#heavy mithril

[herecomesthementalmeltdown]

honestly i dont fucking care how long it takes for album 4 to drop if we're getting shit like power of the beast and enter the behelit

[of-him-the-harpers-sadly-sing]

Yooo I think I found the prince of the land of Fife (noble and true with a heart of steel) (now it is lost, vengeance shall be his) (Angus McFife is his name)

[tolkienmetallist]

Dwarrowdelf

Music Style: Epic Black Metal

Country of Origin: England

Years Active: 2017-Present

Current Member: Tom O’Dell - Everything

Discography: The Sons of Fëanor (2018) Of Dying Lights (2019) From Beneath the Fells (2019) Evenstar (2020)

Tolkien Band Name Reference: Dwarrowdelf is the Westron translation of Khazad-dûm (aka Moria), the greatest city of the dwarves

Website: No official website, but does have a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DwarrowdelfUK/ and a Bandcamp: https://dwarrowdelfuk.bandcamp.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCACeKNdo9QeNh-tQ7M5Wxog

Spotify Monthly Listeners: ~850

My Thoughts: I hope you like European black metal solo projects, because we’re looking at another one today. While I did enjoy all of Dwarowdelf’s albums, I will primarily be focusing on one in this discussion. Before I get to that, overall, I think O’Dell’s strengths are his clean vocals (especially when he layers multiple vocal tracks) and his guitar work.

I want to spend a little more time on Dwarrowdelf’s debut album, The Sons of Fëanor. Before I even listened to this album, I was super excited for it. The Silmarillion as told through the fates of the sons of Fëanor is an amazing concept for an album. But even more amazing than the concept is the execution. O’Dell clearly has a deep understanding of not only the lore, but the tragedy of the Silmarillion. There a glimmers of this thread of tragedy throughout the album, starting from the very first song, “Amrod”, where Amrod says his “life is penance for the kin that we have slain”. The tragedy kicks up at the halfway point with “Caranthir”, when Caranthir seems to become aware of the direction this story is going. “Glorious sons of Fëanor, / What have we become? / Marching ever forward, we all fall one by one”. In my opinion, the climax is in the penultimate (and shortest) song, “Maedhros”. In this moment, the moment of their victory, the moment when he finally has a Silmaril in hand, his past cruelty catches up with him, and he commits suicide. The pain and sorrow of Maedhros really shines through in O’Dell’s vocal performance. However, while that is the climax, the most painful song is probably “Maglor”. It is one thing to die a tragic death, but another thing to be forced to endure with no hope of the release of oblivion. The album leaves Maglor on the shores, crying out for the return of his brothers. “Oh bring back my brothers to me, / From senseless tales of tragedy / I await them by the shores of life “

On that cheerful note, I highly recommend The Sons of Fëanor. If you want something a little lighter in topic, I would recommend Evenstar, which is primarily a character study of Aragorn.

[tolkienmetallist]

Rivendell

Music Style: Epic Black Metal with Folk influences

Country of Origin: Austria

Years Active: 1998 - ? (Last album was released in 2005, no word since then)

Current Member: Falagar (Gerold Laimer) - Everything

Discography: The Ancient Glory (2000) Elven Tears (2003) Farewell-The Last Dawn (2005)

Tolkien Band Name Reference: Rivendell is an elven outpost in the foothills of the Misty Mountains, and home to Elrond.

Website: No official website other than the bandcamp page - https://rivendell.bandcamp.com/

Youtube: No official Youtube channel, but the entire discography can be found on the channel Black Metal Promotion. I recommend the album Farewell - The Last Dawn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs2SSJVd88Q&t=1985s

Spotify Monthly Listeners: ~180

My Thoughts: Much like there are two main subgenres of Tolkien Metal, there are also two main lyric approaches. The first is “Tolkien Inspired”, which is where the lyrics are about Tolkien’s work and there may be a few quotes pulled directly from the books, but for the most part the lyrics are the original creation of the band. The second is what I am affectionately referring to as a “Tolkien Cover Band”, where the lyrics are just Tolkien’s original writings. Rivendell falls squarely into the second category. Almost all of the songs made by this band are covers of Tolkien’s poems. In particular, I recommend Rivendell’s versions of Eärendil and The Fall of Gil-Galad. I don’t think this is a bad approach to creating Tolkien metal as, even though the lyrics are going to stay the same between bands, there is still plenty of room for individuality and interpretation in the instrumentation of the song. Rivendell takes Tolkien’s words and combines them with black metal and folk influences to create something new.

