My recommendations for who to check out on the Sophie Lancaster stage this year at Bloodstock Festival.

Music blog for folk, power and pagan metal
My recommendations for who to check out on the Sophie Lancaster stage this year at Bloodstock Festival.
My Ronnie James Dio stage picks for Bloodstock 2018!
A beautiful and atmospheric take on some of the lesser-known lore of Tolkein’s world.
Norway is famous for fjords, black metal and trolls, but there is also a lot of great folk, power and pagan metal bands out there to have a listen to.
The folk and power metal scene in the UK is getting bigger every year, and I am fortunate enough to know and in some cases be friends with the members of several of these bands.
If you want to have a folk metal workout, stick this album on and dance around for 45 minutes, it’s the perfect folk metal party in an album!
Home of fika, meatballs, Ikea and some absolutely fantastic metal, I am absolutely spoilt for choice when it comes to discovering new folk/pagan/power metal bands from this wonderful country.
Shadowrise I feel have a lot of potential. The mix between the RPG soundtrack style and the heavy instrumental works really well.
I’m really looking forward to seeing Celtachor again live. It is not often that Irish folk metal is heard, it is more often the more Northern European folk metal that fans are more familiar with.
This is certainly an album I will be listening to again, and if you haven’t had the chance to check these guys out yet, you should!
Each song on this album is its own story, its own journey. Sojourner have a unique sound in their own right.
An unusual folk metal album which deviates from the normal European style. It flows really well and the composition is fantastic.
Barbarians in Black is a hard-hitting, heavy power metal album which you should really add to your collection.
An acquaintance of mine (also in Sköll) asked me if I’d be kind enough to have a listen to his other band’s (Accursed Years) single
With hard hitting riffs and folky melodies, this is certainly a contender for my album of the year!
I really, really want to like this album. I really do. I’ve heard great things about Kamelot and on paper they sound like exactly my kind of band, but this albun really didn’t meet my expectations. I can tell the music itself is really well written and thought out, but at times it almost seems like it’s too well thought out at times.
If you enjoy punchy power metal with heavy drums and symphonic elements, The Offering is an album you need in your collection. It will definitely be joining mine.
This album is a great mix of power, folk and symphonic metal, with heavy Ensiferum influences. If you enjoy these genres, Adavant is a band you definitely want to be keeping track of in the future!
If you love the folk melodies in metal, this is a pure, stripped down version and it is every bit as beautiful you would expect.
Overall it’s a great folk metal album, and if you like your folk metal on the heavier side it’s definitely an album you need to check out, and North Hammer is definitely a band you need to keep your eye on!