Moorcock's Music & Battle Ballads by Týr
Plus Wytch Hazel / Phantom Spell Split Single
RL Thornton recently conducted a 2-part interview with Michael Moorcock called Talking With Michael Moorcock About His Music. The conversation does not go too deep into any one of his individual music projects, but it does provide a good overview of the breadth of his various music endeavors over the decades.
You can read both parts in their entirety at the following:
H/T to Kevin Beckett’s “Just the Axe, Ma’am”, which is how I discovered the interview.
Speaking of Michael Moorcock, does anyone know what happened to his Runestaff TV series project? Deadline had reported five years ago that “BBC Studios is developing a TV adaptation of the Runestaff fantasy novels by Michael Moorcock.”
Wytch Hazel / Phantom Spell Split Single
The bands Wytch Hazel and Phantom Spell have recently released a split single with very strong songs from each band (“Ride On” and “Palantiri,” respectively). The cover art depicts a woodland encounter between Robin Hood and Gandalf, as enticingly explained in the following from the Bad Omen Records press materials:
“On a holy roll after the success of their stunning 2023 LP IV: Sacrament, Lancastrian heavy metal apostles Wytch Hazel here ally themselves with the underground pomp wizardry of Phantom Spell for an addictively flippable split seven-inch. From the diamond grooves and emotive hooks to the antiquarian sleeve art, apparently depicting a woodland encounter between Robin Hood and Gandalf, this is an artefact dripping in the ethos and atmosphere of long ago. This perfectly matched union of talents take us from the pre-history of Middle-Earth, via the sylvan mystique of the Dark Ages, to the magical scene of the mid-late 1970s, when Judas Priest, Rainbow, Magnum and Kansas were enjoying their first flush of success, Tom Baker commanded the TARDIS, and all was right with the world (apart from the power cuts, civil unrest and disco, obviously).”
Wytch Hazel’s IV: Sacrament was one of my favorite albums of 2023. “Ride On” proves the band is still on an upward creative trajectory. I wasn’t familiar with Phantom Spell, but I’m digging the proggy hard rock of “Palantiri.”
Listen to both songs here:
Battle Ballads by Týr
Last month, we covered Geddy Lee’s battle songs, which included songs by ELP, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, and of course Rush. Now, I see that Faroese folk metal band Týr has just released an entire album of Battle Ballads. These songs are not ballads in the 80’s “power ballad” sense. Here is how band founder and frontman Heri Joensen describes the music on the new album:
"There are definitely two versions of a ballad," clarifies Joensen. "A lot of people think of hair metal, when they think of ballads. We are looking at ballads here in the Medieval sense. Apart from a couple of softer parts on the album, this is very much straight heavy metal with some folk and classical influences. I'm not sure what exactly one would call it - power metal, Viking metal, folk metal. It still fits in very much with what we do, only it feels bigger and more like these big soundscapes."
Here is the official video for the song Dragons Never Die”:
You can preview and purchase the full album from Týr’s Bandcamp page: