NERD METAL (and other music)

During my musical journey thus far (yes, I began my previous post with that), I've come across some weird and truly wonderful bands. But so many of them are just too...cool. If the music world were a high school, they would be the cool kids who wear sunglasses indoors and budge in the lunch line. But I wasn't like that. I'm a nerd. Luckily, I've discovered some bands that share my passion for high fantasy, advanced topics, or music that is meant more to be decrypted that enjoyed. So, here are the ten nerdiest artists in my iTunes.

10. Dream Theater

Yeah, they may look all cool, but Dream Theater is pretty nerdy. Who else would write 20+-minute songs on fantasy, philosophy, and other weighty matters (or car accidents) packed with extended instrumental breaks in odd time signatures or keys? And YES THAT IS THE REAL LINEUP OF THE BAND

9. Rush

Another cool-yet-nerdy prog band from a bit before Dream Theater. Neil Peart just loves the fantasy/sci-fi/Ayn Rand lyrics. I don't listen to them as much as I should.

8. DragonForce

INTO THE FIRES OF FOREVER/WE WILL FLY THROUGH THE HEAVENS/WITH THE POWER OF THE UNIVERSE WE STAND STRONG TOGETHER/THROUGH THE FORCING OF POWER/IT WILL SOON REACH THE HOUR/FOR VICTORY WE RIDE/FURY OF THE STORM

7. Canvas Solaris

I've already discussed this band's nerdery. Their song titles alone pack more nerdiness than lesser bands, requiring several Ph.D's (no doubt shared by the members of the band) to decipher. And that's not even considering their music, which is even more technically complex than Dream Theater's.

6. Blind Guardian

These German power metal giants have written songs based on just about every fantasy series. (Including an entire album based on The Lord of the Rings) Also ancient sagas, classic poetry, history, and the Bible. No doubt there are at least a few songs in their body of work for you to fanboy/girl over.

5. Powerglove

I've already posted on these guys' fantastic cover of the Pokemon theme song with Tony Kakko. The rest of their work is no less hilariously awesome. They've done songs based on Final Fantasy, F-Zero, Sonic, Castlevania, even Duck Hunt. For a break, they did an album based on Saturday morning cartoons from their youth. (My favorite is their metal version of a song from Winnie the Pooh)

4. Rhapsody of Fire

You see those? Swords. Case closed.

3. Ayreon

Like Rhapsody of Fire, Ayreon's albums are all concept albums that tell epic tales. They go the sci-fi route rather than fantasy, with tons of retro-sounding synthesizer sounds. I'm not going to re-describe the storyline behind the albums; my previous post does a better job anyway. Did I mention it's all the brainchild of one brilliant Arjen Anthony Lucassen?

2. Jonathan Coulton

If anyone reading this hasn't heard of Jonathan Coulton, check him out, right now. He is geek rock at its finest. He's done songs on the Mandelbrot Set, Ikea, Skymall magazine, a heartsick programmer, office zombies, robot brides,  robot overlords running Christmas, and bacteria. Oh, he also wrote Still Alive if you've played Portal. His only possible rival in nerdiness: whoever made all those World of Warcraft AMVs for his songs.

1. Bal-Sagoth

I just discovered these guys. Black metal usually isn't considered a very nerdy genre, which makes them even more amazing. Like Rhapsody of Fire and Ayreon, they tell stories spanning multiple albums. Their subject matter is a mix of dark fantasy, sci-fi, and horror (two words: 'Cthulhu metal'). Their song titles are, shall we say...rather extreme and the story they tell twisted and complicated. They have plenty of cheesy synths to back up their dark, frantic sound. What takes the cake, though, is their brilliant vocalist, who effortlessly switches between black metal shrieks and a perfect, melodramatic, Christopher-Lee-in-a-B-movie narrator voice to tell parts of the story. Listen for yourself.

Moonsorrow

During my musical journey thus far, I've found a niche in quite a few extreme metal fields. None has been harder to get into, though, than black metal. This is because in my experience, black metal bands almost always tend to be blasphemous or overtly anti-Christian--not something I want to or should listen to. Lately, though, I've been finding some black metal bands with a more historical bent--think pagan legends, ancient wars, swords and sorcery, and the like. Moonsorrow is one of those bands, putting a folk music spin on the genre. Plus their song titles and lyrics are all in Finnish, so I can't even tell what they're saying. Anyway, they specialize in producing, beautiful, booming, epic-length compositions with similar emotional depth and dynamic range to Explosions in the Sky, only darker. Their penultimate album, V: Hävitetty, has two songs and is 56 minutes. Yeah. Here is the first track, broken up into three parts. It's amazing.

Dream Theater Is Still Dead.

However, it has recently come to my attention that they have finally announced their new drummer. A fellow called Mike Mangini. Apparently he's drummed with Annihilator, Extreme, and Stave Vai, played on one of LaBrie's solo albums, and has won several "world's fastest drummer" awards. Not a bad record--if he were in any other band, I'd be impressed and interested in checking out his work. But he has impossibly big shoes to fill. Dream Theater was in the unique and precarious position of having not one, but five "faces of the band", all of whom were central to Dream Theater's identity--none more so than Portnoy. Mangini might come close to matching Portnoy's drumming finesse, but while he's little more than a drummer, Portnoy was part of the heart and soul of the band. Their upcoming album might be well-executed, thoughtful, even brilliant--but it won't be by the Dream Theater I knew and loved. I'll stick with enjoying their previous work.

Wish

Confession: I don't listen to Fates Warning much, even though they're part of the "big three" that helped kick off the modern prog metal scene. (Along with Dream Theater and Queensrÿche) Well, except for this song. I've thought for years that if my life were a movie, this song would play over the end credits.

I think I just like songs that don't just repeat, but build to a crescendo, then retreat back to nothing. This song starts with a minimalistic guitar chord pattern, then adds a low-key bass line (which sounds really cool on headphones), then drums and finally vocals. The intensity of the song slowly builds, though the laid-back tempo never does, then after an awesome guitar solo the instrumental parts disappear in the reverse order of how they appeared. It's a really cool effect and one of the few times I've seen it outside of post rock. I should probably check out some more of them sometime...

Cool Band/Song Names, Part 1

I keep a note on my iPod of names that would be good for bands and/or songs. Here is what I have so far.

Bands:
Metal-Matic, Inc. (probably for a groove/industrial metal band of some kind)
Thundersnow (already taken, sorry)
Eternal Necrotic Dessicration of Autumn's Tears (a fake band I have a character in my crazy Paper Mario fanfiction listen to. They are a Divine band, so they release about 50 albums a week and are pretty much what the name sounds like)
The Metal Rabbits
Candy Quake

Songs:
Copy of a Copy
Collective Personality
Metric of Complexity (these would all be perfect for a technical metal album)

Comatose

In my iTunes there are many playlists. Among them is one I keep for times when life seems too painful and the face of God too distant. From it, I wanted to post one of my favorite Skillet songs. (lyrics) Even when the difficulties of life make it near impossible to think outside of yourself and your problems, fight to remember Who is really important.

Hands of Time

The unthinkable has happened: I'm obsessed with a Primal Fear song and it's not from Seven Seals! And the style is completely different than my other favorites from them. It's much more chill and just beautiful to listen to. Check it out.

Until next time: what songs are you addicted to that are completely different from their artist's usual style?