Because I Know You've Been Wondering

Which countries lead the world in heavy metal bands per capita?

Not surprisingly--well, not surprising if you know anything about metal--the Nordic countries lead the way, with Finland way out in front at 54.3 metal bands per 100,000 people, Sweden next at 37.3. I was just a bit surprised by the details. I would have guessed Norway first, then Finland or Sweden, but that's confusing notoriety with numbers, Norway being the birthplace of extreme forms such as death metal. 

So let's have a little Finnish metal. This is a band called Amorphis who have produced a series of albums comprised of songs based on episodes of the Kalevala, which I recently started reading. I haven't gotten very far in it, but I believe this is the voice of Lemminkäinen's mother as she begins to search a dark river for her drowned son. The lyrics can be found here--scroll down to "Silent Waters." 

 

 

Comments

[Paul]

Scandinavia, where every musical genre has "metal" after it.

[Mac]

e.g. folk-metal.

[Paul]

Here's Amberian Dawn's take on the same theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBe3JoVlHQI

I can't help finding it rather silly.

[Mac]

You're right, and yet--I'll be honest, I sorta like that. I had not heard of them before. Another Kalevala theme, it appears. Korpiklaani, the one I linked to, definitely seems silly at times, and in their case I think it may be partly intentional.