Rainbow: Dio & the Origins of Fantasy-Based Epic Heavy Metal
Plus The Art of Michael Whelan: Lovecraft, Pink Floyd, Obituary, and the Who
I had the honor of being a contributor to the recent book Run with the Wolf: Rainbow on Record by Martin Popoff. This is one of Martin’s panel books in which he assembles a cast of “wise music swamis” to discuss each album in a band’s discography. I previously contributed to the similarly structured Dominance and Submission: The Blue Öyster Cult Canon. For the Rainbow book, Martin interviewed me about the albums Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, Bent Out of Shape, and Finyl Vinyl.
Covering the Rainbow debut gave me an excuse to talk about the importance of the album, and Ronnie James Dio specifically, to the origins of fantasy-based power metal. Here are some excerpts from Martin’s interview with me as published in the book:
Matt Thompson: To me, it’s a seminal record in the genre to come of sword and sorcery, epic-based heavy metal. We get bands whose whole careers are based on this type of music. We’ve had, previously, bands who were influenced by fantasy literature; The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien-type stuff, has already come up. It got popular in the sixties, but that’s really like hippies and hobbits type music, right? Even the Led Zeppelin stuff is done in a pretty mellow way. Something like “Ramble On” or “The Battle of Evermore” have got the lyrics but it’s not metal at all. Rush’s “Rivendell” came out earlier that year but that’s a mellow song. You’ve got Hawkwind, who is adding the Michael Moorcock influence. Warrior on the Edge of Time comes out that year, but that’s its own thing, right? It’s not like historic fantasy heavy metal. It’s more like modern sci-fi-type stuff. Very different aesthetic to it.
Matt Thompson: But then this starts off Ronnie’s obsession, right? He’s been quoted as saying as much. He has an obsession with “mystical figures, kings and queens, angels and demons, dungeons and dragons.” So that’s a lyrical theme that he then carries forward in any talks about how it suited his “epically scaled rock music that I like to perform.” And of course, later bands agreed that it’s a good direction or milieu. Power metal, epic metal, traditional metal…the DNA goes straight to this album. So again, it’s a very important record in terms of creating a whole new genre and aesthetic for heavy metal music.
In the full chapter for Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, I even got to mention what’s going on with D&D at the time. You can order Run with the Wolf: Rainbow on Record from Amazon or purchase an autographed copy from Martin Popoff’s website.
The Art of Michael Whelan
Michael Whelan is a favorite of Critical Hit Parader for, among other things, his iconic artwork adorning Michael Moorcock’s Elric books and the album covers for bands like Cirith Ungol, Smoulder, and Sepultura. Therefore, I was happy to discover that Michael has recently begun a Substack newsletter called The Art of Michael Whelan. Free subscribers receive daily posts of artwork and a weekly newsletter with in depth breakdowns of Michael’s art. Paid subscribers receive other rewards, including “Unique autograph and chat opportunities with Michael Whelan.” The newsletter is a collaboration between Michael and the manager of his website, Michael Everett.
A recent newsletter covered Michael’s diptych painting entitled Lovecraft’s Nightmare. Originally commissioned by Ballantine/Del Rey for a series of H.P. Lovecraft reissues, the artwork would later be used on heavy metal album covers for Cause of Death by Obituary and Epidemic of Violence by Demolition Hammer.
Music also played a role in Michael’s creation of the original painting as explained in the Substack article:
An unplanned obstacle to the execution of this painting was the weather: it was beautiful outside! Only by blacking out my studio windows and playing a nonstop selection of tone setting music was I able to maintain the nightmarish mood necessary for the completion of these works.
In case you’re curious, I repeatedly played “X” by Klaus Schulze, “One of These days” and “Careful With That Ax, Eugene” by Pink Floyd, and “Requiem for a Soprano” off the 2001: A Space Odyssey soundtrack…going from one to the other repeatedly. There were others, of course, but these tracks were the main ones.
Read more in the full article here:
Another recent The Art of Michael Whelan issue had a music connection and featured Michael’s painting entitled ARMENIA. The article mentions the Who song “Armenia City in the Sky,” which for me is an unusual favorite within the Who canon. Read the whole article here: