I know one so far, Legend of Arthur and the Roundtable, but I want to learn about more and listen to more for inspiration and the story telling potential it holds.
Any suggestions would be great
Ayreon have concept albums only. So do Star One, if you’re into sci-fi
Rush’s early albums were themed. The first was a plain rock album, but after that were theme based. Their fantasy themed albums were
- Fly by Night
- Caress of Steel
- A Farewell to Kings
2112 was more sci-fi, and then after that they were more mixed, with albums containing fantasy or sci-fi, or just political or contemporary topics. But there’s a lot of material to listen through.
Aside from their historical or political stuff, none of the fantasy is tied to any particular folklore; it’s just fantasy stories. You won’t find, like, songs about Merlin, or Achilles, or whatever
I’d absolutely put Hemispheres in there too. The first track of Hemispheres is a direct sequel to the last track of Farewell to Kings. Also Xanadu from Hemispheres is very much a fantasy song.
Yeah. The CD only has 4 tracks, though ;-)
Clocking in at 37 minutes. Don’t judge prog by the number of tracks… pretty typical album runtime for anything released in the vinyl era.
Also, it’s fantastic.
I thought the smiley face was sufficient to express that I was joking.
Oops ;-)
S’allright. Use of old-time smilies of fading away, and with it, our recognition of them when they pop up.
These are the first couple that pop into my head:
Uriah Heep - Demons and Wizards (mid 70’s heavy, organ-laiden Prog Rock)
Rick Wakeman - The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (mid 70’s synthy synthy synthy Prog)
Villagers of Ioannina City - Age of Aquarius (Paganistic Greek Folk Prog)
Aphrodite’s Child - 666 (the book of Revelation - Prog Style)
Power Metal:
Blind Guardian - Nightfall on Middle Earth is all Tolkien mythology Rhapsody of Fire was created their own middle earth inspired lore and all albums are chapters in it
Black Metal:
Summoning is all about Tolkien mythology including some songs in Elvish.
Blind Guardian is an excellent pick for mythical metal. And Then There Was Silence is based on The Iliad and Aeneid.
Agreed. They’re a solid power metal pick regardless as well
Every album by Amon Amarth is about Vikings and/or Norse mythology.
Hmm, sounds interesting, I’ll check it out now
Edit: fuck I can’t sleep or do work to this