New Cirith Ungol Single
Plus Goodman Games Music Recs & Heavy Metal Pirates
Cirith Ungol has released a single from their upcoming album Dark Parade. The song is called “Velocity (S.E.P.)”, and it’s a banger. As with other Cirith Ungol albums, the cover artwork is from master artist Michael Whelan:
This painting was originally used for the cover of Michael Moorcock’s Elric at the End of Time. You can see the full painting at Michael Whelan’s website under the name Elric and the Sinking City.
Cirith Ungol’s lyrical themes are broader than their consistent use of swords and sorcery cover artwork might imply. The lyrics to this song are more likely to inspire a Cthulhuian horror game than a D&D fantasy adventure.
You can listen to the song and pre-order the album from their Metal Blade band page. I can’t wait for the full album release!
Music Recs from Michael Curtis and Brendan LaSalle
On the Goodman Games Twitch channel this week, game designers Michael Curtis and Brendan LaSalle shared their 2023 media picks as part of their Keep Crawlin with Mike and Brendan show. These included some music recommendations that were new to me that I have been enjoying.
Michael works for Goodman Games as the Director of Product Development for their Dungeon Crawl Classics line. He recommended the following musicians:
Rúnahild - “Rúnahild is a free spirited ethereal folk & folktronica project, hailing from an off-grid wooden cabin in the mountains of Norway. Inspired by a personal journey within healing and nature spirituality, her music aims to hold space for others to explore their own inner universe.”
The Owl Service - “Leftfield, fuzz-fuelled garage-folk for discerning outsiders. The Owl Service is chiefly a vehicle for Steven Collins to explore his fascination with the English folk-revival, Edwardian occultism, doom metal, DC hardcore, and the great outdoors.”
To learn more about Michael’s musical interests, including punk rock and Blue Öyster Cult, listen to my Appendix LP podcast interview with him:
Brendan is a game designer currently working for Goodman Games and is the creator of the Xcrawl roleplaying game. He recommended the following musicians:
2D6 - “they rock the nerdcore hip-hop genre with their rhymes about video games, tabletop roleplaying, fatty foods, Jerry Seinfeld, public radio, weekdays, diseases, bleeps, bloops, etc.” (NSFW)
Rainbow Girls - “A gang of sweet angels punching you in the heart." Terrific harmonies.
Le Butcherettes - I couldn’t find a good description of the band to quote, but vocalist Teri Gender Bender is amazing and selected records from Janis Joplin, Iggy Pop, Alice Bag, and Syd Barrett in this Amoeba Music video.
To learn more about Brendan’s musical inspirations, including hip-hop and Black Sabbath, listen to my Appendix LP podcast interview with him:
Heavy Metal Pirates
This Screen Rant review of Pirate Borg says the tabletop RPG “feels like Pirates of the Caribbean injected with a huge dose of heavy metal and splatterpunk.” The review came out yesterday (19th of September), which was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. In honor of heavy metal pirates, please enjoy some Running Wild: