How to Play Violin in a Metal Band - Types of Violins

What kind of violin should you get if you want to play violin in a metal band, acoustic or electric?
Preferably, both.
Electric violins are great for achieving the volume needed while practicing with the band or playing live shows, but when it comes to recordings, nothing beats the sound of an acoustic violin.
If I had to choose one? I would say electric. But it also depends on your priorities, and most importantly, your budget.
Here's a little comparison that may be helpful, but also keep in mind I'm not an expert on the technicalities of electric violins or violins in general, this is based on experience and observation

Lumsk

Lumsk is a progressive folk metal band from Trondheim Norway. Ethereal and otherworldly, their music weaves together the story-like qualities of progressive rock with lyrics based on tales from Nordic mythology. Gorgeous female vocals invoke images of ancient princesses, and male vocals recall mythic heroes. The tone of the pieces ranges from foreboding to jubilant and victorious, sometimes even changing within a song. Mature and intricate compositions make Lumsk memorable and set them apart from other folk metal bands. While their earlier albums can easily be considered metal, their last album is more ambient, and better described as progressive rock. Aside from male and female vocals, the band also features keyboards, which often use the classic Hammond organ sound, violin, trombone, and the standard 2 guitars, bass, and drums.

The violinist is Siv Lena Waterloo Laugtug, who has been with the band since it's beginning, but left in 2007. The violin is mixed very high in the recordings. Violin parts range from being very folky to haunting and ethereal, and feature trills, tremolo, flowing legato parts, and possibly even distortion. It sounds like Siv Lena plays both acoustic and electric violin on the recordings, and she plays a Yamaha SV-200 electric live.


Official Site: lumsk.com
Myspace: myspace.com/lumsk

Recommended songs: "Skip Under Lide," "Skomegyvri," "Nøkken," "Perpålsa," "Olafs Belti"

"Skip Under Lide" :


"Nøkken" :


*If you're interested in seeing a music video, here's "Trolltind," it's not a particularly heavy song, but the video is neat.

**The beautiful picture of Siv Lena is from Metal Blast Photo.

Resolution 15

Resolution 15 is post-thrash metal band from Astoria, New York that not only tackles heavy riffs on their two 7-string electric violins, but also addresses heavy social issues in their music. Their technical prowess is undeniable - their riffing rivals that of the finest metal guitarists, and watching them play is just awe-inspiring. Their music is brutal, with heavy riffs and assaulting vocals. Unlike many other violin-imitating-guitar acts, Resolution 15 has their own distinct musical and thematic direction that would allow them to hold their own even if they were a guitar-based metal band. But what also makes them unique in their niche is their use of the violin as a melodic component of their music as well as a rhythm instrument, most notably seen in the song "Malus Olympia."
The two violinists are Earl Maneein (bottom left) and Joel Lambdin (bottom right). Earl was the one who started the band - after first getting into metal, he started transcribing Metallica, Anthrax, and Iron Maiden (among other bands) for the violin, then later decided to write metal for the violin himself. Both Earl and Joel play custom 7-string electric violins from the Electric Violin Shop (with the lowest string being tuned to B flat). And I know you're interested in what gear they use (cause I sure was): Earl plays through a Peavy amp with a wah and delay pedal, and Joel plays through a Framus head and cab, with a noise gate for the sound from the violin pickups.
The violin parts consist of lots of spiccatto for the riffing, distorted violin solos, expressive legato parts during interludes, and occasional fast moving parts on top of riffing.

Recommended Songs: "Malus Olympia," "Sufferers Rise"

Official Site: resolution15.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/resolution15
Watch this, it will blow your mind:

Korpiklaani

Korpiklaani is a Finnish folk metal band, unique in the fact that they were first a folk music band but later turned metal. Known for their happy danceable folk metal tunes and their lyrical themes of beer and partying, Korpiklaani's music makes you feel like you are out in the woods partying with bears. In sum, Korpiklaani's music is very lively and fun.
Korpiklaani is impressive in their use of a variety of folk instruments, as they not only have guitars, bass, and drums, but also an accordion, violin, jouhikko (2-string bowed lyre), tin whistle, recorder, mandolin, bagpipes, and mouth harp. The singer is unique in his use of traditional yoik vocals. In addition to their authenticity, Korpiklaani also has an exceptionally clear and crisp recording quality of their folk instruments.
Their violinist is Jaakko "Hittavainen" Lemmetty (usually referred to as Hittavainen). He plays both acoustic and electric violins. At one point he played a Yamaha SV 120 or 130 (as seen in the "Happy Little Boozer" live video), but now it looks like he plays an NS Design violin (seen in the "Vodka" music video and live). The violin parts are of a fast folky fiddle style, which uses many double-stops and often doubles with the accordion. Sometimes there are even distorted violin solos, such as in "Wooden Pints."

