Home
So while hunting dead elephants and live tortoises in 100 degree heat (a phrase I doubt 10 people on Earth could say and mean literally), I chatted with a biologist about music. A few bands came up that I wanted to share. If there's another thread like this...well, I'm half-drunk, I was exhausted two weeks ago and it's only gone downhill from there, and I really should have been asleep two hours ago. A repeat thread is the least stupid thing I could be doing.
Blind Guardian
If you enjoy The Lord of the Rings, you will love Blind Guardian's Nightfall on Middle Earth. It is The Silimarillion set to heavy metal. "Taken the long way/Dark dreams I've been through/But I've arrived!" It captures the spirit of the stories, which is blood, violence, rage, revenge, and a people saying "We won't stand for this any more!"
Eluvite
I'm not sure how to classify this. Their older stuff is in a dead language, and is metal that includes bagpipes. Which should be the norm. I mean, yes, bad bagpipes are like the sound a cat makes when it's sleeping on a manifold and you start the car, but good bagpipes are a thing of beauty. One of my more powerful memories is walking through Pensic and seeing a man on an island in the fog playing the bagpipes. And in metal songs, it works perfectly.
Smoke Fairies
This is completely different. I heard them on my Heather Dale station on Pandora. The song "Frozen Heart" is that combination of bittersweet and beautiful that I love. The rest of their work lives up to the promise of that song, but that's still my favorite. I'm actively avoiding figuring out what that says about me.
Heather Dale
Okay, this one may be treason--I'm a son of the Midrealm. I learned the arts of war serving the Dragon Throne. And Heather Dale is, viewed from one perspective, the offspring of rebellion against that king. Still, her song "History of Eledomere" is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. The fact that those people actually existed, and in some cases are still alive and active in the SCA, is even more powerful. "Fisherman's Boy" is one of only a handful of songs to cut through all my defenses and reduce me to tears--not because it's sad, but because the memories it brings forth are simply overwhelming. Not to mention the fact that Nature HAS thrown me back at least once, so I can understand that song from a rather unique perspective!
Enya
This one is the most significant of the list. I owe Enya a debt that can never be repaid. Simply put, I'd be either dead or worse were it not for Orinoco Flow--it was what Life was to Nicci. It took me more than a decade to figure out what that one song did to me. To be fair, I can understand why some people don't like her. She seems trite. However, the reason she seems trite is because she sings about the foundational concepts of human life. She captures the essence of everything we do that's worth doing, so as a consequence everything she sings about seems, on casual listening, to be something we've heard a thousand times before. It's only after you really analyze it that you realize how deep the music is. "Mountain" is another that hits home. The image of a mountain--of rock--as the ideal is one I, as a geologist, can certainly relate to!
Blind Guardian
If you enjoy The Lord of the Rings, you will love Blind Guardian's Nightfall on Middle Earth. It is The Silimarillion set to heavy metal. "Taken the long way/Dark dreams I've been through/But I've arrived!" It captures the spirit of the stories, which is blood, violence, rage, revenge, and a people saying "We won't stand for this any more!"
Eluvite
I'm not sure how to classify this. Their older stuff is in a dead language, and is metal that includes bagpipes. Which should be the norm. I mean, yes, bad bagpipes are like the sound a cat makes when it's sleeping on a manifold and you start the car, but good bagpipes are a thing of beauty. One of my more powerful memories is walking through Pensic and seeing a man on an island in the fog playing the bagpipes. And in metal songs, it works perfectly.
Smoke Fairies
This is completely different. I heard them on my Heather Dale station on Pandora. The song "Frozen Heart" is that combination of bittersweet and beautiful that I love. The rest of their work lives up to the promise of that song, but that's still my favorite. I'm actively avoiding figuring out what that says about me.
Heather Dale
Okay, this one may be treason--I'm a son of the Midrealm. I learned the arts of war serving the Dragon Throne. And Heather Dale is, viewed from one perspective, the offspring of rebellion against that king. Still, her song "History of Eledomere" is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. The fact that those people actually existed, and in some cases are still alive and active in the SCA, is even more powerful. "Fisherman's Boy" is one of only a handful of songs to cut through all my defenses and reduce me to tears--not because it's sad, but because the memories it brings forth are simply overwhelming. Not to mention the fact that Nature HAS thrown me back at least once, so I can understand that song from a rather unique perspective!
Enya
This one is the most significant of the list. I owe Enya a debt that can never be repaid. Simply put, I'd be either dead or worse were it not for Orinoco Flow--it was what Life was to Nicci. It took me more than a decade to figure out what that one song did to me. To be fair, I can understand why some people don't like her. She seems trite. However, the reason she seems trite is because she sings about the foundational concepts of human life. She captures the essence of everything we do that's worth doing, so as a consequence everything she sings about seems, on casual listening, to be something we've heard a thousand times before. It's only after you really analyze it that you realize how deep the music is. "Mountain" is another that hits home. The image of a mountain--of rock--as the ideal is one I, as a geologist, can certainly relate to!
