Viking metal is a style of heavy metal music characterized by a lyrical
and thematic focus on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking
Age. It is a genre, or group of genres, often featuring slow-paced and
heavy riffing, anthemic choruses, use of both sung and harsh vocals,
inclusion of folk instrumentation, and frequent use of keyboards for
atmospheric effect. It emerged during the late 1980s and early 1990s
from black metal groups who were influenced by Nordic folk music.
Artists such as Led Zeppelin, Yngwie Malmsteen, Heavy Load, and Manowar
had used lyrics that invoked the Vikings, but Bathory from Sweden is
generally credited with pioneering the style. Enslaved (pictured), from
Norway, followed up Bathory's work with several Viking-themed albums
released during the 1990s. Burzum, Emperor, Einherjer, and Helheim,
among others, further developed the genre. As early as 1989 with
Falkenbach from Germany, Viking metal began spreading outside the Nordic
countries and across the globe. The death metal bands Unleashed and Amon
Amarth also adopted Viking themes, broadening the style from its
primarily black metal origin.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_metal>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1872:
Yellowstone National Park, located primarily in the U.S. state
of Wyoming, the first national park in the world, was established.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park>
1896:
French physicist Henri Becquerel discovered the principle of
radioactive decay when he exposed photographic plates to uranium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Becquerel>
1947:
The International Monetary Fund began its financial operations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Monetary_Fund>
1961:
U.S. President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order
establishing the Peace Corps (logo pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Corps>
2014:
A group of knife-wielding men and women attacked passengers at
Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, China, leaving 31 victims and 4
perpetrators dead with more than 140 others injured.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Kunming_attack>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
englyn:
(poetry) A short Welsh or Cornish poem of a variable structure, with
each line using quantitative metre and cynghanedd (a repeating pattern
of consonants and accent), and different lines being arranged in
standardized patterns of rhyme and half rhyme.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/englyn>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is true that the poet does not directly address his neighbors;
but he does address a great congress of persons who dwell at the back of
his mind, a congress of all those who have taught him and whom he has
admired; that constitute his ideal audience and his better self. To this
congress the poet speaks not of peculiar and personal things, but of
what in himself is most common, most anonymous, most fundamental, most
true of all men. And he speaks not in private grunts and mutterings but
in the public language of the dictionary, of literary tradition, and of
the street. Writing poetry is talking to oneself; yet it is a mode of
talking to oneself in which the self disappears; and the products
something that, though it may not be for everybody, is about everybody.
--Richard Wilbur
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Wilbur>