 While many songs are composed in English , Viking metal bands often write lyrics in various other languages , usually of the North Germanic family : Norwegian , Old Norse , Swedish , Danish and , less commonly , Icelandic , Faroese , and the non @-@ Germanic Finnish language . Other European languages , such as German , Old High German , Latin , Dutch , or Sami languages are sometimes used . In 2013 , The Wall Street Journal published an article which examined how heavy metal fans around the world learn languages such as Norwegian or Finnish in order to understand the lyrics of their favorite bands . It reported that " A band of young metal heads — spanning Romania to Singapore — have taken up a Northern European language in order to better appreciate or even mimic their favorite metal bands . " 
