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Folk Metal, like many metal genres, has taken on various forms across the plethora of metal scenes worldwide, and so when we zone in on Scotland the unmistakable sound of bagpipes tends to come to mind, but it's not all Highland dancing and caber tossing. Beyond the Scottish mainland are the wild islands, almost equidistant to that of Norway and Scotland itself lies the archipelago of the Shetland Islands. Hailing from the far flung island group is Folk Metal maestros Trowsholm who dropped their second album "Return of the Trow King" last year, vocalist / guitarist Callum Anderson filled GMA in as to what makes this band unique, their participation in the annual fire festival 'Up Helly Aa', their latest album and the adventures the Shetlander quartet have planned for 2026.  "Up-helly-Aa celebrates our Norse culture and heritage. Yes, there is a bit of that with the Vikings and the burning of the longship, but in reality for most local folk it is a great party in the depths of winter"Talk to us about the history of Trowsholm and how you came up with the band name Trowsholm is a small rocky island in Shetland, its full name is "Trollsholm Skerry". The folklore legend is that when the Vikings invaded in the 8th or 9th century, they drove the local population of Picts into sea-caves and onto rocky islands. The Picts were shorter and dark haired unlike the fair haired tall Norwegian Vikings, so the theory is that a Pictish population of some sort lived on this rocky outcrop and appeared at night to steal from the Norse. The Vikings believed they were trolls, hence the name "Trollsholm", but the Shetland version of a troll is "Trow" so there you have the origin of the name! The band was formed in 2017 known as 'Krab' by myself and 3 of my high school best mates. Luckily we are still playing shows together now, the original line-up still stands - we just changed the name and started taking it more seriously around 2022 when we recorded music and released it. With our debut EP getting shared by Alestorm we received a lot of followers and fans of the genre, which helped motivate us to get our debut self-titled LP out to the world. Since then we have played shows all over the UK from London to Shetland. If you had told me that when we formed the band I wouldn't have believed it! You hail from the Shetland Islands, could you tell us more about both the Shetland and Orkney islands metal scenes; are your lyrics based on both Shetland and Orkney folklores? Shetland and Orkney both have fantastic metal scenes, I can't speak too much for Orkney as I only have been once to gig there. Shetland is thriving with many fantastic bands, metal and otherwise. You wouldn't think it for such a small island but the musical talent really is through the roof in all genres. I consider myself very lucky to live here, there is always live music on somewhere and everybody knows each other in the scene and supports each other. As for lyrics, some of our songs are about Shetland folklore, none about Orkney! On the Metal Archives website it says we sing about Orkney folklore, this is false - it was written as a joke by my friend Adam of Pirate Metal band "Anchorsmashed" from Edinburgh. The only song I have ever written about anything related is the Jarlshof song "Shadows of the Stones" which is about the Ring of Brodgar. You released your second album "Return of the Trow King" in 2025, talk to us about the recording process and the reception you received from the release? "Return of the Trow King" was recorded in my bedroom mostly, with the bass being recorded by Tom in Aberdeen then sent over to me. I hired a local studio to record the vocals and did some of the vocals in Aberdeen too. We hired Jorg Uken of Soundlodge Studios to produce it - he did a killer job! The reception was solid with thousands of streams and a lot of nice feedback from fans. However I personally think we could improve a lot, each time we record we learn new things and I am excited to get going on our third record to see if we can develop our sound and recordings further. The logistics of travelling to the Scottish mainland for shows must come with their own unique set of challenges, how do you go about organising shows across on the mainland and the transportation aspects? "Our bassist Tom actually lives on the mainland, in Aberdeen. He owns a van which we use to get to shows on the mainland. So the other 3 of us leave Shetland either via the overnight ferry or the plane to get to Aberdeen, Tom picks us up and we usually have one rehearsal then go play shows! It's always a challenge to pull it off but its always worth it, we always meet great people and have a laugh."  Talk to us about the Shetland fire festival Up Helly Aa, have you as bandmembers partaken in it? "Up-helly-Aa is on the surface a celebration of our Norse culture and heritage. Yes, there is a bit of that with the Vikings and the burning of the longship but in reality for most local folk it is a great party in the depths of winter, a proper piss up! Yes all of us have taken part in it, me and Arthur (our keyboard player) have been in the same squad for years as musicians. It consists of driving around Shetlands capital town Lerwick all night in the back of a lorry, singing and drinking plenty, stopping off at halls and venues to perform our act, have a dance and some tattie soup! The night runs on until about 7 or 8 in the morning. The truck we drive about in all night long is usually used to transport fish so it's always got a distinct smell.. however being skunk drunk with your mates driving about all night in the back of a lorry is about the most fun it's possible to have." You also have your solo project Jarlshof - how does the folk elements differ from this and Trowsholm? The folk elements from Jarlshof are different in that I try to get a more atmospheric-epic vibe with Jarlshof and a party vibe with Trowsholm. Trowsholm is high-energy and made for live shows where Jarlshof is more for my own personal joy in writing melodic black metal. I think it's an awesome genre and you have freedom to do anything you want basically! What plans do you have for the coming year, 2026? Any final comments? The coming year for us consists of a gig in February called the 'Siege of Jorvik' in Yorkshire, we are very excited for that. We are touring Ireland and Scotland in the middle of the summer and I like to think we will have some more gigs lined up soon. If not we will keep pushing forward with writing new material and creating another album. Final comment - Thanks for the interview and great questions! We appreciate the opportunity to be shared on Global Metal Apocalypse. I hope you and any readers have a great 2026 filled with gigs and great experiences. Cheers! Catch Trowsholm live at the Siege of Jorvik festival on 21st February - tickets here: https://jorvikvikingfestival.co.uk/events/the-siege-of-jorvik-vi/ https://www.facebook.com/trowsholmband
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