The lyrics, combined with the use of folk instruments, as well as a mix of clean and harsh vocals, gives this band an enjoyable sound, even if you aren’t into black metal (I’ve seen several comparisons to Falkenbach, to give an idea of the sound). Persobnally, I’m a fan of folk music in general, so any time a band blends in a bit of folk influence, even if it’s just a touch of fiddle or bagpipes, it’s going to make me like the music a lot more. I know folk isn’t everyone’s preference, but I really like this band, and I hope more people will give them a listen.

[tolkienmetallist]

Wind Rose

Music Style: Progressive/Power Metal (early); Folk/Power Metal (later)

Country of Origin: Italy

Years Active: 2009 - Present

Current Members: Francesco Cavalieri – Lead Vocals; Claudio Falconcini – Guitars, Backing Vocals; Federico Meranda – Keyboards; Cristiano Bertocchi – Bass, Backing Vocals; Federico Gatti – Drums

Discography: Shadows Over Lothadruin (2012) Wardens of the West Wind (2015) Stonehymn (2017) Wintersaga (2019)

Website: https://www.windroseofficial.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpkYRsmyqlzkrSYwPSSXRyg

Spotify Monthly Listeners: ~325,600

My Thoughts: Do you like dwarves? Do you like power metal? Do you like digging holes? Then do I have the band for you! Unlike most of the other Tolkien metal bands I have encountered, who tend to cover a variety of topics within the legendarium, Wind Rose has a very singular focus. And that focus is dwarves. They sing about dwarves, the sing like dwarves (some of their lyrics are in Khuzdul), they sing dressed as dwarves. Basically, if you like dwarves, you’ll probably like this band. Soundwise, they are mostly your standard big, bombastic power metal group (not a complaint, I love that sound), with a touch of folk influence. For an example, I recommend “The Returning Race” from Stonehymn.

I don’t feel like I can talk about Wind Rose without addressing their big single, which is a cover of a Minecraft song. In early 2011, YouTubers Yogscast Simon and Lewis posted a Let’s Play Minecraft video. During this video, Lewis asks Simon to sing a song about being a dwarf digging a hole. Thus, “Diggy Diggy Hole” was spawned. There were a lot of fancovers and remixes of the ~10 second song, and Yogscast eventually created an animated music video based on a full-length version of the song. Then, on Jun 6, 2019, Wind Rose released a single based on that animated music video. That video now has over 26.75 million views. The band even released a statement to go along with the video: Mining is one of the most important activities for a Dwarf, naturally Wind Rose needed a theme song for this great honor of collecting these jewels from the soil, so sing with us with pride!!

Yogscast responded: I liked the part where they sang about digging a hole. MOOOAR!

So if you’re tired of everyone fawning over those stuck up, long-haired, pointy-eared, tree-hugging bastards, give Wind Rose a try.

[tolkienmetallist]

Cirkeln

Music Style: Melodic Black Metal

Country of Origin: Sweden

Years Active: 2019-Present

Current Member: Våndarr - Everything

Discography: Kingdoms That No One Remembers (2020)

Website: https://cirkeln.bandcamp.com/music and https://www.facebook.com/cirkelnband

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZBMWkZJ-1w

Monthly Spotify Listeners: ~95

My Thoughts: Really returning to the roots of this blog with this band (yay solo black metal project from Europe). I joke, but I did enjoy Cirkeln’s first full-length album Kingdoms That No One Remembers. It was a well-put together album that had this great energy running through the entire work. I’ve noticed that mixing tends to be where these types of bands tend to have issues, but the music was well mixed and there was a nice balance between the vocals and the instruments. It was also nice to listen to a black metal band with Tolkien-based lyrics that wasn’t another variation on Summoning (I like Summoning, but Tolkien metal has a lot of Summoning knock-offs). Instead, I would describe Cirkeln’s sound as more Bathory inspired, while still being it’s own thing. Cirkeln has announced that his second album A Song To Sorrow will be released soon. I will be looking forward to it.

