Blog of James Young, Slinger of Tales
Relationships come in many different forms. One of the tried and true ones in writing is the couple who suddenly, irrevocably realize they’ve fallen in love. If done really well, it surprises the author as well as the reader.
Today’s Metal Monday song strives to capture that feeling in a power ballad. Without further ado…
I’m a huge fan of Game of Thrones. Even if I’ve given up on George R.R. Martin ever finishing the series (writer’s block is a thing), I do enjoy what HBO has done with Westeros and the story arc.
One of the big things is the evolution of the Lannisters. Without getting too much into Season 7, suffice to say there are several major turning points where you see Tyrion, Jaime, and Cersei all take major steps to both grow out of their father’s shadow and apply what Tywin taught them. This piece covers one of those times, and I applaud Ramin Djawadi’s ability to weave a theme (in this case, “The Rains of Castamere”) to enhance what is occurring on screen. If I ever get any of my books made into a TV show, I can only hope that there’s a composer who can do the same.
No, your eyes do not deceive you. For some reason, Simon and Garfunkel seem to well and truly appeal to heavy metal bands. A lot of readers may remember Disturbed did a cover of “The Sound of Silence”
Well there’s also the less famous Leaves’ Eyes rendition of “Scarborough Fair”
Both are great songs, and I’m always happy when the Ipod randoms to them while writing. Now if only I could find a heavy metal cover of “I Am A Rock” or “Cecilia.” *sigh*
Heavy metal, as a genre, often gets a bad rap for being nothing but screaming and guitar riffs. As I’ve alluded to when discussing several other bands, there’s often a lot of higher concept work involved. As one of the undisputed “Masters of Metal,” it’s pretty much unsurprising that Metallica has quite a few songs that deal with particular topics, covering everything from the ravages of war (“One”) to suicide (“Fade to Black”). However, one of their classics stems from when Metallica got a little Biblical…
For those not familiar with Apocalyptica, feel free to read more about cellos and heavy metal here.
So on their song “Deathzone,” there was a hidden track entitled “En Vie”:
People liked it so much, they decided to produce an English version:
It’s a haunting tune about how even someone who has it all might be unhappy. I don’t think I need to explain how that can be adapted to a story. 😀
So every third Monday we’re going to mix things up and go with a song from a movie score rather than the traditional “Metal Monday.” So without further ado, a classic:
Perfect for those times when you absolutely, positively need to build the mood for mayhem.
Every character goes through struggles. Sometimes there’s a song that speaks to this process. Without further ado, Iced Earth…
I will say Iced Earth is an interesting band. As folks who regularly peruse this feature may note, they’ve changed their lead singers a few times. Definitely a story of persevering through different events.
*coughs on dust* So it’s funny going back and finding the number of times I’ve tried to update the “Metal Monday” program. I will say, in the dark ages of trying to get things done, that became one of the “things that could go away.”
So we’re going to try and do this again. 😀 First up, Evanescence’s “Even In Death”
As some of you may recall from earlier posts where I provided a playlist, this is one of my favorite all time songs. I think of it often when I’m putting a character through a period of loss and grieving, as it seems to perfectly capture that initial period where it’s hard to grasp the person is actually gone. I’d imagine this goes for people lost at sea and in space given the lack of a body for closure. So, yes, this was playing for much of Aries Red Sky. 😀
As previously mentioned on this blog, I have a post-Apocalyptic universe. Despite using asteroids for mine, I grew up in the ’80s when nukes were a big deal. Like many a child of the Cold War, I dealt with the constant discussion that eventually the United States and Soviet Union were going to stumble into war and blow us all to kingdom come. (At around the 3:24 mark, I thought of Alannis Morrissette’s “Ironic.” ‘It’s like, nu-ukes on your wedding day…like an X-ray blast taking your bridesmaid away. Like a blast wave making the beautician a waste…who would’ve thought, it figures…”)
Anyway, a lot of dark music came from that era. Some of it I didn’t discover until much later in life, like this particular Slayer song:
So, back in the midst of the 1990s hair band frenzy was a crossover hit by Extreme. Twenty-five (!) years on, I still think it’s a pretty good song:
