May Collective Collab Blog: Fantasy & Mythological Music

Music can serve as a way to escape our reality,  but the fantasy genres can take that escapism to a whole new creative realm. Whether the musicians are composing music inspired by literature or creating their own fictional universes, fantasy music can create some of the most illustrative and illustrious worlds for the listeners. For this month's collaborative blog, the collective talks about their favorite fantasy and mythology songs, ranging from folk music to power metal. 

Brandon's Picks

Song: “Awakening”
Album: Apex
Artist: Unleash The Archers
Power Metal has always been the red-headed step child of metal subgenres for me. The lyrical themes, while epic, are almost always overshadowed by campy execution and over the top vocal delivery. That being said, I find it undeniable that Canadian Metal band, Unleash The Archers have given birth to something truly magical with their 2017 release, Apex. From start to finish, this album grabs you by the viking helmet horns and refuses to let go until you’re converted into a fan. While a lot of their music doesn’t grab me quite as much, this album in particular has incredible crossover potential for fans of Thrash and Progressive Metal respectively. The speedy guitar interplay of Andrew Kingsley and Grant Truesdell leaves me dizzy everytime I listen in awe of their melodic shredding. Truesdell especially, has a beautiful singing voice that compliments the siren-like vocal stylings of lead singer, Brittney Hayes. Hayes' vocals tear through the maelstrom of whiplash-inducing musical rhythms in a way that would be difficult to duplicate for most metal frontmen/women and what she lacks in imposing physical presence she easily makes up for in pipes. The opening note she hits in the song “Awakening” gives me chills nearly every time. Hayes brings the energy of the band to an entirely new level; one that might not let them stand out as well in their genre otherwise. Honorable mentions go to the hard-hitting rhythm section of bassist Nikko Whitworth and drummer Scott Buchanan, who both appear to effortlessly keep up with the guitars and speed metal tempos required of them. There’s plenty of musicality to appreciate from both of them for anyone willing to listen closely. If you’re looking for something heavy, yet different, I beg you to give this album a shot. Even if you only listen out of sheer curiosity, I doubt you’ll regret bearing witness to the experience of hearing them for the first time. I know I’ll certainly envy you for that.
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Song: “Oracle”
Album: The Migration 
Artist: Scale The Summit
The title of this album alone awakens a desire within me to go on a long, epic journey. While Scale The Summit is an instrumental band, I feel that this can potentially make the music more fulfilling for some people, as the listener is free to attach their own meanings to the sounds themselves. The album art depicts an image of a verdant alien landscape with it’s lone green vine-mountain looming in the foreground. Lead guitarist Chris Letchford has a unique approach to his instrument and will most likely keep you guessing with where he takes the song next. The band’s sense of melody and rhythm can occasionally be as alien as the album art itself and I absolutely love that about them. The song “Oracle” is a great example of this because it starts out serene and very quickly turns chaotic. The band’s collective ability to blend these sections so seamlessly is one of many examples where their musical technique and creativity absolutely shine. While some instrumental metal can quickly become repetitive, Scale The Summit is definitely an exception to that. There are so many different parts within each song that early on while listening, I had a hard time determining where one song began and another ended. It’s probably worth mentioning that while a “concept” album typically refers to lyrical content that ties the music sequentially together, I believe that albums like this should qualify as well. Like a choose-your-own-adventure novel, the journey you take is entirely up to you. Scale The Summit just provided you with the soundtrack.     ​
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Brian's Picks

Song: “Dawnlight Warms the Castle Stone” and “Amongst the Waterlillies” 
Album: Fief II, Enchantment of the Ring
Artist: Fief, Secret Stairways (Matthew Davis)
A few years ago, a friend sent me a link out of the blue to a playlist featuring a new genre of music he had recently become obsessed with: dungeon synth. Ambient music generated by synths with strong overtones of murky melodies and medieval magic. 

My introduction to the genre was Fief, being a relatively popular musician within the community with five albums under their belt. Most dungeon synth is purposely dark, menacing, and shrouded in mystery, and while the sounds of Fief emulate those themes, their music mostly embodies a brighter expression of ambient fantasy music, with lutes and reed-like synths being common motifs. “Dawnlight Warms the Castle Stone” was the very first dungeon synth song I heard, and I was immediately entranced; the song wields this odd power to immediately transport me to a scene of the sun shining through rustling leaves in trees, flags whipping in the breeze, and a person rushing across a cobblestone bridge into a small township. Through the large wooden gate, I can see each person dressed in peasant garb or leather tunics, carrying parchments or leading a pony through the busy streets.

Being totally addicted after my journey through the worlds of Fief, I continued my hunt for more dungeon synth. I scoured YouTube trying to discover which search terms could yield this same experience. I stumbled upon Secret Stairways, a solo project by the late Matthew Davis that is musically quite similar to Fief in that it sets a unique world of fantastical escapism that I wasn’t aware existed in the world of sound. “Amongst the Waterlillies” [sic] remains my all-time favorite Secret Stairways track (though there are plenty to discover the two albums), with its droning crickets and the piano-like synth that repeats a dream-like melody that utterly hypnotizes my mind’s eye, and drags me into a marsh dotted with lilies, surrounded by willow trees, illumined by the first stars of an enchanted evening.

Since discovering dungeon synth in 2016 I haven’t stopped searching for more. I’ve continued my search for other lands of sword and sorcery, and begun to collect dungeon synth songs,  albums, and playlists, storing them in nooks and crannies on my computer. Bands like Erang, a French solo artist who is so prolific that I’m constantly finding new melodies, or the artist Hedgewizard, with their gritty dirges of witchiness, will forever feed that part of wandering soul searching for adventure and untold worlds. For decades people have been creating dungeon synth, and hopefully for decades more they will continue. This genre is truly unlike any other, and entirely envelopes me in other worlds of fantasy and magic.
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​Parisa's Picks

Song: “Old Fat Spider”
Album: The Hobbit Soundtrack (1977)
Artist: Glenn Yarbrough 
I realize it’s kind of cheating to pick a song from a fantasy movie soundtrack, but I don’t think the ‘77 animated Hobbit soundtrack (or the movie, for that matter) gets hardly enough love. Though this song, “Old Fat Spider”, didn’t actually make it into the final cut movie, it's the most standout track on the soundtrack. The lyrics are taken directly from the song Tolkein writes in The Hobbit when Bilbo comes across a giant spider in the black forests of Mirkwood. Hearing these lyrics come to life, you gain a better understanding of the emotional complexity of this situation. Bilbo feels heroic at first while attempting to kill this spider, but becomes pitiful and merciful to his opponent (“His web all old and tattered/He could hardly see/I threw a fly into his lair to feel the old tomnoddy/How can you kill a spider that can catch anybody?”).  Musically, it’s a killer folksy 70s jam with a ridiculously FAT bassline. I mean seriously - F A T. I never imagined that Middle Earth fantasy and funk could work together so harmoniously, but damnnit this soundtrack makes it happen. The real gem of this soundtrack, however, is Glenn Yarbrough’s voice. It's so mighty and whimsical, a wonderful mirror to Bilbo Baggin’s character. 
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Song: “At The House Of Elrond”
Album: Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings (1970)
Artist: Bo Hansson
As you may have so cleverly guessed from the title, this LP is a concept album that’s inspired by Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. What you may not have already imagined, however, is that it’s fully an instrumental proggy psychedelic odyssey. The mood stays faithful to the stories in the book, but Bo Hansson musically takes his own creative interpretations that creates this 70s space-jazz-rock lens. This is a great album to lay down, close your eyes, and escape our hellhole reality and into the LOTR fantasy.
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Song: “King of the Dead”
Album: King of the Dead (1984)
Artist: Cirith Ungol
Cirith Ungol is a sword & sworcery-themed power metal band from the 70s, who more recently have come into light as people re-discovered their music online and gained a big cult following overseas (a la Spinal Tap, no?). Metal fans have only recently discovered that these guys were some of the pioneers of doom and power metal, but what makes them stand apart is their progressive and extremely technical songwriting powered by fantastical storytelling. The S&S themes are extremely intricate and carry through each record (which, by the way, all have cover art from famed fantasy painter Michael Whelan). Instead of going more in-depth about their music here, I’ll link to THIS interview I did with them a few years back where we discuss how their S&S themes relate to their recent resurrection, and much more.
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Song: “Trollhammeren”
Album: Trollhammaren (2004)
Artist: Finntroll
Finntroll is a Finnish folk metal band with a black metal tinge, and will always remain one of my favorite myth-fantasy bands for their colorful sense of humour. This Wikipedia section nicely sums up their thematic getup:

