In the last year or two, I have noticed a ton of new folk metal bands coming about. I love folk influenced stuff, like the violin, bagpipes, etc...but this is my eternal question:

Why is that every single folk metal band that's coming out these days have to be mixed with melodic death metal and growling? It seems like no one is being original...why can't a band just mix prog and power metal with folk? Growling and folky stuff doesn't blend that much. I know a few bands like Blind Guardian have made prog/power and folk mix, but there should be more of that.

trends, 'extreme'-ness, lack of Falconer love

Here's some different "folk metal"...

http://www.myspace.com/hellsongs

Because they like mixing death and folk? I was going to mention Falconer also and Blind Guardian has thrown some into the mix too.

Wuthering Heights

Dalriada (formerly Echo of Dalriada) is excellent. They have several free full mp3 songs available at http://www.echoofdalriada.hu/en/diszkografia/ including one off their new album due out in a couple of weeks. Their older songs do have some growling in them, but the majority of the vocals are actual singing with both a male and female singing. The lyrics are sung entirely in Hungarian, but it just adds to the ambiance and flow of the music.

Their older stuff was more thrashier and their newer stuff is more power-metalish, and while I like their new material better, it is all good.

Here is their video from a couple of albums ago.

It took along time to download the song of their new album, but I finally just got to hear the full song. Man, that is some good music!

the first elvenking cd - heathenreel is a folk power metal masterpiece! There is a hint of growling but it is kept to the bare minimum. None of the albums from elvenking that would be released have ever made it up to their debut imho...

Alex