Recommended Songs: "Hide Your Riches," "Wooden Pints," "Happy Little Boozer," "Fields in Flame," "Spring Dance" (Inst.), "Vodka," "You Looked Into My Eyes"


Official Site: www.korpiklaani.com/
Myspace: www.myspace.com/korpiklaani

"Hide Your Riches":


"Wooden Pints" live, solo @ 2:24:


(Watch the music video for "Wooden Pints" if you're in the mood for hilarity)

Embers (viola)

Embers is an ambient black metal band from Oakland, California who uses their music to address the social issue of humanity's toll on the environment. Their atmospheric guitars and down-tempo drums provide for a gloomy yet relaxing kind of background music - until the blood-chilling vocals come in. The screams and growls of their male and female vocalists immediately convey the violence inherent in their message, while the organic sound of the acoustic viola and the melodic keyboards add a touch of beauty to their music. Their songs are constantly developing and changing, grabbing and swaying your emotions along with the rhythmic and tempo changes. Their music is powerful in its subtlety, and strangely addicting!

Their violist, Nine Katechis, has had over 15 years of experience playing viola, and has played in other Bay Area bands before. She plays a 5-string viola, with the highest string tuned to the E of the violin. The viola parts are very melodic and often eerie, using lots of reverb and playing softly in the background. Because of the ambient nature of the music, the viola has a lot of freedom in what it is able to play without interfering with the other instruments, allowing for interesting viola parts.

Unfortunately, Embers has lost both their violist and keyboardist, and is looking for people to take their place. If any of you are in the Bay Area and interested in joining Embers, go to their website and write them!

Recommended Songs: "The Reprise," "Suicide," "Corruption," "Awakening" (solo in middle)

(Listen to the songs HERE)

Official Site: embers-music.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/embers666

"The Reprise" and "Corruption":

Stream of Passion

Stream of Passion was originally intended to be a one-time side project of Dutch composer Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One). But under the direction of Mexican-born singer and violinist Marcela Bovio, Stream of Passion has taken flight as an independent and ongoing band. This Holland-based band plays gothic metal with strong progressive influences, featuring heavy use of piano and piano keyboard sounds, as well as syncopated guitar riffs. Marcela's vocals are the main attraction of Stream of Passion, however - her sweet and haunting voice coupled with unconventional vocal melodies makes her singing unique and memorable.
Marcela also plays violin for the band. "My favorite is the violin," she says, "even though I’m not a very skilled violinist. I just love this instrument’s sound." The violin parts mostly play softly in the background, adding a subtle but beautiful effect, but sometimes it can play the lead melody, and sometimes it even doubles with guitar. On their first album Embrace the Storm, Marcela played a Yamaha SV-100, but now she has a 5-string Yamaha EV (pictured). There is an additional string quartet on their second album, The Flame Within: Ben Mathot and Judith van Driel (violin), Mark Mulder (viola), and David Faber (cello). As both the singer and violinist, Marcela cannot play all the violin parts live, but she does play an occasional intro or interlude on the violin in concert.

Recommended Songs: "This Endless Night," "Embrace the Storm," "Now or Never," "Out in the Real World," "Street Spirit" (Radiohead cover), "Passion"

Official Site: http://www.streamofpassion.com/
Myspace: www.myspace.com/streamofpassionband

"Out in the Real World" (Embrace the Storm), with Arjen Lucassen and Lori Linstruth on guitar:




"This Endless Night" (The Flame Within) live, with Marcela on violin for the intro:



Resources: [1] [2] [3]

Crimfall

Crimfall is folk metal band from Helsinki, Finland. Their music is very epic - can I emphasize that again? Very. Epic. Finland doesn't disappoint when it comes to folk metal, and Crimfall is no exception. Their music generally features melodies reminiscent of Finnish folk music and lyrics about vikings, but sometimes their music can even have an ethnic middle-eastern feel to it. Their dense keyboard orchestration and heavy guitars provide for a powerful sound, and the male and female vocalists provide for a nice contrast. Although the male/female singer lineup occurs quite frequently in metal, I feel like their male grunter/female operatic singer offset is exceptionally well done and stands out from the rest.
The official band consists of the two singers, a guitarist/keyboardist, drums and bass, while their session musicians on the album include violin, cello, and accordion. The guitarist also plays "other weird instruments," and I'm not entirely sure what that entails, but I do know it includes the jaw harp!
Crimfall is still a fairly new band - they only have one album out right now, As the Path Unfolds..., which was released in 2009. They have a new album coming out in March of 2011, and they posted a new song on their Myspace, "Frost Upon Their Graves." Check it out, it's a great song!
Their session violinist was Maija Arvaja, but they are actually going to have Olli, the violinist from Turisas, be a guest musician on their next album! So, I'm officially really excited for this new album, and I'll be writing about it when it comes out!

Recommended Songs: "Wildfire Season," "Ascension Pyre," "The Crown of Treason"

Official Site: www.crimfall.com/
Myspace: www.myspace.com/crimfall

"Ascension Pyre" :


"Wildfire Season" :