The Viking raids of England in metal music: From ideology to parody

This article scrutinizes the rendition of the Viking imagery in metal music by the means of a comparative analysis of two Viking-inspired songs: ‘793 (The Battle of Lindisfarne)’ by the Enslaved, Norwegian Extreme band, and ‘Barbarian’ by The Darkness, the British rockers. Enslaved and The Darkness belong to widely different sub-genres of metal: the first cultivate an intriguing music characterized by Old-School Black Metal sounds blended with elements drawn from progressive rock, and the second are one of the most recognizable retro/heavy acts of the last two decades. Despite their widely different backgrounds, both bands have come up with two songs dealing with a particular aspect of early-Scandinavian history, namely, the Viking raids of Britain which took place in the VIII and IX centuries. It goes without saying that the differences between ‘793’ and ‘Barbarian’ reflect the styles and ideas of their respective composers: the juxtaposition of these contrasting musical and textual renditions of similar historical events (of particular relevance given also the borderline right-winged ideology propagated by Enslaved’s lyrics) will provide an innovative historical take on Viking-themed metal. I am grateful to the two anonymous reviewers from Metal Music Studies for a number of valuable suggestions.