Today I'm in a mood for some Mass Hysteria.
Mass Hysteria: L'enfer des Dieux.

Looking for some recomendations... been listening to a lot of YOB, Conan, High on Fire, Elder, Spelljammer, Black Pyramid, Krownn... can anyone recomend some more bands in this vein?

In case someone needs some more songs for xmas - we wish you a metal xmas and carols of chaos

Here's a short (25min) report on Metal in Indonesia, link comes from the TV Network "Arte" website where you can watch the international version (german+subtitles) with available subtitles in French, German, Spanish, English and Polish :

https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/081973-000-A/indonesia-heavy-metal-mecca/

"Under Muhammad Suharto’s dictatorship it was banned. Today, the Indonesian president is a notorious heavy metal fan and concerts and festivals celebrating the genre are regularly held across the country, except in the Banda Aceh region where strict Sharia law is upheld."

Bagpipe metal always hits the spot.

Skiltron - Bagpipes of War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aZGwLXxHvc

Some random Japanese Folk Metal

Odd stuff. I thought you were going to link Wagakki Band at first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_xTet06SUo

Love Wagakki. I see that they released an album in 2017, I need to sample it before buying.

It is called Folk Metal.

Symphonic bagpipe war themed heavy metal? ;-)

Just Folk Metal. Keep it neat and accurate. There is no need for exaggeration.
It has Folk music elements fused with Heavy Metal music, thus the reference.
They do not have orchestrations in almost every song, therefore they do not have symphonic elements.
Lyrics do not make musical genres, nor sub-genres, thus "war themed" has no relevance, whatsoever.

Just pulling your leg, I don't care for genres at all to be honest. It's metal, I just put bagpipe there as a prefix to highlight that they use bagpipes since that isn't common.

Rhapsody (of fire) had the most hilarious and pretentious description back in the days. If I remember correctly, they described themselves as "symphonic epic hollywood metal".

Found it, that sticker on the CD case is golden.
https://cloud10.todocoleccion.online/musica-cds/tc/2017/05/15/12/86534164_1494842731.jpg

I am aware of that. Some bands do go far in order to attempt to distinguish themselves from the rest of the bands, in order to do that marketing for themselves. In reality, depending on the band, such bands do not differ much from the rest of their peers who play similar styles. I can give another example - Heavy Metal band Wintersun, their mastermind Jari Mäenpää described themselves as "Extreme Majestic Epic Melodic Death Metal", just so he can attempt to get bigger cake at the market. In reality, there is no such thing as "Extreme Majestic Epic Melodic Death Metal", it is just Melodic Death Metal. As for "Symphonic Epic Hollywood Metal", it is over the top, and has nothing to do with reality either. I have to argue, and say that, I do like Rhapsody/Rhapsody Of Fire, but the more I listened to them, the more I paid attention, I realized they can't pass as Heavy Metal music at all. It is Neoclassical music. Their guitars are always choked by massive orchestrations, and electric guitar is so passive there. In the realm of Heavy Metal music, an electric guitar has to have the leading role in the structure of the songs, or at least be there to amplify the heaviness, energy and aggression. In Rhapsody's music, electric guitars are peripheral during the most of songs' duration, unfortunately, while Luca Turilli, one of my favourite guitarists, shines with his guitar solos.

Oh, no. Not this discussion again...

Ok, I'll add some fuel to the fire with Mercurial Metal, Winter Metal and Disney Metal :D

My all-time favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omKId6Lhr3A

And how can I forget Mgla
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bINcxA29QEE
The lyrics get me every time

I also recommend this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95mIeNea--k