Elvenking

Following in the pixie boots of England's Skyclad, Finland's Finntroll, and several other such strange creatures, Italy's Elvenking unite the disparate worlds of heavy metal and acoustic folk music underneath lyrics spinning mystical yarns steeped in both legend and imagination. Founded in 1997 by guitarists Aydan and Jarpen, the group soon added vocalists Damnagoras and Kleid, keyboardist/violinist Elyghen, bassist Gorlan, and drummer Zender (how about those stage names?) for the recording of 2001's Heathenreel and 2004's Wyrd -- both of them released by German label AFM. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi