I don't go there now but I hear they sung there...

[stillsostrange]

It's that time again. Time for me to ask for music recommendations.

The project in question is Norse/Old Germanic flavored, with themes and motifs including winter, revenge, exile and homecoming, family, ghosts, obligations, and more ghosts. And some Big Gay Hamlet thrown in for good measure.

So far the soundtrack includes:

And One - Krieger
Android Lust - Stained (Winter)
The Crüxshadows - Winter Born/Valkyrie
The Cure - Cold
Das Ich - Das Dunkle Land
Ego Likeness - Seance
Faith No More - Paths of Glory
Funker Vogt - Refugees
Heimataerde - Endlos/Gib Mir/Wiedergaenger
Joy Division - Dead Souls
Ladytron - Melting Ice
National - Anyone's Ghost
The Sisters of Mercy - Walk Away/Driven Like the Snow
Suicide Commando - Hellraiser (VNV remix)
VNV Nation - Cold/Kingdoms (Restoration)/Joy/Procession/Honor
:Wumpscut: - Wir Warten/Auf Der Jagd/Hold/Die In Winter

Any suggestions?

Oh, and have a Spider pony while I'm at it.

Comments

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Sorry, this isn't my area, but I'm fascinated: if you don't listen to music, or listen to inappropriate/irrelevant music, do you think that adversely affects the project in question?

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

Inappropriate music would affect the project if it affected my concentration. The same goes for no music at all. But the right music can provide inspiration, motivation, thematic weight, or even plot points.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Hee. And you can figure out what will be the right music in advance? *is totally fascinated by other people's process* (Me, I can work in noisy pubs and cafes if I need to - but I gravitate to the Silence Room in the library, and I play no music in my own house.)

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Rammstein, surely, and Stratovarius. And, of course, the ineffable Van Canto (youtube.com/watch?v=XCGQiGEYl4Y).
Oh, and Lucky Leif and the Longships!

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Plus Depeche Mode, Enjoy the Silence.

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

Lucky Leif and the Longships!!!! You have to be kidding! Can I find them on You Tube?

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Well, they were a side project in the 70s of Bob (Hawkwind) Calvert, so I doubt it -- there were certainly never any videos -- but you might find something. There is a CD reissue, however.

[m-nivalis.livejournal.com]

Some Scandinavian folk, like Hedningarna's Täss'on nainen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zrJoTtcONM) or Garmarna's Brun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgV23zDt-kM)? Admittedly the lyrics aren't a prefect fit for your themes, but they're quite good for mood.

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

How about Northern Ireland's 'Snow Patrol': 'Chasing Cars' or 'You're all I Have' or 'Signal Fire'?

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

Also...'Hanoi Rocks. I saw Andy McCoy once in Helsinki when I Lived there. He3 looked like a spider torturing a piano.

[libris-leonis.livejournal.com]

Possibly a little heavier than you're looking for are Amon Amarth - Old Norse themes are right up their street, and they produce some fantastic ultraheavy metal; Twilight of the Thunder God or Wrath of the Norsemen spring to mind from them.

In a more traditional-metal vein, Like The Oar Strikes the Water or Iron Will by Grand Magus might work; and from the font of all metal, Valhalla by Black Sabbath is a decent track. In the same vein there's also

In truly power metal territory, there's Skyforger by Amorphis and Valkyries by Amberian Dawn (the latter edging towards gothic metal); and in its own way, Hammer of the Gods by Saxon is pretty pure power metal. But for a discussion of power metal a band like Rhapsody of Fire - so deeply Tolkein-influenced its untrue, but with some decent Norse-epic-style concepts - cannot go unmentioned (especially Magic of the Wizard's Dream, if only for Christopher Lee's - yes, that Christopher Lee - bass.

Edging from there into folk/viking metal territory you have the obvious Tyr and Turisas entrants, though those can be... cheesy... at times; but they've nothing on Lai Lai Hei by Ensiferum or, in their own blackened way, Blodmarsch or Solsagan by Finntroll and Louhen Yhdeksäs Poika by Korpiklaani.

Stepping even further into folk, though influenced by doom/drone metal, there's also Wardruna, for more atmospherics - pretty much anything from Runaljod - Gap Var Ginnunga would hit the mark there, methinks.



I may have too much music. But sometimes, it's useful!

[britmandelo.livejournal.com]

Seconding Tyr. Though they can cross over into goofy sometimes, with their over-the-top Norse-ness, a lot of the songs have some fabulous riffs and winter-revenge-ghosts-revenge-winter themes going on.

[ammitnox.livejournal.com]

Oops, song titles got out first.

Winter - Tori Amos
Winter Comes - Covenant
Half a Week Before the Winter - Vanessa Carlson
Hell's Coming With Me - Iris
Splinters - Big Electric Cat

(Total War - Acheron - It's a crazy people song, but, uh, it mentions Thor. lyrics (http://www.mp3lyrics.org/a/acheron/total-war/) so you know what I mean. I kind of find it fun to write to, but I would never give them money. (i.e., I will send you the mp3 if you want it.))

[ammitnox.livejournal.com]

Oh! My medieval lit professor told me (last year) that someone had done a heavy metal version of Beowulf. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it, because so many metal bands are named Beowulf, or have songs about Beowulf, etc. So... I'm not helpful here. But I figure if I post it, someone will know about it.

Anyone; Bueller?

[readingthedark.livejournal.com]

Hmm...once again, I am reminded that our musical taste is almost uncomfortably similar.

Regardless of the intent of that mix (the inspiration angle), the only thing I would suggest adding based on your choices would be Wolfsheim.

Scrolling down, I was thinking how adding several VNV Nation tracks was a must...

[grymnir.livejournal.com]

ELEGI -- I picked up the artist from a Warren Ellis post some time ago. Not song, but soundscape and atmospheric; it is to Scandinavian what Bear McCreary is to space opera.

[curgoth]

Jonathan Coulton's Ikea? :)

More seriously, Rötersand's Winter Paints It White

More later when I have iTunes in front of me.

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

Sequentia - the album "Edda"

[akashiver.livejournal.com]

Sigur Ros (for your quiet bits of plot):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwQmDvuORY0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWR-jJ3v1pk
and