Tolkien and Heavy Metal
20 May, 2021
(edited)
2021-5-20 2:47:55 PM UTC
2021-5-20 2:47:55 PM UTC
Any other heavy metal fans in here? I wanted to share two of my favorite metal bands with Tolkien-related lyrics. A full list of music devoted to Tolkien can be found in this wonderful website: The Tolkien Music List
- Blind Guardian
The Bards of Metal! My favorite album of all-time is Nightfall in Middle-earth, which is completely based in The Silmarillion. A full lyrics analysis can be found here. Every detail from this album is great: the music, the lyrics, and the cover, one of the sublime moments of The Silmarillion. Blind Guardian also has Middle-earth songs outside this album, such as The Lord of the Rings.
- Battlelore
This Finnish band sing exclusively about Middle-earth themes! They have six full albums, the most recent one called Doombound, based on Túrin's tale. More info on their website. Some example songs are Enchanted and Sons of Riddermark.
I wrote a detailed entry about Battlelore in a blog many years ago!
Finally, not metal but
- Peregrino Gris
is a Costa Rican instrumental Celtic music band. Their name means Grey Pilgrim, inspired by Mithrandir. They have some songs with Middle-earth themes, such as The dragon that emerged from the shadows.
- Blind Guardian
The Bards of Metal! My favorite album of all-time is Nightfall in Middle-earth, which is completely based in The Silmarillion. A full lyrics analysis can be found here. Every detail from this album is great: the music, the lyrics, and the cover, one of the sublime moments of The Silmarillion. Blind Guardian also has Middle-earth songs outside this album, such as The Lord of the Rings.
- Battlelore
This Finnish band sing exclusively about Middle-earth themes! They have six full albums, the most recent one called Doombound, based on Túrin's tale. More info on their website. Some example songs are Enchanted and Sons of Riddermark.
I wrote a detailed entry about Battlelore in a blog many years ago!
Finally, not metal but
- Peregrino Gris
is a Costa Rican instrumental Celtic music band. Their name means Grey Pilgrim, inspired by Mithrandir. They have some songs with Middle-earth themes, such as The dragon that emerged from the shadows.
NoUse wrote:
I love Nightfall in Middle-earth! It is, in my opinion, one of the best metal albums of all time. Blind Guardian are, of course, a great band in general. I've seen them live a couple of times.
I couldn't agree more with this statement! I've also seen them thrice, in three different countries. Hopefully they tour the US next year!
Battlelore have been slowly becoming active once again in social media. It would be very nice if they released some new material after ten years.
insurrbution wrote:
Worthy of note: check out the song 'Elvenpath' by Nightwish (I'm not sure how many of their other songs are Tolkien-esque, I think that may be the most "obvious" one)
Absolutely! Nightwish is such a wonderful band, one of my favorite. I do miss Tarja, but Floor is great as well. Tolkien-music also quotes Wishmaster, likely because of the mention of Elbereth, Lorien and the Gray Havens.
Just checked, and the Tolkien-Music website lists 780 metal bands that have Tolkien lyrics/influence, someway or another
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