The Perfect Home for Pulp Science Fiction & Fantasy
Power metal ballads belted by groups of camp heroes and villains
An Unserious Article
It’s been a little heavy around here (and everywhere) lately, so I want to take a moment to write about a silly pleasure of mine. For all that I love to examine stories in various media for lessons about living in the real world, there’s still some times when I just want to hear about swords and lasers and hidden crystals that will unlock portals to hell, regardless of how devoid it is of deeper meaning.
That’s made difficult in most cases by how cheap, dull and problematic most pulp SFF books and films tend to be. At a recent book club, a friend brought up this quote from Kurt Vonnegut on the relative respect the genre got from critics: “I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled ‘science fiction’ ... and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal.” And while I hope times have changed at least a little in the intervening 52 years, I can also see where that view originated, given the era of pulp stories that defined early science fiction and fantasy.
But I’m here to tell you that these meaningless stories, comprised of more proper nouns and action verbs than you’ll know what to do with, have found a place to thrive in the power metal scene – and it’s great. Read on to hear about a few of my favourites, as well as a few more whose music is flirting with this genre.
(If you’re in the mood for something a little more substantial and serious, I can’t recommend this video on the psychology of addiction, food and information highly enough!)
Gloryhammer, Angus McSix, Devin Townsend Project
This phenomenon is embodied best for me personally by Gloryhammer, who themselves began as a parody of the more serious story-driven music of groups like Rhapsody of Fire. Member of the band have characters who fill similar roles in each album, which tell stories akin to books in a series.
My instinct is to attempt at least a brief explanation, but I’m resisting because the whole point is that it’s fun nonsense. I will say that Gloryhammer gets me continuously laughing by setting their sword-and-laser-and-undead eagle-and-unicorn stories in Dundee, Cowdenbeath, Auchtermuchty, Aberdeen and other mythical lands (which certainly aren’t just places in Scotland.)
If you’re interested, I’d recommend just putting on their second or third album while doing another task and enjoy! Or at least watch the video above to get a taste of the chaos.
A bit of drama in 2021 saw Gloryhammer’s lead singer depart and start his own group, cheekily named Angus McSix after his Gloryhammer character Angus McFife. I haven’t listened quite as thoroughly to them yet, but ‘Master of the Universe’ slaps – as does the fact that they debuted with a talented Cuban-Italian woman on guitar and have since added another female guitarist to their lineup; a rarity in this genre and frankly across the music industry.
Finally on this front, I simply have to shout out Nanowar of Steel’s Valhalleluja for the greatest crossover of all time. (Just a click to cross ‘Hymn to Ikea’ off your bucket list!)
Playing in a very similar space to these groups, though entirely unrelated in origin, is Devin Townsend Project with the albums Zildtoid the Omniscient and Dark Matters. These solo concept albums follow the story of the alien Ziltoid visiting Earth in search of good coffee, and for my money venture straight into the absurd faster and farther than anything else I’m discussing today. Here’s a taste if you like! (I did warn you.)
Others!
Like I said in the intro, these are groups who are playing in what I’d consider a similar space, but whose albums aren’t entirely devoted to telling a single “cohesive” story.
First up has to be Alestorm, whose co-founder is also the mind behind Gloryhammer. Writing and performing exclusively pirate-themed metal music since 2004, this is certainly the most crass group I’m mentioning today, but sometimes dumb is fun. One of my favourites of theirs is Captain Morgan’s Revenge, as well as their cover of The Last Saskatchewan Pirate and that time they got Peter Dinklage to appear in a music video.
I love Brothers of Metal, whose music is all devoted to Norse Mythology and who – at least to me – seem to have the most genuine passion for their art. Now, is it fair to lump them in with the rest of these groups? Eh, I think so. But be warned that there might be an actual theme or two in amongst the sagas and smiting.
Powerwolf have a lot of songs about werewolves and religion and war, though there’s very rarely any narrative to a song, let alone an album – which is kind of a shame, because I’d love to see a world and story built out of their unique and imaginative imagery. Sadly (along with Sabaton, who I considered discussing), some of their music is occasionally co-opted by individuals and groups looking to celebrate and real world violence – but I’ve seen nothing to suggest that either band wants anything to do with those outliers.
(Honestly, a not insignificant portion of Powerwolf’s appeal to me is in all the fantastic art by Zsofia Dankova. Shocker, I know, that I’d appreciate some good art.)
Perfect Home
If you listened to any of the music linked above, hopefully you’ll get a sense of what I love about this genre of power metal storytelling. We have legendary heroes and dastardly villains questing and conspiring and battling in minutes-long episodes, to catchy melodies and never overstaying their welcomes – even in the 10+ minute tracks which serve as climax to each Gloryhammer album. It’s the kind of simple enjoyment you can only get when you strip away any and all complexity and just sit back to have fun.
That being said... Is there ultimately value to these stories? As this video I linked above discusses, we are constantly being fed hyper-consumable but empty calories and content in today’s world.
My inexpert opinion is that it’s okay to enjoy a silly rock ballad from time to time, but to recognize and be (you guessed it) mindful that it’s not the type of thing helping me grow as a person.
Are there any groups or albums that you enjoy for similar reasons? I’d be very curious to hear (about) them!
A final treat below. Thanks for reading and until next time <3