I know one so far, Legend of Arthur and the Roundtable, but I want to learn about more and listen to more for inspiration and the story telling potential it holds.
Any suggestions would be great
You must log in or register to comment.
Manowar’s The Triumph Of Steel is a double album, but the first disc is a 28-minute song titled “Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts.”
Stretching the definition of “mythical,” there’s Gojira’s From Sirius To Mars and Jon Anderson’s Olias Of Sunhillow. Both are about space travel. Neither is science fiction. Their genres are… not similar.
Oh fuck Achilles agony and ecstasy is so fucking good I’m tearing up bro
Power Metal:
Blind Guardian - Nightfall on Middle Earth is all Tolkien mythology Rhapsody of Fire was created their own middle earth inspired lore and all albums are chapters in it
Black Metal:
Summoning is all about Tolkien mythology including some songs in Elvish.
Blind Guardian is an excellent pick for mythical metal. And Then There Was Silence is based on The Iliad and Aeneid.
Agreed. They’re a solid power metal pick regardless as well
Every album by Amon Amarth is about Vikings and/or Norse mythology.
Hmm, sounds interesting, I’ll check it out now
Edit: fuck I can’t sleep or do work to this
Sleep I get, but you’d be surprised at what constitutes “work music” for me then hehe
These are the first couple that pop into my head:
Uriah Heep - Demons and Wizards (mid 70’s heavy, organ-laiden Prog Rock)
Rick Wakeman - The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (mid 70’s synthy synthy synthy Prog)
Villagers of Ioannina City - Age of Aquarius (Paganistic Greek Folk Prog)
Aphrodite’s Child - 666 (the book of Revelation - Prog Style)
Ayreon have concept albums only. So do Star One, if you’re into sci-fi
Rush’s early albums were themed. The first was a plain rock album, but after that were theme based. Their fantasy themed albums were
- Fly by Night
- Caress of Steel
- A Farewell to Kings
2112 was more sci-fi, and then after that they were more mixed, with albums containing fantasy or sci-fi, or just political or contemporary topics. But there’s a lot of material to listen through.
Aside from their historical or political stuff, none of the fantasy is tied to any particular folklore; it’s just fantasy stories. You won’t find, like, songs about Merlin, or Achilles, or whatever
I’d absolutely put Hemispheres in there too. The first track of Hemispheres is a direct sequel to the last track of Farewell to Kings. Also Xanadu from Hemispheres is very much a fantasy song.
Yeah. The CD only has 4 tracks, though ;-)
As does Soft Machine’s Third.
It’s a double album. There’s only four sides.
It was all the rage in early acid rock. Pink Floyd’s Meddle had 6 tracks, with Echoes clocking in at 23½ minutes; Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida took up an entire side by itself, even though it was “only” 17m long, and was also the 6th of 6 songs on the album.
Man, I really miss those days. I mean, I don’t want to listen to a 20 minute version of Call Me, Maybe, but it seems as if the time when a popular band could release an album with one side just one long anthem are over.
I will say, Rush were the masters of this long form, though, largely because of their (well, Neil Peart’s) ability to compose a single song containing 4 different measures that still somehow feels like the same song.
The peak was Close To The Edge having three of Yes’s top ten songs, and nothing else.
The middle ground was “Blue Monday” popularizing the 12" single. That’s oodles of space for one song. It’s like how streaming let TV episodes be as long as they need.
The modernization is in songs that have a three-act structure but a radio-friendly run time. Like “Paranoid Android”… or “Raining Blood.”
Given how digital audio has no constraints, though… we really should see more comically-long music. Remixes, at least. Even when they’re just Donna Summer tracks jamming out on exactly one idea, or The Flaming Lips padding deliberate repetition to a full 24 hours.
The modernization is in songs that have a three-act structure but a radio-friendly run time. Like “Paranoid Android”… or “Raining Blood.”
Or Operation Mindcrime by Queensrÿche, or King Diamomd’s Them, in which all songs are segments in one long story. Although, with how different the individual songs are in each of these, they may not count. There should be a melodic theme running through the album, right? Like Beethoven’s symphonies, where seemingly dissimilar pieces are often brought together at the end and you realize they all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.
Even when they’re just Donna Summer tracks jamming out on exactly one idea, or The Flaming Lips padding deliberate repetition to a full 24 hours.
Now you’re just describing a Soundgarden album ;-)
Clocking in at 37 minutes. Don’t judge prog by the number of tracks… pretty typical album runtime for anything released in the vinyl era.
Also, it’s fantastic.
I thought the smiley face was sufficient to express that I was joking.
Oops ;-)
S’allright. Use of old-time smilies of fading away, and with it, our recognition of them when they pop up.
Sort of an answer:
https://moonface.bandcamp.com/album/this-one-s-for-the-dancer-this-one-s-for-the-dancer-s-bouquet
Moonface’s “This one’s for the dancer, This one’s for the dancer’s bouquet” is half about the Minotaur making peace with the various gods and people who imprisoned him. The lyrics to all the Minotaur songs are really hard hitting for me.
FYI, Moonface is a solo project by one of the members of Wolf Parade.
Wolf Parade
For anyone else wondering: “Yulia,” not “Davy Crocket.”
Not exactly on point but there’s a pretty good album by the group ASM (A State of Mind) called The Jade Amulet. It’s a concept album set in the fictional ancient kingdom of Vabaria. The story revolves around Shalim, the last member of the clan Tan Suo. It’s more feudal Japan than mythical, but worth a listen.
Here’s my favorite song from the album, which features MF DOOM:
https://youtu.be/8CwZen9b5mU?si=7zulPl_C3dIvv4o4
Here’s the full album:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kczb96S-2ull_Lmeed3NK-2PVaLv0dXRw&si=seBd02ESXY4wBUGU
The Tain by The Decemberists is a good one mate
Grave Digger has several albums which follow both fictional and actual stories. Notably there are three albums known as the “Middle Ages trilogy”: Tunes of War, Knights of the Cross, and Excalibur.
