in 1988 and called Blood Fire Death, was the first Viking metal album.^[2]

Viking metal bands

Attila Csihar of Mayhem, a formative band in the second wave of black metal
Manowar (seen here in 2009) is an early example of a band that made use of Viking themes.
Govern of Wolfchant. Keyboards are commonly used by Viking metal artists, and are often played at a "swift, galloping pace".
Sámi Perttula of Korpiklaani. Viking metal often uses folk instruments, though not as extensively as the related genre of folk metal.
Viking metal makes extensive use of Viking iconography, such as this Mjölnir pendant.
Burial mounds at Gamla Uppsala, the center of religious worship in Sweden until the destruction of its temple in the late 11th century.
Kari Rueslåtten, formerly of Storm, and seen here with The Sirens. Women musicians are not common among Viking metal bands.
The Wild Hunt of Odin by Peter Nicolai Arbo was used as the cover for Bathory's Blood Fire Death album, considered the first example of Viking metal.
Ivar Bjørnson of Enslaved at Barge to Hell, December 2012
Varg Vikernes in prison