Editing Medieval metal (section)

== History ==
=== Precursors ===
[[Image:Corvus Corax German Band.jpeg|thumb|right|[[Corvus Corax (band)|Corvus Corax]]]]

The medieval folk band [[Corvus Corax (band)|Corvus Corax]] was formed in 1989 and released a debut album in the same year.<ref name="AMG Corvus">{{cite web |author=True, Chris |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p372835/biography|pure_url=yes}} |title=Corvus Corax |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=31 March 2008}}</ref>
The group relies on period instruments that include the [[Cittern|cister]], [[hurdy-gurdy]], [[biniou]], [[buccina]], [[davul]], [[riq]] and [[cornett|cornetto curvo]] with the most prominent being the [[shawm]] and [[bagpipes]]. They describe their approach as "louder, dirtier and more powerful than any interpretation of medieval music before."<ref name="Gothronic Corvus">{{cite web |author=Beautevil |title=Interview with Der Drescher of Corvus Corax |url=http://www.gothtronic.com/?page=23&interviews=868 |publisher=Gothtronic.com |access-date=31 March 2008 |archive-date=7 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807184445/http://www.smart-amsterdam.nl/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The result has been associated more with medieval taverns and pubs rather than the royal courts or church.<ref name="AMG Corvus"/>

While medieval metal is a German phenomenon,<ref name="Goethe">{{cite web|url=http://www.goethe.de/kue/mus/thm/prh/en2839815.htm |title=Modern Minstrels: Medieval Rock on the Rise |access-date=18 February 2008 |author=Matthias von Viereck |date=12 November 2007 |publisher=Goethe-Institut |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080316224736/http://www.goethe.de/kue/mus/thm/prh/en2839815.htm |archive-date=16 March 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> one of the inspirations for the genre is the English [[folk metal]] band [[Skyclad (band)|Skyclad]]. Formed in 1990 as a [[thrash metal]] band, they added violins from session musician Mike Evans on several tracks from their debut album, ''[[The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth]]'', with the song "The Widdershins Jig" was acclaimed as "particularly significant" and "a certain first in the realms of Metal".<ref name="MusicMight Skyclad">{{cite web |author=Sharpe-Young, Garry |title=Skyclad |url=http://www.musicmight.com/artist/united+kingdom/tyne+and+wear/newcastle+upon+tyne/skyclad |publisher=[[MusicMight]] |access-date=10 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918012836/http://www.musicmight.com/artist/united+kingdom/tyne+and+wear/newcastle+upon+tyne/skyclad |archive-date=18 September 2009 }}</ref> The band added a full time [[violin]]ist to their ranks<ref name="allmusic Skyclad">{{cite web |author=Bush, John |title=Skyclad |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p14274/biography|pure_url=yes}} |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=10 March 2008}}</ref> and has since been credited not only as the originators and pioneers of folk metal but also as a direct inspiration for medieval metal bands.<ref name="MusicMight Skyclad"/><ref name="MusicMight Subway">{{cite web |author=Sharpe-Young, Garry |title=Subway to Sally |url=http://www.musicmight.com/artist/germany/brandenburg/potsdam/subway+to+sally |publisher=[[MusicMight]] |access-date=18 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924173032/http://www.musicmight.com/artist/germany/brandenburg/potsdam/subway+to+sally |archive-date=24 September 2009 }}</ref>

=== Origins ===
[[Image:Subway To Sally (Sundstock 05).jpeg|thumb|[[Subway to Sally]], seen here performing live at the 2005 Sundstock Openair, has been credited as setting off this genre of music.]]
The East German band [[Subway to Sally]] was formed in 1992 as a [[folk rock]] band, singing in English and incorporating Irish and Scottish influences in their music. With their second album ''MCMXCV'' released in 1995, the band adopted a "more traditional approach" and started singing in German. Taking Skyclad as an influence,<ref name="MusicMight Subway"/> Subway to Sally performs a blend of [[hard rock]] and [[heavy metal music]] "enriched with medieval melodies enmeshed in the songs via bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, [[lute]], [[mandolin]]e, [[shawm|shalm]] {{sic}}, [[fiddle]] and [[flute]]" and combined with "romantic-symbolic German-speaking poetry" in their lyrics.<ref name="goth sally">{{cite web |title=Subway to Sally |url=http://www.gothtronic.com/?page=23&band=476 |publisher=Gothtronic.com |access-date=31 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312014235/http://www.gothtronic.com/?page=23&band=476 |archive-date=12 March 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> With chart success in their native Germany, they have since been credited as the band "that set off the wave of what is known as medieval rock."<ref name="Goethe"/>

