From Beyond - Lovecraftian Doom metal

I just cam across these guys and I have to say I'm really impressed!  I think Lovecraft is a good theme for stoner/doom metal and these guys are better than most.  I dig the grooves of bands like Acid Witch, Electric Wizard, Orange Goblin but From Beyond are a lot more Black Sabbath influenced!

Thin Lizzy

I've been neglecting my rock 'n roll side of my blog.  I really need to mention another favorite of mine, Thin Lizzy!   They're one of the worlds most perfect rockbands, sticking mainly to 3 - 4 minute songs about love and loss and of course drugs (which unfortunately took Phil Lynott from us).  In the dark days of disco and mellow pop Thin Lizzy blew out three chord wonders with Phil's unmistakable voice!

Traveller Metal With Slough Feg!

This has been out for a while but I just think it's awesome that a metal band put out a Traveller related album!

Johnny Ramone RIP

8 years ago today ...

Lich King - Old School Thrash Metal

In Junior High and High School I was into punk and various indie rock.  Metal was okay to me but didn't really grab me, that is until I discovered Thrash!  Bands like Anthrax, D.R.I., Motorhead, S.O.D., M.O.D., Overkill, Metallica (Pre-Black Album), Megadeth, Armored Saint, Nuclear Assault etc.... I liked the speed and the aggressive nature of the music of 80's thrash.  I'm not a huge fan of a lot of metal today but every once in a while a band really grabs me.  

Lich King is one of those bands!  I'll admit at first it was about the name, but then after I gave them the chance I discovered that they are every bit as good as the thrash metal of my 80's misspent youth....Check them out!

My Guitar Hero Triad

Lot's of people have their opinions as to who the greatest guitarists were.  Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Pete Townsend, Brian May, Ritchie Blackmore.... the list goes on and on.  The three greatest in my opinion are also three of the most overlooked guitarist in Rockdem, Dick Dale, Link Wray, and Davie Allan.

Dick Dale  is the pioneer of the Surf Sound with staccato rhythm and thundering reverb.  A lot of generation X and younger know him only by the Pulp Fiction soundtrack and some of his appearances in various Beach Party movies. He's influence many musicians but hasn't really been given a lot of credit, Jimi Hendrix is rumored to have been influenced by Dick Dale playing a right handed guitar left handed.
He's also been an influence on heavy metal as far as the sonic volume of his live shows, he is the king of loud!
He continues to tour every year and I've seen him 3 times myself and look forward to seeing him in July when he blows into town again.  I got the chance to meet with him a chat briefly even getting an autograph, which was a real treat!



Link Wray was one of the first to use distortion, by messing up his speakers by stabbing it with pencils or knives to give it that dirty fuzz tone sound that is synonymous with rock music today.  He's most well known for the song "Rumble" which was also featured in Pulp Fiction and also "The Swag" that was on Pink Flamingos soundtrack.  My personal favorites are"Comanche" and "Chicken Run" !  I got the chance to see him in 2003, what  a great show that was!  Unfortunately he passed away in 2005, but we've always got his music to remember him by.



Davie Allan is the most fuzzed out musician hands down.  I've always been amazed at the sounds he's able to get out of his guitar, it's almost supernatural!  He's really well known for his work on Biker Movie soundtracks from the 60s like "The Born Losers", "The Glory Stompers", "Devil's Angels",  and "Wild Angels".  When you listen to his music you can just imagine yourself cruising the desert on a vintage Harley.
I've yet to see him live but it's on my priority list!

Rock 'n Roll Fantasy

This blog was meant to share my love for a couple of my obsessions, RPGs (most notably fantasy rpgs) and rock 'n roll!  Here's a few songs that make me think of both at the same time!

Enjoy!

Music To Game The Apocalypse By

Man do I love Thrash!!!!

Soundtrack For Your Games

Music can be important to enhance (or kill) the mood for your game. Mostly when I've played RPGs I forget to bring music along or we play at a library, so it's usually isn't a factor. But for fantasy RPGs I really like listening to classical music or renaissance music, most notably Lute or Classical guitar.

Wargaming is a bit different. It usually bogs down to listening to music from that time period, or in the case of playing Warhammer 40k, throwing on Slayer's "Seasons In The Abyss".

What kind of music do you listen to while gaming?

The Sword (More RPG inspired Rock!)

I just love these guys!

Fintroll

Music to play Lamentations of the Flame Princess to!

Swingin' Utters - Windspitting Punk

Great song!

Motorhead's War Pig is an Old School Orc

They're obviously big fans of D&D!

And now for the Rock part of MR&RPG!

Now for some rock (Music to game to: Black Sabbath)

Among collecting rpg and wargaming material, I also collect records. And you haven't heard Black Sabbath unless you've heard them on vinyl! Sabbath has a lot of moody atmospheric metal that fits into perfectly in to your dungeons and wilderness campaigns. Hell, I may even create a whole gaming world based on Black Sabbath lyrics!

Their self titled album was still somewhat influenced by 60's psychedelia, but was a huge departure from the flower children vision of peace and love. Instead it was a tapestry of fear, dread and paranoia.


Nothing's darker than the song Black Sabbath!

My personal favorite is Volume IV, it's just so heavy and perfect. Just listen to Supernaut!


Here's a good theme for an evil wizard or character NPC!


And finally, Black Sabbath's homage to pig face orcs!


Hmm....I need to hash out some more thoughts on this. It could be interesting.