Viking metal is a sub-genre of black metal music. A lot of people mistake Viking metal for any metal with lyrical themes about Viking or Scandinavian mythology, heathenism, etc. However, this is a completely different musical style. Arrangements are usually more complex than the somewhat simple early black metal that originated in Norway in the early 1990s. The most important Viking metal bands are Enslaved, midperiod Bathory, Thyrfing and Moonsorrow.
