Before 2025 fully wrapped up, we polled our readers to vote for their favorite folk metal release from a handful of our nominations.
The winner of The Best Folk Metal Album of the Year is…
Pearl Hunting by Belle Morte
While their home is Belarus, the new record by Belle Morte pulls from folk music across the globe. Based in Minsk, Belle is joined by her backing band of Sergey Butovsky, Ilya Petrashkevich, Ilya Rogovoy, Maria Shumanskaya, and Rostislav Golubnichiy, while also gathering a long list of international musicians to make special appearances. We actually spoke to Belle about the guests on Pearl Hunting, vampires, exorcisms, and spider demons earlier this year, but are honored to continue the conversation in light of their award.
Further reflecting on the album, Belle refers to the “transformative moment” of finally hearing the real, recorded performances – “suddenly you hear the raw, authentic tone of each instrument, all the tiny nuances and breaths that bring the music to life.” For example, on “Willow,” you can hear Ruben Monteiro’s hurdy-gurdy performance, which Belle describes as “majestic.” She adds “we finally met Ruben Monteiro… on set for the Willow music video. It was an absolutely amazing experience.”
If you haven’t yet listened to the entirety of Pearl Hunting yet, you can expect symphonic metal infused with Celtic, Ukrainian, Japanese, and Mongolian music, as if Belle Morte is a sponge, soaking up and embracing world music from all regions. Naturally they had much praise for the other nominations, noting the Japanese-inspired guitarwork on Ryoji Shinomoto‘s Children of Bodom cover album as well as listing “Tes River’s Hymn” by Nine Treasures, “Kukulkán Wakah Chan” by Cemican, and “Wingkawnoam” by Mawiza as folk metal favorites. Belle confirms, “it was an honor to be in the same category with all of them.”
“We’re part of another collaborative project, but this time the roles are switched, and we’re the guest musicians. We’re also preparing a series of acoustic tracks where we completely rethink the arrangements and strip the songs down to a more raw, intimate form. We’ve already started sketching ideas for new material. It’s still very early, but if everything goes well, we hope to share something new with you in 2026,” concluded Belle. Pearl Hunting is available on Bandcamp and CD.