This epic metal band was formed in the early 90's by the sole two members still making up Ereb Altor. Growing up having Bathory's epic era in our hearts it was inevitable that the music we created somehow was going to be influenced by our house gods. Having Bathory's music as a foundation we created our own branch of this so called "epic viking metal" genre. Lyric-wise the topics differed slightly.
Moonsorrow is a pagan metal band formed in Helsinki, Finland, in 1995. Musically, the band incorporates elements of black metal and folk metal in their sound. The band call their sound "epic heathen metal" and try to distance themselves from the term "viking metal". The group's earliest formation consisted of cousins Ville Sorvali (vocals and bass) and Henri Sorvali (guitar and keyboards; also keyboards for Finntroll, Barathrum, and session member of Ensiferum) who released various demos that were much more characteristic of melodic black metal than future releases.