In the year 1994, a concert was organised in [[Berlin]] that featured a collaboration between a rock band known as Noah and members of the aforementioned medieval group Corvus Corax.<ref>{{cite web |author=Landers, Mikki |title=In Extremo |publisher=Deutschmusikland.com |url=http://www.deutschmusikland.com/bands/inextremo.php |access-date=31 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106054957/http://www.deutschmusikland.com/bands/inextremo.php |archive-date=6 January 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The result of this mix of medieval and rock music saw the group Noah turning into [[In Extremo]]. They began with two acoustic medieval albums before releasing a metal album ''[[Weckt die Toten!]]'' in 1998.<ref>{{cite web |author=Joe |title=Interview with Micha of In Extremo |url=http://deutschmusikland.com/interviews/interview_inextremo.php |publisher=Deutschmusikland.com |access-date=1 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108080637/http://www.deutschmusikland.com/interviews/interview_inextremo.php |archive-date=8 January 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=WindBlade |title=Interview with Kay Lutter of In Extremo |url=http://www.heavymusic.ru/en/interviews.php?id=49&title=In+Extremo |publisher=Heavymusic.ru |access-date=1 April 2008}}</ref> They have since found chart success in Germany with their "medieval style stage garb and unashamed usage of such bizarre instruments as the Scottish bagpipes."<ref name="MusicMight In Extremo">{{cite web |author=Sharpe-Young, Garry |title=In Extremo |publisher=[[MusicMight]] |url=http://www.musicmight.com/artist/germany/berlin/in+extremo |access-date=1 April 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090910193318/http://www.musicmight.com/artist/germany/berlin/in+extremo |archive-date=10 September 2009 }}</ref>

Corvus Corax also joined in the fray with the release of an EP in 1996 that featured metal music with bagpipes.<ref name="AMG Corvus"/> The EP was titled Tanzwut and the group has since continued exploring medieval metal as a side project by that name. Their style blends not only medieval music and heavy metal but also [[industrial music|industrial]] and [[electronic dance music|electronic]] beats.

The year 1999 also saw the release of [[Schandmaul]]'s debut album.<ref name="AMG Schandmaul">{{cite web |author=True, Chris |title=Schandmaul |website=[[AllMusic]] |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p819748/biography|pure_url=yes}} |access-date=1 April 2008}}</ref> Describing themselves as the "minstrels of today,"<ref name="Goethe"/> the [[Bavaria]]n outfit employs a musical arsenal that includes the bagpipes, [[hurdy-gurdy]], shawm, [[violin]] and mandolin.<ref name="MusicMight Schandmaul">{{cite web |author=Sharpe-Young, Garry |title=Schandmaul |publisher=[[MusicMight]] |url=http://www.musicmight.com/artist/germany/bavaria/munich/schandmaul |access-date=1 April 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525130938/http://www.musicmight.com/artist/germany/bavaria/munich/schandmaul |archive-date=25 May 2012 }}</ref> Like Subway to Sally and In Extremo, Schandmaul has experienced chart success in their native Germany.<ref name="AMG Schandmaul"/><ref name="MusicMight Schandmaul"/> Other groups that also emerged during the late 1990s and early 2000s included [[Letzte Instanz]],<ref name="AMGlet">{{cite web |author=True, Chris |title=Letzte Instanz |website=[[AllMusic]] |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p834674/biography|pure_url=yes}} |access-date=1 April 2008}}</ref> Morgenstern,<ref name="MusicMight Morgenstern">{{cite web |author=Sharpe-Young, Garry |title=Morgenstern MusicMight Biography |url=http://www.musicmight.com/artist/germany/thuringia/merkers/morgenstern |publisher=[[MusicMight]] |access-date=1 April 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120529050822/http://www.musicmight.com/artist/germany/thuringia/merkers/morgenstern |archive-date=29 May 2012 }}</ref> Saltatio Mortis and Schattentantz.<ref name="MusicMight Schattentantz">{{cite web |author=Sharpe-Young, Garry |title=Schattentantz |publisher=[[MusicMight]] |url=http://www.musicmight.com/artist/germany/schattentantz |access-date=1 April 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927191216/http://www.musicmight.com/artist/germany/schattentantz |archive-date=27 September 2012 }}</ref>

=== 21st century ===
Bands have found continued success throughout the 21st century. In 2005, In Extremo's ''[[Mein rasend Herz]]'' ranked number three in Germany.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.de/album.asp?artist=In+Extremo&title=Mein+rasend+Herz&cat=a&country=de|title=charts.de|date=18 October 2014|website=archive.is|access-date=1 October 2019|archive-date=18 October 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141018151031/http://www.officialcharts.de/album.asp?artist=In+Extremo&title=Mein+rasend+Herz&cat=a&country=de|url-status=live}}</ref> Their next album ''Sängerkrieg'' (2008) achieved the top spot on german charts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://acharts.co/album/35703|title=Sängerkrieg by In Extremo - Music Charts|website=acharts.co|access-date=1 October 2019}}</ref> Schandmaul's ''[[Unendlich (Schandmaul album)|Unendlich]]'' (2014) reached number two on the german charts and was later certified gold in Germany.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.musikindustrie.de/markt-bestseller/gold-/platin-und-diamond-auszeichnung/datenbank/#topSearch|title=Datenbank: BVMI|website=www.musikindustrie.de|access-date=1 October 2019}}</ref> Other groups such as [[Feuerschwanz]] and ''Folkstone'' continued to emerge as older groups achieved more mainstream success.