I listen to a whole bunch of music. You name it and I probably have at least one song from that specific genre on my ever growing Spotify playlist. Don't get me wrong, I love the great music of the 80s, 90s and today just like every good American, but it takes a special sort of band, song or album to motivate me into writing actual sentences about them.

So today I would like to introduce you to what for many of you may be an entirely new genre. Today I write to you about the one and only Folk Metal. If you are aware of this genre I tip my headphones to you, and the effort you put into sifting through the dark side of Spotify to find such hidden treasures. I hope your Discover Weekly hasn't been mutilated too much (or maybe that's a good thing, who knows).

Folk Metal is a vast genre, stemming from nearly any country or region you could imagine. Just to give you an idea, on my playlist I have folk metal bands from Scandinavia, Great Britain, Hungary, and Mongolia, and that is only a small sample size compared to the great variety of sound and subject that you can find in folk metal!

So without further ado, I have the great pleasure of introducing you to one of my favorite albums of all time, Ancient Call, from a group called Tengger Calvary. They are based out of New York City but they refer to their genre of music as Nomadic Folk Metal, as most of the music is drawn from Mongolian folk tradition. With a healthy mix of guitar and Mongolian throat-singing (another new genre!), they really have something for everyone.

The band itself is not the topic I would like to discuss, however. I want to explain to you why their 2014 album Ancient Call is one of my favorite albums of all time. In contrast to their other albums, the aspects of Mongolian folk music really shine through the intimidating, loud front of heavy metal. That is absolutely not to say that this album is not heavy metal. Nearly every song on this album has enough heavy metal to knock your eyeballs into the back of your skull, so be warned if you don't like being popped in the head by the big ole heavy metal mallet. That being said, allow me to walk you through the Ancient Call album.

Track 1: "Dance with the Wolf"

Dance with the Wolfwww.youtube.com

Begin the journey with an acoustic song with minimal throat-singing in the background to prepare your mind and your ears for probably the most important journey of your lifetime.

Track 2: "Galloping to the Great Land"

Galloping to the Great Landyoutu.be

Enter our first glimpse at the electric guitar and our metal vocalists. As soothing as those sounds are, this song is quite heavy, but I would advise you to pay attention when the vocalists stop singing to hear some really interesting melodies that you cannot really hear elsewhere.

Track 3: "Battle Song from Far Away"

Tengger Cavalry - Battle Song from Afar (Audio)youtu.be

This song has one of my favorite song openings ever. The bass kick, followed by an absolute pile-driver of sound. If that's not enough to knock you out of your Monday funk into the next WEEK, I don't know what is. That wall of sound is something that I really appreciate about Ancient Call. In this album, guitar solos don't exist like they do in other metal albums. The guitar creates an almost physical ambiance for folk melodies to play over. It creates a sound that you would be hard-pressed to replicate or find elsewhere.

Track 5: "Hymn of the Earth"

Tengger Cavalry - Hymn of the Earth (Audio)youtu.be

Make way for one of the greatest folk metal songs to ever exist. With a soft opening and heavy as ever middle, this song is something special. It isn't really something I can explain. So I will just point you to the timestamp 3:40 for the triangle followed by enough pure emotion to make you smash your head into that wall of sound and stage dive into your the university lecture hall of your choosing.

Track 6: "Summon the Warrior"

Tengger Cavalry - Summon the Warrior (Lyric Video)youtu.be

If more traditional metal is your thing, then I would recommend this song. I would also recommend this song if there is a murder that you need to commit or if there is an exam you need to study for.

Track 9: "Chant of the Calvary"

Last but not least, if you would like the song that pays the most homage to the instruments the song is played with, look no further. This beautiful song has enough melodic emotion and elegance to make the hardest metal-head close their eyes and clench their fists.

That is all of the music I have for you this week. I hope you enjoyed Tengger Calvary's Ancient Call or at least kept an open mind as you muted the sound on your Spotify player. Thank you for letting me tell you about this most favorite album of mine. Goodbye for now.