# Heavy Metal Fantasy World - Help!



## King_Cagn (Apr 20, 2014)

Yeah, so this has been an idea I've had in my head after playing Brutal Legend, it was taking heavy metal and mixing it with sword and sorcery. In some way I'd like to have quite a serious world that has clear elements of heavy metal and fantasy.

So would the world have motorcycles, dragons, magic and demons but lack guns and modern weaponry as we replace them with swords and melee weapons.?, Help me out people!


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## Addison (Apr 20, 2014)

It's your idea so it's your call really. 

Look at each side of this coin. 

Sword and Sorcery:
Magic
Warriors
Magical Races
Villages and Kingdoms
Grand quests/adventures.

Heavy Metal (I'm assuming by heavy metal you mean the music genre)
Loud music.
Screaming
Motorcycles
Tour buses
Groupies
.....my knowledge of heavy metal is small. 

So take the two sides, pick the elements you like and fit them together. Like.....when a spell is cast there's some sort of musical note or melody or such. Or singing is involved. The characters travel on their adventure via motorcycle or tour bus. 

There's my feeble two bits. Hope it helps anyway.


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## Ophiucha (Apr 20, 2014)

Conveniently, quite a bit of metal is inspired by fantasy. Look at the album covers of nearly any progressive or symphonic metal band for inspiration. 

I would consider some pseudo-steampunk inspiration. Not necessarily the cogs and the airships, but the ideas the genre has about combustion engines and ways to use magic for it. I think you could justify motorcycles if you had a world with a heavy focus on fire magic (which, conveniently, could also be used for forging swords - blacksmiths could be held high in society for their ability to use fire in this way; also fire = dragons and hell = badass). Music-based magic is also a possibility, given the musical inspiration. Bards are excellent fantasy protagonists.

If you go with a heavy musical route, lots of great stories about musicians who sell their soul for inspiration. That's a possibility.


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## Feo Takahari (Apr 21, 2014)

The real question here is, do you want to rewrite Brutal Legend, or do you want to do something else? The nature of that "something else" determines what advice to give. 

For instance, Brutal Legend is built around old-school metal, with industrial metal as a negative, destructive force. If you're a big industrial metal fan, you might want to theme your heroes around it instead. That will create a very different feel than if you're, say, a black metal fan


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## WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade (Apr 21, 2014)

Metal and Fantasy go together SO well.  Basically every power metal band is heavily based on fantasy, most folk and Viking metal bands are focused around kickass Celtic+Norse mythology, and most heavy/black and thrash bands deal with fantasy stuff at least a few times. 

There is also a genre called "Tolkien metal",  with bands such as Numenor, Isenguard, and SUMMONING, all focused on Tolkiens work, and CALADAN BROOD (SO GOOD) focused on the Malazan works. 

SO yeah, metal and fantasy go hand in hand. And also, if you can pull of some sort of mix that actually works and isn't cheesy, then it'd be kickass. Maybe, though I'm not a massive fan of it, Urban fantasy such as the Iron Druid stuff, but with Norse+Celtic gods in a metal band.  Thor on lead vocals, Cernunnous on Bass, Loki on guitar, and Zeus on drums.


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## buyjupiter (Apr 21, 2014)

WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade said:


> SO yeah, metal and fantasy go hand in hand. And also, if you can pull of some sort of mix that actually works and isn't cheesy, then it'd be kickass. Maybe, though I'm not a massive fan of it, Urban fantasy such as the Iron Druid stuff, but with Norse+Celtic gods in a metal band.  Thor on lead vocals, Cernunnous on Bass, Loki on guitar, and Zeus on drums.



Already working on a version of this, although the gods aren't in the band.  But Odin keeps showing up, as do his ravens.


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## Pythagoras (Apr 21, 2014)

WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade said:


> Maybe, though I'm not a massive fan of it, Urban fantasy such as the Iron Druid stuff, but with Norse+Celtic gods in a metal band.  Thor on lead vocals, Cernunnous on Bass, Loki on guitar, and Zeus on drums.



I would put Odin as the vocalist, Thor as the drummer, Loki as guitarist, and Heimdall as bassist. If we were sticking strictly to Norse mythology, that is. A fun band could consist of classical deities: Aphrodite on vocals, Dionysus on lead guitar (I picture him dressed like Slash), Apollo on rhythm guitar, and Hephaestus on drums. I don't know about bass; Athena maybe? Fun to think about.


