To me, the right music can really make a gaming session that much more enjoyable. Like exploring a Cathedral of Flesh is the Carpathians to the tones of the soundtrack from Bram Stoker's Dracula or entering the forested realm of the elves with Lisa Gerrard singing. Thus, I have decided to review a number of CDs for use in gaming sessions.
First, let us start off with The King of Metal themselves: Manowar. More specifically, the CD entitled Kings of Metal.
Manowar is one of the defining acts in the genre of power metal. Their songs drip machismo, misogynism and sound like the memoirs of an AD&D Fighter combined with the rantings of a Khorne champion. They sport perfect 80's hairdos and take themselves way too seriously. What's not to like?
Kings of Metal contains 10 tracks, including a bonus track. You get a 12-page booklet with the lyrics to all songs, which I can only applaud. The cover of the booklet, which is also the CD cover, is typical for Manowar; an overly muscled man, dressed in ripped leather pants, spikes and chains, stands posing atop a rocky hill, scattered with torn national flags, the Stars and Stripes being the most prominent. In his right hand, he holds a bloodied broadsword with a guard and pommel that had distinct Roman/Nazi connotations. In his left hand, he raises a large metal ring, from which lightning plays. A crown lies on the ground between his legs and his face is in shadows. On the back, the image continues, showing another hilltop, this one with only a hammer on it in addition to the flags (of which Dannebrog, the Danish national flag, is quite prominent :)).
In addition to the lyrics, the booklet contains all the usual information and thanks. I have been unable to find out who the artist of the cover is, however.
Moving on to the music, we start with Wheels of Fire, an homage to riding your bikes hard and fast. While most of Manowar's song have a distinct Fantasy feel, this one would be more appropriate in a Mad Max or Cyberpunk game, or any game where the characters are bikers. The song nicely demonstrates Eric Adams' vocal range and has a good headbanging beat.
King of Metal, the title track, comes next. This is a self-glorification song and it's in full-on Manowar style. Check out some of the lyrics:
They wanna keep us down - But they can't last - When we get up we're gonna kick your ass - Gonna keep on burnin' - We always will - Other bands play Manowar kill - Other bands play Manowar kill
The song has a lot of energy, but little application in a game, unless you're playing a heavy metal band on tour.
Heart of Steel comes next. Here, we depart from the guitar-pumping metal into a power ballad. Now, this song helps demonstrate that heavy metal bands make great ballads. Starting with a beautifully played piano piece backing up Adams' vocals, it cuts over to more traditional heavy metal instruments, without losing the power beauty. Sure, we get Adams' patented long screams, but that's part of Manowar. This song is very inspirational and would go well with some heroic D20 warrior-type.
Sting of the Bumblebee is where the band, especially guitarist Ross the Boos, shows their skill. Flight of the Bumblebee on electric guitar is no mean feat, I can imagine. The track feels somewhat off, when compared to the rest, but I can definitely see it being used as the soundtrack from an intense battle.
The Crown and The Ring (Lament Of The Kings) starts out with some amazing organ play and then quiets to allow Scott Adams' voice to carry the power of this ballad. The choir that sings the chorus is suitably impressive, though it would be interesting to hear this piece sung by Russian men's choir instead. The song is very inspirational and can easily be used in a heroic "against-all-odds" game or in the preparation for an impossible battle.
Kingdom Come is pure rock - it is almost impossible not to nod your head along with the beat. The song is another good one for battle or war, as long as the characters played are suitably heroic and violent warriors. It is also a good one for "the party reaffirms it's friendship"-situations.
Pleasure Slave, the bonus track, opens with the orgiastic moans of several women and then dives headfirst into every 14-year-old D&D geek's fantasy. The song drips with machismo and shows us that any woman is willing to be become the slave of the right man... the right man being someone who can give her a good, solid *bleeep*. Not the kind of the you wanna play if you have one or more females in your gaming group, but it can set the tone for a solid evening of testosterone-laden dungeoneering (though it mainly deals with what you do when you're NOT in the dungeon).
Hail and Kill is without a doubt one of my favorite Manowar songs. Hard guitars and a good, solid beat for headbanging and it starts with one of those slow, quiet pieces that Manowar likes to put in front of their heaviest songs. With lyrics like:
May your swords stay wet like a young girl in her prime
and
Power and dominion are taken by the will - By divine right hail and kill
it is hard not to love this song. In addition to setting the tone for some solid "we are evil" fantasy, it might also provide the soundtrack to a particularly violent round of Dark Ages: Inquisitor.
Next comes The Warrior's Prayer, a spoken word piece that requires you to take Manowar a lot more serious than I do not to just skip it. I suppose it might provide inspiration to a band of powerful warriors, but all it's really good for, in my opinion, is for the last line to be an intro to:
The last number; Blood of the Kings. A fast, no-nonsense piece, this one starts with one of Adams' screams and then goes into a cry for battle to be joined. Manowar calls out to several European countries (including my own Denmark), then ends with "the glory of Germany", showing that they haven't fully shed their nazi-inspired roots. The chorus sounds like some dark ritual that players could either stop or perform and it's yet another great battle song.
All in all Kings of Metal is good, solid album for a night of violent D&D or Warhammer (the RPG or the wargame). With Manowar playing, don't expect your players to retreat or seek a non-violent solution to a situation. It is music to kill orcs and bed women to.
Where Kings of Metal fails is in the tracks that are not useful for Fantasy. While you an overlook the modern elements in Blood of the Kings and, to an extent, Kings of Metal, Wheels of Fire is definitely out. Sting of the Bumblebee, while impressive, doesn't really fit in anywhere and Tyhe Warrior's Prayer is just too overdone.
In the end, the best thing to do is to take the songs that fit and then mix them with other fitting Manowar songs, such as "Black Wind, Fire and Steel" and "Power of thy Sword" to create a great sountrack for killing everything that moves (and isn't a big-breasted woman).
