D&D is so METAL

[S'mon]

But surely you'll agree that Album Cover is about as "D&D" as one could imagine

OD&D or 1e maybe, definitely not 2e, BECMI or 3(.5)e!

 

[S'mon]

BTW reading this thread yesterday inspired me to go 'heavy metal' DVD shopping on amazon, here's what I ended up with:

1 of: Heavy Metal [1996] - the cartoon movie

1 of: Krull [1983]

1 of: She [1982] - the Sandahl Bergman post-apocalypse version!

1 of: Fire And Ice [1983] - the Ralph Bakshi movie/cartoon

1 of: Deathstalker [1984] [DVD] (2007)

 

[haakon1]

Heh, if I have to choose between old school Metallica and Manowar...put me down for Metallica

For me, D&D music is:
- Metallica, old or new (from "Am I Evil?" to "No Leaf Clover", with tons of good stuff in between)
- Zep (sure, sure, "Stairway" and "Ramble On", but also "Immigrant Song", "Battle of Evermore", "No Quarter", "Kashmir", and about a dozen more)
- Rush ("The Necromancer" 20-minute opus on "Caress of Steel" and most of the album "Fairwell to Kings". I'm convinced By-Tor and Snowdog were their D&D character names, but I might be nuts!)
- Conan soundtrack & the like
- Other "perfectly themed" songs like the Jimi Hendrix cover of "All Along the Watchtower"
- certain Irish traditional music (The Chieftain's album "Long Black Veil" has some good stuff like the cover track, "The Foggy Dew", and "Mo Ghile Mear (Our Hero)").
- certain songs by Sting or Mark Knofler

 

[Teflon Billy]

For me, D&D music is:
- Metallica, old or new (from "Am I Evil?" to "No Leaf Clover", with tons of good stuff in between)
- Zep (sure, sure, "Stairway" and "Ramble On", but also "Immigrant Song", "Battle of Evermore", "No Quarter", "Kashmir", and about a dozen more)
- Rush ("The Necromancer" 20-minute opus on "Caress of Steel" and most of the album "Fairwell to Kings". I'm convinced By-Tor and Snowdog were their D&D character names, but I might be nuts!)
- Conan soundtrack & the like
- Other "perfectly themed" songs like the Jimi Hendrix cover of "All Along the Watchtower"
- certain Irish traditional music (The Chieftain's album "Long Black Veil" has some good stuff like the cover track, "The Foggy Dew", and "Mo Ghile Mear (Our Hero)").

That list looks awesome, until....

- certain songs by Sting or Mark Knopfler

Odd choices. Can you elaborate on them a bit?

 

[LoneWolf23]

I think Rhapsody of Fire (formerly just Rhapsody) is probably one of the more D&D-ish Metal bands out there. Especially since they've written what is essentially a whole multi-album Heavy Metal Epic, the "Emerald Sword Saga".

 

[Gentlegamer]

For some epic, D&D appropriate, heavy metal, I heartily recommend Hammerfall.

 

[haakon1]

That list looks awesome, until....

<<-certain songs by Sting or Mark Knopfler>>

Odd choices. Can you elaborate on them a bit?

I understand your hesitation. I'm thinking of their stuff that feels old British Isles, as mood music for home front setting stuff, certainly not battle music.

For Sting -- who actually sings in Gaelic and English on the Chieftain's Mo Ghile Mear/Our Hero about "his firey blade engaged to lead/he'd break the bravest in the field" -- I thinking specifically of "Fields of Gold". It's a nice pastoral love with old timey lyrics about making out in the fields of barley -- very easy for me to imagine a bard playing it at the pub with the old creepy guy who gives out adventure ideas.

On a mix CD I did for myself, "Fields of Gold" comes right after Rush "Closer to the Heart" as the "before" bad things happened in the Shire bit.

After that, "The Long Black Veil" falls, and things get gradually more foreboding ("All Along the Watchtower") and oppressively metalheaded until all hell breaks loss (lots of Metalicca, including the evil army marching in to triumph in "No Leaf Clover"!).

Then there's period of failed heroic insurgency (more Irish trad) before Rush's "The Necromancer", which ends with:
"Steathily attacking, By-Tor slays his foe.
The men are free to run now, in labyrinths below.
The wraith of the Necromancer shadows through the sky
Another land to darken with evil prism eye!"

After that, time to move on to the next module with Metalicca "Roam", which just has some classic wandering adventurer stuff in it!
"And with dust in throat I crave/Only knowledge will I save/To the game you stay a slave.
Roamer, wanderer, nomad, vagabond: call me what you will
Anywhere I roam/Where I lay my head is home
I adapt to the unknown . . . By myself but not alone"

The other Sting song I was thinking of was "All This Time", which has some neat lyrics about an old English city: "The Romans built this place. They built a wall and a temple on the edge of the Empire garrison town. They lived and they died/They prayed to their gods/But the stone gods did not make a sound/And their empire crumbled/Till all that was left/Were the stones the workmen found.
All this time/The river flowed/Endlessly down to the sea"

BTW, "Fields of Gold" is on the album "Ten Summoners Tales", which really sounds a lot more D&Dish than it is, sadly.

As for Mark Knopfler, it was this one particular solo album song about a night in Edinburgh that captured something cool of the medieval city. I forget the name of the song.

 

[Erithtotl]

Amon Amarth

I would like to nominate Amon Amarth as the D&D metal kings:

1. Songs almost exclusively about Vikings.
2. Their name comes from the Elvish name for Mount Doom.
3. They use Tolkein (and Ultima) runes frequently, including in their videos.
4. Most of their videos include a battle of some sort.

Amon Amarth - Cry of the Black Birds

 

[Teflon Billy]

I would like to nominate Amon Amarth as the D&D metal kings:

1. Songs almost exclusively about Vikings.
2. Their name comes from the Elvish name for Mount Doom.
3. They use Tolkein (and Ultima) runes frequently, including in their videos.
4. Most of their videos include a battle of some sort.

Amon Amarth - Cry of the Black Birds

Cool

Though I am getting a bit tired of Cookie Monster doing the vocals for every new metal band I come across.

 

[interwyrm]

I highly recommend Korgoth of Barbaria. It is so metal d&d.

I'm not sure where one could find it, since only a pilot was aired on Adult Swim.

For those inclined to look, it's probably floating around on the internets somewhere.