Finntroll's lyrics mainly deal with legends and tales revolving around the fictional Troll-King "Rivfader" and the trolls fighting against the Christians who entered their lands and spread their beliefs. A recurring theme is the story of two priests named "Aamund" and "Kettil". The first three full-length albums feature a rather short but fierce song about the two men who constantly get themselves into trouble with the trolls, only to get beaten up and mutilated over and over again by the wrathful followers of Rivfader.

I mean come on, how can you not have so much fun listening to music about Christian-fighting trolls?! This will probably forever remain one of my fantasy-myth songs, cause it’s just so goddamn catchy. 

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Honorable fantasy/mythology bands mentions:

• Amon Amarth (Swedish melodic death metal, lyrics based on Viking mythology)
• Blind Guardian (OG German power metal influenced by various fantasy writers)
• Rhapsody (otherwise known as Rhapsody of Fire, a symphonic power metal band that’s carried an ongoing conceptual fantasy storyline throughout all of their albums)
• Wind Rose (a Tolkein dwarf-themed fantasy band from Italy)
• Note, I would have mentioned The Sword but they’re more sci-fi and that’s a whole other topic in and of itself!

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Alex's Picks

Song: “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3”
Album: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
Artist: Coheed and Cambria
I can’t let this topic pass up without giving love to my favorite band of all time. Really, almost all of Coheed and Cambria’s discography is a sci-fi fantasy escape that follows the story of lead singer Claudio Sanchez’s Amory Wars saga. The saga takes place in Heaven’s Fence, a collection of 78 planets and seven stars, held in place by interconnecting beams of energy connecting them known as the “Keywork”. Several of their albums follow different characters through Heaven’s Fence - Coheed and Cambria Kilgannon fighting an interplanetary dictator, their son Claudio’s ascension to a messianic figure in Heaven’s Fence, scientist Dr. Sirius Amory entering the Keywork in an attempt to understand its energy, and Creature and Sister Spider’s incarceration in a prison planet. Claudio Sanchez’s galaxy comes even more to life in his collection of comic books that illustrate the events of each album in even greater detail. Start at the beginning - The Second Stage Turbine Blade - and enjoy the ride.
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Song: “Oblivion”
Album: Crack The Skye
Artist: Mastodon
Mastodon is another band with a discography chock full of imaginative concept albums. They have one based on Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. They have another that follows a desert wanderer who is handed a death sentence, a journey that serves as a metaphor for a cancer patient going through chemotherapy. But the concept behind Crack the Skye is a TRIP. The album’s story bends together out of body experiences and Tsarist Russia with Stephen Hawking’s theories on wormholes, and somehow, this mix makes for a cohesive listen. Drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor explains:

“There is a paraplegic and the only way that he can go anywhere is if he astral travels. He goes out of his body, into outer space and a bit like Icarus, he goes too close to the sun, burning off the golden umbilical cord that is attached to his solar plexus. So he is in outer space and he is lost, he gets sucked into a wormhole, he ends up in the spirit realm and he talks to spirits telling them that he is not really dead. So they send him to the Russian cult, they use him in a divination and they find out his problem. They decide they are going to help him. They put his soul inside Rasputin's body. Rasputin goes to usurp the czar and he is murdered. The two souls fly out of Rasputin's body through the crack in the sky(e) and Rasputin is the wise man that is trying to lead the child home to his body because his parents have discovered him by now and think that he is dead. Rasputin needs to get him back into his body before it's too late. But they end up running into the Devil along the way and the Devil tries to steal their souls and bring them down…there are some obstacles along the way.”

Did you get all that? Good. There’s a pop quiz on it first thing tomorrow morning.

Anyways, I smoked way too much weed listening to this album when I was a sophomore in college. You might want to put one in the air when you go down this wormhole, too. 

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