Saprophial’s IOTUNN Artwork, Horrors of the Whispering Wood, & Celtic Frost

Plus Review of D&D's Bardic Inspiration

Last month the Danish/Faroese metal band IOTUNN released their second album Kinship, and it has quickly become one of my favorite records of 2024. It delivers modern progressive metal that is ambitious, powerful and moving. Here is a description from the press materials:

Kinship is a massive album arising from the primeval sea. A mythological music journey of eight songs which span across immense spheres musically and lyrically exploring the deep roots of the human nature, its connection and disconnection with everything and everyone, and how our choices have always defined ourselves and the lives lived. Eight songs which show IOTUNN expand their musical worlds to new territory without ever losing grip of the trueness of their core sound. A hard and extensive creation.

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Set in primeval time the album unfolds the story of a tribesman who is part of a prehistoric tribe. It tells the story of life’s manyfold conditions as themes of unity/disunity, light/dark, body/mind, nature/culture, good/evil, creation/destruction and human/inhuman are unfolded throughout the album.

These themes are supported by the fantastic album artwork by Saprophial:

Critical Hit Parader readers may appreciate that Saprophial’s art has also been featured in New Edge Sword & Sorcery magazine and the Black God’s Kiss RPG project:

You can check out Saprophial’s amazing portfolio here. The Kinship album is available for purchase from the IOTUNN Bandcamp page, or you can preview some of the songs with the following official videos the band has released:

Horrors of the Whispering Wood & Celtic Frost

Nick Baran has launched a crowdfunding campaign for Horrors of the Whispering Wood Collector's Box. This is a “bestiary and hexcrawl toolkit compatible with Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG.”

Here is a longer description from the campaign page:

“The Whispering Wood has always been dangerous. Cougar-esque kroloons stalk the deer trails, ready to pounce on lone travelers. Lobster-clawed mud lurkers crawl the river beds, ready to pull under those who come too close. And that was before the pervasive corruption spread over this land. The pitted shells of soil creepers hide giant, hideously transformed woodlice. Retch ravens spill putrescent remains from their crop, attempting to sicken and weaken their prey. Corpse crawlers and giant spitting flies seem to manifest anywhere one can find flesh in a state of decay. These Lurking Horrors creep, waiting for the careless to stray...”

Nick is a music fan, and I covered the punk and thrash connections of his Rabid Dogs in a previous Critical Hit Parader newsletter. This time around, Nick says that Celtic Frost’s “Tears in a Prophet’s Dream” will “make you feel like you're right in the Whispering Wood.” If you’re not familiar with this instrumental track from Celtic Frost’s classic To Mega Therion album, check it out below:

I backed Horrors of the Whispering Wood right away, and you can pledge your support here.

Reviews of Bardic Inspiration

I previously previewed the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons double vinyl record called Dungeons & Dragons – Bardic Inspiration: A Musical Journey Through the Forgotten Realms. Now the album is out, and Polygon has provided a review. Here is an excerpt:

Composed by Michael Gatt, the album feels like the soundtrack to an epic motion picture that never got made. Opening up with the thunderous and expansive “Across the Forgotten Realms,” it then moves into tinkling, mystical tracks like “In Praise of Lolth” and “Lords and Lairs of Waterdeep.” Later there are thematic choral elements as well, like the breathing of the dragon in “Arise, Tiamat!” and the charmingly rustic “Fare Thee Well,” sung “live from the Yawning Portal” according to the liner notes. Taken as a whole, the score, recorded asynchronously between the United States, Austria, and the United Kingdom, is as coherent as it is complete.

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It’s clearly meant to inspire DMs as they plan for their next adventure, or to be played in the background of your gaming group’s climactic final fight. It is an orchestral accompaniment for every adventurer, regardless of how much time they’ve already spent at the table.

It is available now as both a physical product and on streaming platforms.

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Tomorrow is the American Thanksgiving holiday, and in that spirit I would like to thank each of you for reading Critical Hit Parader. I feel lucky to get to share my passion for music and tabletop roleplaying games with you, and I appreciate the conversations, connections, and friendships we’ve made.

Thanks for helping me turn the undead!