The Singularity from Bear McCreary & Cirith Ungol's Farewell
Plus The Curse of Punk & Wizard Van Music Selections
Award-winning composer Bear McCreary has released The Singularity, “an epic rock concept album, graphic novel, and concert experience.” The album features contributions from a variety of well-regarded musicians, including Slash, Serj Tankian, Joe Satriani, Buck Dharma, Kim Thayil, Guthrie Govan, Mike Keneally, and Ben Weinman.
In the following quote from a Broadway World article, McCreary explains his scope for the project, which matches the world building ambition of many fantasy/sci-fi trilogies, decades-long RPG campaigns, and prog rock concept albums:
“I began writing The Singularity when I was fifteen,” says McCreary. “I was obsessed, even then, with melding my love of hard rock, symphonic film scores, and dramatic storytelling into a cohesive whole, laying the groundwork for what would become a concept album, graphic novel, and multimedia concert experience. I spent the next three decades trying to perfect it.”
Bear McCreary has scored myriad sci-fi and fantasy television series including an episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles called “Dungeons & Dragons.”
Cirith Ungol Bids Farewell to Touring
This Bandcamp article reports that the “ultimate cult heavy metal” band Cirith Ungol will no longer tour after they complete their current live schedule. The article provides an informative history of the band including links to stream some of their classic songs. I’m glad the band members are leaving open the possibility of future one-off dates and recording. The following quote from the article provides a succinct summary of the band’s unique appeal and importance:
“With their sophisticated melodies, doomy atmosphere, sword-and-sorcery lyrics, and Michael Whelan-painted album covers, Cirith Ungol were early progenitors of the subgenre that would become known as epic heavy metal.”
The Curse of Punk
Recently, Keller O’Leary released The Curse of Punk, “a Call of Cthulhu scenario set in 1985, exploring the cthulhu mythos through the lens of the punk movement.”
Here is a longer description from the scenario’s introduction:
“This scenario blends together aspects of punk culture in the 1980’s with the Cthulhu mythos to offer a new approach to gameplay. This scenario imagines a city with a thriving punk community, and the backlash that this counter culture routinely faces. Much like the “Satanic Panic” of the same era, there was an unfounded disdain for self-expression from these groups, derived from misinformation surrounding the alleged overlap of the counterculture movements (like punks) and occult practices.”
A quick perusal of the preview shows references to the band Black Flag on both the cover art and with a section titled “Rise Above.” H/T to Thomas Manuel’s Indie RPG Newsletter for bringing this release to my attention.
Wizard Van Music Selections
I received my copy of the Wizard Van zine by James M. Spahn.
Check out this included list of music and album covers that inspired the author:
According to a recent campaign update, if you missed out and want a copy of Wizard Van, “they'll be available for sale soon in the Gallant Knight Games webstore in physical, and are currently available in digital form on DriveThruRPG.”