My brother, who isn't really a SF/F fan told me about a doom/stoner metal band called The Sword who have a bunch of songs that are inspired by the writings of GRRM. Titles such as Winter's Wolves, Lament for the Aurochs, To Take the Black and Maiden, Mother, & Crone are obviously inspired by ASoIF.
I thought that anyone who is hurting for some fresh GRRM related material or just wants to hear some decent Metal should check them out.
That is truly awesome. I was wondering when Heavy Metal would get back to it's fantasy-inspired roots and actually be good at it. I watched a couple youtube videos. They're actually good, unlike that Dragonforce band.
Had to go to you tube and see. Pretty good music. I think it is really cool though that these books have seemed to inspire someone to write these songs. I'll have to look for the CD if they have one out and for a change I can introduce a new band to the kids. Boy were they shocked when they realized they had a forty some year old mom that liked this kind of music. Now maybe I can get them to read the books that some of this music obviously inspired.
and then there is...
Seven Kingdoms
Brothers Of The Night (Full-length, 2007)
Genre(s)
Power/Thrash Metal
Lyrical theme(s)
Fantasy, Battles, George RR Martin
Hey everyone, my brother saw them live and said they were pretty good.
SIC's Mom- you should totally get your kids to listen to metal, I spent years discovering what good music really was after spending my early years listening to my mom's perferred choice of "soft rock".
Thrinidir- I'll have to check out Seven Kingdoms. They seem a little bit more blatant and overt compared to the sword, but that is just me making a judgement based on their album art.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Winterfell. They were an awesome aSoIaF-inspired metal band who released such albums as Winter is Coming and The Veil of Summer. However, they are currently on "indefinite hiatus."
And Irrelevant, I have to disagree about Dragonforce. They are one of the best power metal bands to come around in years.
I just listened to Seven Kingdoms and Winterfell. I felt that both were pretty bad. Seven Kingdoms was really boring to me. They didn't have exciting riffs, and the guy's death metal growl was pretty bad.
Winterfell was better musically but the guy's vox were hard on my ears.
I personally feel (and not just becasue I was the one to mention them!) that The Sword wins my vote for best GRRM inspired metal band.
Man, there's an entire genre of metal thats just about all inspired by fantasy. Check out the legions of power metal bands, many of which are fantastic (and many of which are bad). Some good ones include Blind Guardian, Kamelot, Manticora, Virgin Steele, Stratovarius, Helloween, Gamma Ray, Iced Earth, Theocracy and many others.Originally Posted by Irrelevant
As for Dragonforce... They're one of those bands that I love listening to for 20 minutes or seeing live and then don't want to hear again for several months. Every single goddamn song is the same.
I look forward to hearing this band though. I do like Winterfell- they were weak at points on the Veil of Summer, but it was their debut album. Too bad they'll probably never get back together.
There is a band, Demons & Wizards, who has an album partially based on Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series. Also there is an Italian band, Rhapsody of Fire (formerly Rhapsody) that has fantasy lirics and one of their albums, "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret", the narration is provided by the actor Christopher Lee.
Last edited by Rob B; May 9th, 2008 at 05:42 PM. Reason: Signatures aren't permitted at SFFWorld
Demons & Wizards is a side project created by Blind Guardian singer Hansi and Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaeffer.
I'm catching the Helloween and Gamma Ray tour in September, should be fun, even if GR don't grab me so much. Helloween have some very nice material, The Dark Ride album is really great.
Rhapsody (of fire) are also one of my guilty pleasures, I love that band, although I found their last album lacklustre, it did not feature enough upbeat and catchy tunes IMO.
I've heard the Sword but I never really paid attention, as I was just listening to them because my friends were playing their music. I had no idea they were into GRRM...I am going to have to give them a closer listen now.
HA! If only it was one of their albums... All Rhapsody albums are fantasy concept albums of the highest possible cheesiness. Their first four albums actually form a single cohesive, badly told story.
Man Im glad I saw this thread; always good to find more pertinent power metal. The ASoIaF centric bands mentioned are pretty decent after a few listens, but I really wish Hansi would read the books and put some Ice and Fire into the next Blind Guardian album.
Their last album features a song about Tad Williams' Otherland series, aptly titled Otherland.
Hey, its still probably another two to three years till the next one comes out- we should send him A Game of Thrones.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks