Fantasy Music

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What fantasy based music do you listen to?
PLEASE limit your responses to traditional medieval type fantasy (Warriors, Dragons, Wizards, etc). State what kind of music it is, and a few comments on it if you like.
Epic - This refers to a band that has "themed" or "concept" albums (where all the songs on an album are related)

For some reason, most of the fantasy music I find is metal, so I am particularily interested in finding some non-metal fantasy music to listen to.


Blind Guardian - Epic Metal/Symphonic metal
Most of thier songs seem to be about Lord of the Rings. The album Nightfall in Middle Earth (based on the Silmarillion) is a brilliant mix of symphonic and metal. Other albums have symphonic elements too, but not as much.

Rhapsody - THE epic symphonic metal band!
They have 5 full length albums, all one massive story (each album is a different chapter in the story). Some Italian and Latin (!) singing, but it's mostly in English.

Luca Turilli - Epic Metal
Guitarist and one of the songwriters for Rhapsody, this is a side project for him (everyone in the band seems to have a side project). He has a new album due out soon, I hope it is as good as his first!

Hammerfall - Straightforward power metal.
Wish they would make albums faster!

Kamelot - Epic Metal
I've only heard 2 albums (The Fourth Legacy and Seige Perilous), but they are both awesome.

Nightwish - Metal
Female singer with a beautiful voice (I think one of the male band members also sang on thier first album).

Manowar - Epic Hard Rock/Metal
One of the earliest fantasy metal bands, they started in the 80's, I think.

Dark Moor - Metal
I think this is a newer band, I can only find one album by them.

Desdemona - Metal
A little darker than most fantasy bands.

Dragonland - Epic Metal
A new, up and coming band from Greece. I had to order thier new cd from the German Amazon site (I don't speak German, but knew where most of the buttons were from the US site!). They have 2 albums, both part of the same story.

Dio - Hard Rock/Metal
Debated whether to list him because 1) Only some of his songs are fantasy based, and 2) He does not sing to his full potential. He's got such a strong voice on some songs, and on others, he hardly "sings" at all.

Legend Maker - Metal
From Columbia (South America), of all places. Very much in the Euro Metal style though.

Symphony X - Epic Metal
Awesome fantasy band from New Jersey. It's a little bit different lyrically, some albums are about the Greek Gods, or Egypt.

Glass Hammer - Epic Folk/Genesis-style progressive
2 LOTR based albums (and one based on CS Lewis' Perelandra, if anyone is interested in that). The Middle Earth Album is, well imagine if you took an audio recording device into an actual tavern in Middle Earth, and just sat there for an hour and recorded! Kind of Irish folk sounding in places, lots of sing-alongs. Just amazing!

Lord of the Rings score - Classical
Note: This is NOT the soundtrack with Enya, this is the musical score to the movie, which is quite different (and much better, IMHO).

Lana Lane - Ranges from Ballads to Heavy Rock
One of my all time favorites (though I like every band on this list). She has one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard, as well as one of the most varied musical ranges. From stunningly beautiful ballads (Before you go) to powerful screams of rage (Queen of the Ocean), she can do it all! Her voice just soars like an eagle. Most of her music is fantasy based.
Note 1: I got her Ballad Collection Special Edition from Amazon for $28 ($23 + shipping), and a friend who heard it just had to have it, so I went to her web site and got it for $17 (she doesn't charge for shipping on her site, at least not for the US. Not sure about shipping to other countries though).
Note 2: Ayreon's cds are also available on her site.

Bands I've heard and liked but aren't sure if they are fantasy related or not:
Halloween - I don't know if they are fantasy or not, I've only heard a few songs. Thier singer has a good voice though.
Labyrinth - (Euro metal) One album features the singer from Rhapsody, thier other singer is just as good.
Stratovarius - Very cool Euro metal band, but I've only heard one album (the chosen ones), and it didn't seem to have much fantasy in it.
Ayreon - seems to be mostly sci-fi/space themes, ranging from rock to metal. Quite good though. Star One is awesome!
Ivory Tower - Progressive (think Rush or Genesis). Again, mostly sci-fi/space themes.

[ October 11, 2002, 22:17: Message edited by: Nutrimat ]

 

Other good stuff (this is all metal, but may not be completely epic-fantasy related because Nutrimat got almost all my favorites up there):

Avantasia: Side project from Edguy's Tobias Sammett...100% fantasy.
Gamma Ray: Think Helloween, only more fantasy/sci-fi ish..."power-metal super band" from Helloween's Kai Hansen actually.
Nightwish: Also mostly writes on fantasy themes.
Soundtracks: Any fantasy-based movie or videogame soundtrack, I guess...other than the LOTR-soundtrack (Nutrimat beat me to mentioning that one too) I particularly like the music from the Final Fantasy series.

[EDIT:] BTW, Nutrimat...Dragonland? GREECE have a metal band? Greece produced ANY music group that doesn't sing in Greek?

[ October 11, 2002, 22:50: Message edited by: Tiamat ]

 

Uriah Heep (Hard Rock): Perhaps the first band, who used epic lyrics in their songs. Their records from 1970-1976 are a must-have.

Wishbone Ash (Hard Rock): They are pioneers of epic lyrics too. Also, they are the main influence of Iron Maiden.

Blue Oyster Cult (Hard Rock): They don't have many songs with Epic lyrics, but Michael Moorcock has written the lyrics for two of their songs.

Rainbow (Hard Rock): Their records with Dio in lead vocals are full of epic lyrics (Temple of the King, Kill the king, Run with the wolf etc)

Manilla Road (Epic Metal): The ultimate epic metal band. A sample of their lyrics :
"For all the tortured
And all the slaves
Arthur did rise
On the Ninth Wave
To rule the Britain
And lead the brave
Out of the darkness of their days
Dragonships rise from the sea
Three queens bring the new-born King"

I could mentioned several dozens of groups with epic lyrics. Almost every rock group has at least one song with epic lyrics, even Aerosmith (Kings and queens"

 

Tiamat, yep, it's a genuine metal band, from Greece! Maybe since they banned video games there they don't have anything else to do!

But yeah I like Dragonland a lot.

BOC, I'm a big maiden fan, so I'll definitely check out Wishbone Ash. When are they from? If they influenced Maiden, I'm guessing the 70's or earlier.

 

Whoa!

I'd respond, but I'm not sure I qualify. And even if I did qualify, I wouldn't know how to respond.

God I wish my two lobes would communicate instead of using the "silent-treatment" on each other. If only everyone could just get along!!!!

 

They are English, I think they come from Birmingham but I'm not sure. Their first record was released in 1970 or 1971. I propose to you to listen their second record "Argus". It was released in 1972 by MCA Records.

 

You listed most of the bands, I have all cd's from Rhapsody, (and Turilli and Vision Devine), all cd's from Blind Guardian and Nightwish, 2 Hammerfall cd's....

A few things you didn't name: Wuthering Heights, Human Fortress, Avantasia, After Forever and Within Tempration (a bit of fantasy)

 

I listen to Final Fantasy music but I dont think that counts!

 

Damn you Nutrimat, listing all the fantasybands I know!

BlindGuardian sure has my top vote. I still can't believe they turned down the offer to do the soundtrack for FotR. Hell, they made an excellent album on Tolkien's the Silmarillion!

Rhapsody is nice, but very cheesy on the lyrics. Their last two cd's were better though, and a tad more agressive. Which is good

Demons and Wizards is also worth a couple of minutes of your time. It's basically a crossover between IcedEarth and BlindGuardian. (Seeing how the CD is made by Kursch and Schaffer, this isn't surprising.)

GammaRay is stunning, but that's mostly to thank to Kai Hansen. I do prefer their older cd's though. Insanity and Genius, Land of the Free, Somewhere far beyond.

 

Oh, forgot to mention Axehammer, a Manowar style band from L.A., now broken up

 

Whoo! This helps a whole lot! I've been looking for fantasy-style music for a while, but it's strangely hard to find here in Venezuela.

Now if only Christmas were sooner... or I had a credit card

The only one I've heard of is Nightwish, I burned a cd from a guy who went to their concert in Chile.

 

Nighwish are wonderful!
Hammerfall are also pretty good...

 

I'm kind of making a link from another band listed, Symphony-X. Fantastic band, quality tunes. The link is to Dream Theater. Similar kind of Epic/Progressive band with a slightly lower level of metalness, but equally as amazing.

Off topic: And i'm going to see them this weekend, playing a 2 night set in London. Sweeeeet. Can't wait. Why a whole week of work between me and it.

 

DT rocks!
Symphony X isn't really about fantasy. It's mostly mythology, but Michael Romeo and Russell Allen are apparently huge fans or Myth 2: Soulblighter. I don't know if that affected the song-writing...

Guess you could also add Therion. Maybe not directly fantasy, but you have a lot of songs of mystical/folklore/myth nature. Songs about Vovin, Theli...dragons it seems.

Timmo Tollki from Stratovarius recorded a song called "Lord Of The Rings" on his solo album...

A good part of metal is fantasy influenced, sometimes fantasy based. Many musicians and listeners like fantasy books, games...etc.

 

Intentioner, DreamTheater cannot simply be classified like that. While generally accurate, they cover so many musical grounds, I have given up on trying to classify them into one genre

But they are great, are they not?

*Glances above, blinks, and slaps himself in the face*

I actually forgot to list them in my post above... Where's that twitching eye smiley when you need it?

 

Faragon, that's just my little generalisat of DT to anyone who doesn't know who they are. I have as much trouble classifying them as the next person. If only i could play like John Petrucci

I still stand by my comment that DT are like symphony-X, coz when i first heard s-X, i thought that it was another DT album assuming that they were once/had turned heavier.

Either way, they kick ass. my only problem is managing to take 6degrees of inner turbulence out of my cd player so i can listen to anything other than Glass Prison.

[ October 15, 2002, 10:19: Message edited by: The Intentioner of the Dammed ]

 

About classifying Dream Theater, I once read a quote from Mike Portnoy, DT's drummer, saying that their music was like mixing Pink Floyd with Metallica and (don't remember the third band), and spicing it a little with that personal style those guys have.

Anyway, I wouldn't consider DT much of a 'fantasy band' (their songs are too close to the real world) but I agree that those guys kick ass!

[Have to check my spelling before posting ]

[ October 15, 2002, 13:11: Message edited by: Camlan ]

 

Heh, I know what you mean... I don't need no drugs or alcohol, I just get a kick, a rush out of listening to 6 degrees

Really addictive music though...

Oh, I wish I could play like ANY of them. God they've got skills!

 

I wish I could only try to play like any of them. I sometimes can do nothing but stare at my cd player like 'how in **** did they do that?'

I forgot to mention earlier another great band I just discovered recently, though not very much in the stream of the 'epic lyrics' bands: Pain Of Salvation.

And if you like more stuff similar to Blind Guardian, Helloween, Gamma Ray (personal favourites)... check Iron Savior too. Some Blind Guardian and Gamma Ray members working together.

 

Dream Theater are spending TWO nights here in Greece... I'm going to buy tickets to both concerts. Before the end of the week. Yes, I'm going both nights