Toto RPG Imagery & "Balrog" from King Buffalo

Plus More Saprophial & Hammers of Misfortune

I am an unapologetic Toto fan. I have a bunch of their records, I’ve seen the band live, and Steve Lukather is one of my guitar heroes. They have an unfair reputation in some circles for a variety of reasons (e.g., their misidentification as a manufactured corporate band of studio musicians, their pop success, the pervasiveness of “Africa” memes, etc.). When music fans who play tabletop roleplaying games list their favorite artists, I rarely hear Toto mentioned among the usual suspects of bands like Led Zeppelin, Rush, and Black Sabbath.

However, I think of them as an accidental Appendix LP band. Although their lyrics are unlikely to directly inspire fantasy RPGs, the band’s imagery and some of their song titles would not be out of place in a sword & sorcery novel or game.

First, check out some of their logos, which prominently feature a sword:

Next, their second album Hydra has a cover that looks like an 80s fantasy B-movie poster, and the songs include the mythical monster-named title track as well as "St. George and the Dragon."¹

I chose to write about Toto this week because I stumbled on some Toto artwork that I thought would especially appeal to Critical Hit Parader readers. I typically avoid compilation albums, so I was ignorant of the album cover for their Toto Past to Present 1977-1990 album. Check out these polyhedrals!

The artwork was done by Mark Ryden. Following some internet research, I realized he had done the album covers for a few other records in my collection, such as the great Monster album from Fetchin Bones:

Here is a biography snippet from the Mark Ryden website:

“Blending themes of pop culture with techniques reminiscent of the old masters, Mark Ryden has created a singular style that blurs the traditional boundaries between high and low art. His work first garnered attention in the 1990s when he ushered in a new genre of painting, "Pop Surrealism", dragging a host of followers in his wake. Ryden has advanced from the initial surrealist strategies by choosing subject matter loaded with cultural connotations.”

This First Draft article provides some more of Mark Ryden’s album cover work, including art he did for Jeff Beck, Michael Jackson, and Aerosmith.

“Balrog” by King Buffalo

I was turned onto the “heavy psych” band King Buffalo earlier this year. Therefore, I was excited when Travis Miller reported in his latest Grumpy Wizard Newsletter that the band recently released a single called “Balrog.” Check out the cool artwork by Tom Tubiolo for this song:

In this Talker of the Town interview, Tom described how music inspired him to become an artist. Here is an excerpt:

I grew up in Rochester NY, as a little kid I would spend weekends setting up with my parents at flea markets. Back before the days of eBay, popularity of retro-romanticism and the convenience of the internet; flea markets were chockfull of anything and everything you could think of. I would say it was here that I fell in love with art, rock and roll and the marriage of the two.

I found a handful of cassettes from bands such as Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Twisted Sister and Fear. I would listen to them constantly on a “grandpa time” cassette player I had (just google it…) and I absolutely fell in love with the rawness. I would also see old paintings/statues/photographs/toys/advertisements that once “served a purpose” to their owner, but somehow their meaning became hazed over time a la “Velveteen Rabbit”. I would stare at these things and try to empathize, but sometimes I couldn’t understand the appeal in some items. It was then I realized art wasn’t something that necessarily needs to be aesthetically appealing. Art is about provoking emotion, be it happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, etc. I became obsessed with figuring out ways to tap into all of those emotions in unison.

The “Balrog” song is a banger, and you can listen to it from the King Buffalo Bandcamp page:

And for RPG advice and more metal music recommendations, be sure to subscribe to The Grumpy Wizard.

More Saprophial

Last week, I discussed the artist Saprophial and her amazing artwork for the band IOTUNN. This week, I found another album cover featuring Saprophial’s stunning artwork:

This one is for the 2022 album Overtaker by the metal band Hammers of Misfortune. I’m familiar with early Hammers of Misfortune because of the involvement of Slough Feg band members John Cobbett and Mike Scalzi.² I’ve given the Overtaker album one spin so far, and I like it a lot. You can listen for yourself from the Hammers of Misfortune Bandcamp page:

1. The song “Hydra” runs right into "St. George and the Dragon" on the album creating a 12-minute prog rock epic. Rather than telling a fantasy story, the lyrics are metaphorical with the Dragon representing the dangers and temptations of New York City. “Hydra” is my favorite Toto album, and these two songs open the record with a bang.

2. Slough Feg released a classic concept album under their original name, The Lord Weird Slough Feg, about a Traveller RPG campaign. I plan to cover that project in detail in the future. I would have done it sooner, but I keep dying during character creation.