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## psychotick (Apr 21, 2014)

Hi,

I'd have to disagree with the line up I'm afraid. Odin's old - he even makes AC DC look like bubs. So singer of a rock band? No. Agent for a band maybe. And Thor might have long hair but he doesn't strike me as the singing type either (He would do quite well on drums though (big metal clad instead of leather skined drums) with that hammer of his!). Now Heimdall traditionally has a horn for the hunt so perhaps he could be a sax man. As for Loki - I can't see him as any sort of band man. He's the trickster so band manager or agent seems to fit him better. However, since you could also fit Odin into this role and Loki's sometimes an enemy, it might be better to make him the slimy record producer.

For your lead singer / lyrics I'd suggest Bragi - god of poetry and music. Lead guitar I'm going to be a little controversial about - Hel, goddess of hell basically - and who doesn't like the idea of a hell goddess on strings! She could also do back up vocals. Of course Bragi and Hel could swap places and you'd end up with a group like Gossip or Blondie. And Kvasir, god of inspiration could do back up vocals and maybe base. And to complete the strings Heimdall traditionally plays a harp so maybe. He's going to be busy though with sax and guitar - but from memory Duran Duran had a guy who did this combination.

Cheers, Greg.


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## Gryphos (Apr 21, 2014)

Don't forget the backstage frost giants. That dry ice has gotta come from somewhere.


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## Queshire (Apr 21, 2014)

Personally I'd say that instead of copying the trappings of metal you should look at how it resonates with people, the thoughts and emotions it evokes and then work to evoke the same with your writing.


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## Lycan999 (Apr 21, 2014)

WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade said:


> Norse+Celtic gods in a metal band.  Thor on lead vocals, Cernunnous on Bass, Loki on guitar, and Zeus on drums.



I am sorry this is off topic but I must ask, why is Zeus in there?


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## hots_towel (Apr 22, 2014)

I hate to be nit picky, but you described something similar to hair metal or NWOBHM (new wave of British heavy metal). Those bands adhered more to the motorcycles, girls, and vocal screeches. Their European successors would be power metal (and from that symphonic metal and arguably, melodic death metal). While their American successors would be thrash metal, and from that to death metal. 

Each of these had their own respective scenes, but they all sort of have the same recurring themes that you can draw inspiration from. Yea usually it was on the topic of general violence or something evil, but every now and then there's a compelling story told in the lyrics. I look to that sometimes for inspiration. Though that's just me. 

And yes, like someone else said, middle earth has inspired quite a few metal bands out there. Most notably black metal bands.


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## Jabrosky (Apr 22, 2014)

I like some rock music you might classify as "metal". My favorite bands are probably Machine Head, Disturbed, Evanescence, and Within Temptation (though the latter two might qualify more as Gothic than metal). Maybe look at your favorite bands and study the subject matter of their songs or album artwork for inspiration?

More often than not I work with vaguely African-based settings, and I would think hip-hop or R&B would go better with those than metal (though traditional African music would go best of all). Rock in general may derive partly from African-American traditions, but somehow metal is a genre I more readily associate with European-American than African culture.


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## LeoWolfish (Apr 22, 2014)

Lycan999 said:


> I am sorry this is off topic but I must ask, why is Zeus in there?



I was thinking the same thing. @WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade you do realize that if you want to use Norse+ Celtic gods that Zeus should not be here right? 

That being said in regards to the story world itself I think before you do anything else you should decide if you will use all types of metal, such as the ones listed previously in this thread. Or just one and learn what the differences are. Though I think it would be interesting if you did a sort of Hetalia type thing where each character represents a type of metal (music wise). Though that being said I am not sure if there are enough differences between the different ones for this to work. Or if not individual characters then perhaps certain areas within your worlds society.


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## buyjupiter (Apr 26, 2014)

A little helpful tidbit from someone who was just doing some research about the touring aspects of bands (because my musician friends are local and not doing the touring bits):

Don't. Ever. Research. Groupies.

You don't want to know. You really don't. 

On the plus side, you'll learn a lot about the psychology of the people that "follow" bands around on tour. And, I suppose the psychology of band members, if the stories are true.

On the negative side? Everything else. It's...creepy.


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