Side note, I love the album art from Kingdoms That No One Remembers. I want this as a poster.

[tolkienmetallist]

Summoning

Music Style: Epic/Atmospheric Black Metal

Country of Origin: Austria

Years Active: 1993 - Present

Current Members: Silenius (Michael Gregor) - Bass, Vocals, Keyboards; Protector (Richard Lederer) - Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards

Discography: Lugburz (1995) Minas Morgul (1995) Dol Guldur (1997) Stronghold (1999) Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame (2001) Oath Bound (2006) Old Mornings Dawn (2013) With Doom We Come (2018)

Website: https://label.napalmrecords.com/summoning

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8jG23nTKgkWYfRt8cN2M-g/featured

My Thoughts: In my search for Tolkien Metal, I noticed that there are two main paths one can follow: Power Metal and Black Metal. While not every band that draws from Tolkien will fall in those two categories, and there are lots of variations within those subgenres, most Tolkien Metal falls under one or the other. And if Blind Guardian is the flagship for Tolkien Power Metal, then Summoning is the flagship for Tolkien Black Metal.

Summoning is great at evoking mood and a sense of place purely through instrumentation (they are considered ‘atmospheric black metal’ for a reason). I personally enjoy the contrast between the more melodic/epic instruments and the harsh vocals. My personal favorite album from this band is Oath Bound. It has many of my favorite songs, including “Mirdautas Vras", which is Sauron bragging about how evil he is in Black Speech, and “Land of the Dead”, which starts as a typical Summoning song, but little over halfway through has this absolutely beautiful choral section that keeps coming back throughout the rest of the song. If you don’t listen to any other Summoning songs, please listen to “Land of the Dead”.

[tolkienmetallist]

Metal Tribute to Tolkien

Music Style: Heavy/Power Metal

Country of Origin: Mexico

Years Active: 2009 - Present

Current Members: Toño Tejeda Warner - Guitars (lead and rhythm); Leo Sforza - Vocals;  Carlos López - Bass;  Kike Herros - Drums; Rob Zendys - Guitars (lead and rhythm); Anna Fiori - Vocals; Paco González Guitars (lead and rhythm) 

Discography: Metal Tribute to Tolkien (2011) Beren’s Song (2012) Corazón negro (2019)

Website: https://www.facebook.com/metaltributetotolkienofficial

Youtube: No official Youtube channel, but the second album can be listened to here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg68_XWgv8s and the third album can be listened to here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82UUfSHiSKc&list=OLAK5uy_mU8e82vYt0Y80YC98bXpfII7gSCvtS0kQ

Spotify Monthly Listeners: ~25

My Thoughts: I’m going to be honest here. The name of this band bumped it way up my ‘to be listened to’ queue. How can you not love a band name that’s that on the nose? In addition to a great name, this band is also providing a bunch of firsts for the Tolkien Metal List. This is the first featured non-European band, the first featured band with a female vocalist, and the first featured band that has songs in a language other than English or a Tolkien conlang.

I am personally of the opinion that metal could do with more female vocalists. Like the Freedom Call song says, metal is for everyone, and I think that should include not only who listens to metal but also who performs it. While Anna Fiori may not have the same power behind her voice as some of the better-known female vocalists but she still is giving the performance her all. I did get the sense that she is more comfortable singing in Spanish, but that is totally understandable and not a mark against her.

Overall, I would say that Metal Tribute to Tolkien is a good solid power metal band. The had some really nice guitar work, and I recommend both “Power of Darkness” and “Istari” from Beren’s Song as an introduction to their work.