More Tolkien Dwarf Music

Plus Horseburner - Grumpy Wizard Recommendation & Loot the Body Soundtrack for Thracia

Last week, I included items about J.R.R. Tolkien music-related connections along with a piece about the band Wind Rose’s new song. This week the universe brought these two things together as Giant Freakin Robot published an article about Wind Rose called “The Amazing Lord Of The Rings Project You’ve Never Heard Of.” Wind Rose combines folk metal and power metal with songs about fictional Dwarves. The article details the ways in which the band have been inspired by the Dwarves in Tolkien’s writing:

J.R.R. Tolkien has done more than just inspire Wind Rose’s look. All across its discography, the band refers to the mythos Tolkien created repeatedly, sometimes indirectly and sometimes by name.

Wardens of the West Wind, Wind Rose’s second studio album, was released in 2015 and includes “The Breed of Durin.” Durin is the very first of the Dwarves to awaken in Tolkien’s mythos, and the rest of his people often refer to themselves as his children.

Two years later came Wind Rose’s Stonehymn and with it “To Erebor,” referencing a famous Tolkien location you’re likely familiar with even if you don’t realize it. Erebor is the name the Dwarves have given the Lonely Mountain–the place Thorin and his allies fight to recapture in The Hobbit.

Two Wind Rose albums later–on Warfront–was “The Battle of the Five Armies,” about the famous clash acting as climax to The Hobbit.

For a strong representation of the Wind Rose experience, I recommend checking out the video for their anthem “Diggy Diggy Hole”:

Horseburner - Grumpy Wizard Recommendation

In his Grumpy Wizard newsletter, Travis Miller recommended the band Horseburner. They recently released a new album called Voice of Storms, and it’s fantastic. I gave a few spins from their Bandcamp page, and then immediately bought it on vinyl. The sticker on the album packaging provides an accurate description:

The new album of raging, breakneck modern metal from

HORSEBURNER

for fans of Baroness, High on Fire, Mastodon and Howling Giant

I especially hear attributes they share with Baroness and Mastodon, and I love the way the album builds over the course of its 47 minutes. This quote from a review of the record from The Sleeping Shaman highlights a couple of tracks that might especially be of interest to fantasy RPG fans:

Silver Arrow is a beautiful interlude further into the album that fills the surroundings with cavernous reverb. The volley of silver arrows fly gracefully through the air and come cascading down as the explosive riffs press through.

If the thought of silver arrows crashing down in battle has you looking for an adventure of your own, make sure to check out the acoustic song The Fawn. Grab your boots, your sword and shield and take the fantasy world by storm as your trusty bard serenades the journey in epic fashion. The well-paced track keeps you moving towards imminent danger on your quest.

I also love the art by Brian Mercer and the band logo that adorn the album cover:

Brian Mercer has done artwork for other bands, including Lamb of God, Mastodon, and Bongzilla. You can purchase posters and prints from the Mercerrock web store.

Thanks to Travis for turning me on to this great band. If you don’t read Travis’s Grumpy Wizard blog, I would encourage you to do so. You can also sign up for his monthly newsletter from the blog site. Travis was the first guest on my Appendix LP podcast, and I appreciate his RPG advice and music recommendations. In addition, Travis has recently released a cool TTRPG product called Hogwater: Village of Secrets, which is a starting location for an OSR sandbox campaign. Lastly, Travis was a recent guest on Jeff Jones’s excellent RPG Ramblings podcast:

They discuss Travis’s experience publishing Hogwater, but also touch on some music topics:

• 0:47:16 - Powered by the Apocalypse - bebop jazz/Howling Giant analogy

• 1:19:08 - Know your community “Guns of Brixton” lesson

• 1:35:05 - Music from new vs. legacy artists with references to Linda Ronstadt and Rick Beato (I’m wishing good health to Rick, who just underwent heart surgery)

Loot the Body Soundtrack for Thracia

Goodman Games’s recently ended, smashingly-successful crowdfunding campaign for Caverns of Thracia Legendary Adventure 5E+DCC included an add-on for a soundtrack produced by Critical Hit Parader favorite Loot the Body:

Loot the Body will write and record an original album to accompany this adventure. The digital-only release will consist of an epic rock song in the style of previous songs about classic adventures (check out LTB's discography if you don't know) and 10 loopable long-form ambient tracks tailor made for your sessions. Backers will receive a Bandcamp download code and will be able to stream the music on the Bandcamp app or download it in various high quality audio formats.

I interviewed Levi Nunez from Loot the Body in an episode of the Appendix LP podcast, and I always look forward to his next releases. Check out the Loot the Body Bandcamp page for a boatload of cool tabletop RPG-inspired music.