2.  Black metal (Norway)  Classic metal (England)  Death metal (United States)  Glam metal (United States/England)  Power metal (Germany, England)  Folk metal (Finland/Sweden)  Thrash metal (United States/Germany)  Symphonic metal (Finland)  Etc. etc. etc.

3.  Most known Finnish metal acts:  Korpiklaani (folk)  Children of Bodom (death metal, kind of)  Impaled Nazarene (black metal)  Nightwish (symphonic metal  Moonsorrow (symphonic folk metal)  Sonata Arctica (symphonic power metal)  Ensiferum (folk metal)

4.  Finland is renowned for its folk metal and symphonic metal, these are its signature genres.  Part of the reason for this can be explained by the Kalevala and Jean Sibelius.  Korpiklaani songs are in Kalevala meter, and in general many Finnish acts look to the Kalevala for inspiration.  Furthermore, Finland’s long tradition of classical music (like Sibelius) gave rise to its more evil cousin, symphonic metal.

5.  Heavy metal is hugely popular in Europe/Scandinavia.  Finland has ~2700 metal bands (according to metal archives) for a country of ~5 million.  Germany has like ~7000 for a country of ~80 million and it has a renowned heavy metal scene.  Why is it so popular in Finland?

7.  Lyrics mainly about booze. Beer Beer, Happy Little Boozer, Bring us Pints of Beer, Vodka, Juodaan Viinaa (Drink Booze), etc. etc.  Fast songs, based around a polka format (accordian, fiddle) with metal guitars/drums and rock style vocals.  Used to be called Shaman and sing in Sami, now sing in mostly English/Finnish with a few Sami joik (Sami chanting) tunes thrown in.

9.  Very long songs (often 8 minutes+ and sometimes as long as 30 minutes).  Atmospheric sounds and chanting around a sometimes folkey black metal core.  Often sing about Finnish history and nature.  Lyrics in Finnish

11.  Fairly conventional song structures, usually with a galloping drum beat.  Occasionally throw in acoustic guitars and Kantele (Finnish string instrument) playing to add flair and folkey feeling.  Lyrics are often about heroic deeds, especially as found in the Kalevala and Finnish history.