Editing Folk metal (section)

=== Origins ===
{{quote box
| quote = It was always my heartfelt dream to see the energy of Metal music mixed with elements from more traditional styles.
| source = Martin Walkyier, former vocalist for Skyclad<ref>{{cite web |author=Dicks, Britton |title=Interview with Martin Walkyier |publisher=Metalcoven.com |url=http://www.metalcoven.com/interview_walkyier_britton.html |access-date=2008-03-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226231421/http://www.metalcoven.com/interview_walkyier_britton.html |archive-date=2008-02-26 }}</ref>
| width = 290px
}}

{{Listen
|filename=Skyclad_-_The_Widdershins_Jig.ogg
|title=Skyclad's "The Widdershins Jig" (1991)
|description=This 21 second sample from [[Skyclad (band)|Skyclad]]'s debut album ''[[The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth]]'' is an early instance of folk metal.
}}

The [[England|English]] band [[Skyclad (band)|Skyclad]] was formed in 1990 after vocalist [[Martin Walkyier]] left his previous band, [[Sabbat (English band)|Sabbat]].<ref name="allmusic Skyclad">{{cite web |author=Bush, John |title=AMG Skyclad |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p14274|pure_url=yes}} |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=2008-03-10}}</ref> Skyclad began as a [[thrash metal]] band but added violins from session musician Mike Evans on several tracks from their debut album, ''The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth'',<ref name="Metalstorm Skyclad">{{cite web |author=Boylin, Alex |title=Skyclad Biography |publisher=Metalstorm.ee |url=http://www.metalstorm.ee/bands/biography.php?band_id=323&bandname=Skyclad |access-date=2008-03-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080303053740/http://www.metalstorm.ee/bands/biography.php?band_id=323&bandname=Skyclad |archive-date=2008-03-03 }}</ref> an effort described by Eduardo Rivadavia of [[AllMusic]] as "ambitious" and "groundbreaking."<ref>{{cite web |author=Rivadavia, Eduardo |title= AMG ''The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth'' Review |website=[[AllMusic]] |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r18176|pure_url=yes}} |access-date=2008-03-10}}</ref> The song "The Widdershins Jig" from the debut album has been 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=2008-12-13 |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=2009-09-18 }}</ref> With a full-time [[fiddle]]r in their lineup, the band's second album feature a "now legendary folky jig style" and "more prominent inclusion of the fiddle playing lead lines and melodies normally associated with the lead guitar parts of most other rock bands."<ref name="Metalstorm Skyclad"/>

Even with the departure of Martin Walkyier in 2001, Skyclad remains an active folk metal group today after nearly two decades since their formation.<ref name="MusicMight Skyclad"/> In contrast, the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] band [[Moonspell]] had a brief tenure in the genre. Their first release was the 1994 ''[[Under the Moonspell]]'' EP with music that featured Lusitanian folk and Medieval influences.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rtp.pt/programa/tv/p24751|title=MOONSPELL "LUSITANIAN METAL" - Musicais - RTP|first=Rádio e Televisão de|last=Portugal|website=www.rtp.pt|access-date=3 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106063931/http://www.rtp.pt/programa/tv/p24751|archive-date=6 January 2018}}</ref> With the release of their debut album ''[[Wolfheart]]'' in the following year, the band made a transition into [[gothic metal]] and within a matter of years "quickly evolved into one of the major players of the European goth-metal scene."<ref name="AMG BE">{{cite web| author=Rivadavia, Eduardo |title=AMG ''Butterfly Effect'' Review |website=[[AllMusic]] |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r445146|pure_url=yes}} |access-date=2008-02-28}}</ref>

[[Cruachan (band)|Cruachan]] were formed in 1992 in Dublin, Ireland. From the outset their intention was to mix the native Irish folk music of their home country with the more extreme side of metal music. Their debut album ''[[Tuatha Na Gael]]'' was released in 1995 and was a full folk metal album from start to finish. In the Italian book “FOLK METAL, Dalle Origini Al Ragnarok”, a comprehensive history of the genre, Author Fabrizio Giosue credits Cruachan as being the very first real Folk Metal band. He acknowledges that Skyclad did have some folk parts in some songs before Cruachan however he goes on to say Cruachan used folk music as much as they used heavy metal music. Cruachan also used arrangements of known folk songs and melodies, Skyclad wrote folk "sounding" parts.

Spanish band [[Mägo de Oz]] was among early Folk Metal artists that were influenced by the Celtic folk music. The band introduced folk elements and instruments in their power metal-based music from their 1994 debut album.<ref>{{cite book |author= Gianni Della Cioppa |title= Heavy metal. i contemporanei |publisher= Giunti Editore. |year= 2010  |isbn = 978-8809766341 }}</ref> Another early developer of folk metal is the [[Finland|Finnish]] group [[Amorphis]]. They formed in 1990 with their debut album, ''[[The Karelian Isthmus]]'', following two years later.<ref>{{cite web |author=Hill, Gary |title=AMG Amorphis |website=[[AllMusic]] |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p37042|pure_url=yes}} |access-date=2008-03-10}}</ref> Their sophomore effort ''[[Tales from the Thousand Lakes]]'' was released in 1994 with "plenty of fascinating melodies and song structures that drew heavily from the traditional folk music of their native country."<ref>{{cite web |author=Begrand, Adrien |title=PopMatters ''Far From the Sun'' Review |date=12 January 2005 |url=https://www.popmatters.com/amorphis-farfrom-2495828338.html |publisher=Popmatters.com |access-date=2008-03-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015172047/http://popmatters.com/music/reviews/a/amorphis-farfrom.shtml |archive-date=2008-10-15 }}</ref> The album received a favorable reception from fans with "its content quickly being exalted across the Metal underground as perhaps the very pinnacle of atmospheric [[Death metal|Death Metal]] achievement."<ref>{{cite web |author=Sharpe-Young, Garry |title=Amorphis |url=http://www.rockdetector.com/artist/finland/helsinki/amorphis |publisher=[[MusicMight]] |access-date=2008-12-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527192251/http://www.rockdetector.com/artist/finland/helsinki/amorphis |archive-date=2011-05-27 }}</ref>