I'm admittedly totally new/inexperienced with ritual ambient and dark folk stuff. Basically what kicked off this interest was Wardruna - I love the use of the super deep, simple percussion, the chanted vocals and the melodies from the folk instruments but just as importantly I like the total absence of modern-sounding elements like folky singer-songwriter vocals, synths or industrial elements. I also like stuff like Enemite and Phurpa but I wish the former was free of the black metal elements and I wish the later had more percussion and use of melodic instruments in addition to the excellent chanted vocals.
Anyone else into this sort of thing? Is there some sort of genre descriptor that might possibly describe what I'm after that I'm completely ignorant of? Looking up stuff tagged as "dark folk" leads to too many cat lady renn fest folk things or Hitler youth haircut neofolk, while stuff tagged as "ritual ambient" has too much dark ambient/synth stuff going on or is too focused on being super evil and grimdark which isn't exactly what I'm after, either.
Reading this, the first things I thought were Halo Manash and Arktau Eos from the Aural Hypnox camp, but then again, they do use a bit of synths and are possibly a bit too evil and grim for your tastes (especially AE). Could be worth checking out though.
possibly
Waldteufel - Heimliches Deutschland 2000
Wolfsblood - Twilight of the World 2004
also, have you heard the Gyuto monks or Huun-Huur-Tu?
Tervahäät (Finland)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej5_yBdLsoM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH9jtxZa1y4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV19YgVchFQ
That third Tervahäät song was pretty good, but the first two were a little too typical "Hitler Youth haircut neofolk" for me.
Waldeteufel sound pretty close, at least on that album (from the samples I could find). Some other stuff seems too industrial-based but they're still worth checking out for sure.
Wolfsblood are alright but I'm not really feeling that spoken word vocal approach.
Gyuto monks are great but the percussion is a bit too free-form and beatless - if they had steady driving drums under the chants and maybe some of those melodic instruments alongside rather than between the chanted parts that'd be ace. I'm very familiar with Huun-Huur-Tu but they're often too merry/playful if you know what I mean.
Halo Manash and Arktau Eos are both too formless. I don't mind evil/grim stuff but I guess I'm just after something that emphasizes the rhythmic elements and melodies a bit more than going for that pure evil atmosphere I guess.
Here's a Wardruna song that is doing a bit of what I'm after: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQA7RQEo-ss (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQA7RQEo-ss)
That's funny. When I first read your original post, I was thinking of the music they've been using for the pointless overly-dramatic and ceremonial scenes on Vikings. Only because it is fresh from just being aired. I didn't know who was behind the music. That show is so poorly written and stupid, and I wish it wasn't. The show is so disappointing that I didn't want to draw attention to it.
I don't think you can judge some of these recommendations from a track or two. I understand the limits of youtube, though. If you just want a track, maybe check out this MZ.412 track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SPNy44cRU0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SPNy44cRU0) or this Apoptose track (probably more militant than you want): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4MwIck_IXI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4MwIck_IXI)
Popol Vuh - In den Garten Pharaos 1971 - stunning album, and when it was over, I listened to it again - side A is top shelf krautrock meandering with great percussion that I love and fiend for (made me want to listen Tangerine Dream's "Fly And Collision Of Comas Sola") - side B is droning organ as a base layer, and then everything from ethereal vocals to a wall of cymbal/percussion noise; all things considered, it's a surprisingly dissonant 20 minutes - no info on the two bonus unreleased tracks (20 minutes total) sound like they came from a demo (tape hiss) - 2-4 tracks on a krautrock album are ideal. This was PV's second, and final, album made with a moog.
could have placed this in the tribal industrial thread too.
https://special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=2905.15
You could do worse than check out Metsäkirkko. Other than that I've got nothing.
EDIT:
You mentioned Huun-Huur-Tu being oftentimes too cheerful. Itr's been years since I last listened to them actively, so perhaps my memory fails me, but I seem to recall another Tuvan group, Chirgilchin, being less giddy-up hey-ho and more about that "grim ancient wisdom of the tundra" stuff.
Discussion opener is no longer forum used (unless lurking) and opening message is almost 10 years ago, but well, I guess subject can be talked anyways!
If talking about chants and folk instruments, it makes me think Phurpa.
First album of Kayno Yesno Slonce has been a strong favorite of mine for a long time;
https://youtu.be/FdudqmFlYq8?si=P_KQBWTcEqDKmy08
Recommended if anyone else is looking for material as described in the now obsolete opening post.
ORD
Àrnica comes to mind.
How about Metgumbnerbone?