These heavy metal bands inspired by Lord of the Rings movies

News24xx.com - “Lord of the Rings”, an epic fantasy novel written by J.R.R. Tolkien which was part of his fantasy novel series and later made into a movie trilogy, has become an inspiration of many heavy metal bands. Fantasy and mysticism have always been the themes in heavy metal or rock bands in writing their lyrics and building their persona. Tolkien’s myth becomes one of the sources of inspiration for these bands to build their image.

“Lord of the Rings” is popular among people not only because of its poetic language or its beautiful and fascinating creatures and universe, but also because of the roller coaster of emotions we feel when we read or watch it. The story contains themes about friendship, adventure, betrayal, greed and mortality, which touch the hearts of all its fans. It is a brilliant literature blending fantasy with reality.

Tolkien’s myth has had great influences in many fields, one of them being heavy metal or rock n roll. Some bands wrote lyrics based on it and some even created an entire album. They used the words that were derived from the literature like “Mordor” or “Middle-Earth”, or were inspired by its universe or characters. Here are some of the bands that are inspired by “Lord of the Rings”:

1.       Blind Guardian

This band made the series the staple in their career. They made an album in 1998 using the concept from the literature. It was even titled “Nightfall in Middle-Earth”. The band was heavily-influenced by the literature that when the news came that it was going to be made into a movie, many people thought the band would be chosen to make the soundtrack, though it was not true.

2.       Black Sabbath

The band admitted that they wrote their debut album “The Wizard” after reading “Lord of the Rings”. They were inspired by the wise wizard that guided the protagonists in the story, Gandalf, and made their debut album based on him. It turned out that the title was a double entendre that also referred to their drug dealer.

3.       Burzum

The band’s name itself means “darkness” in the fictional dark language spoken in Mordor. It was even written on the ring that became the source of problem in the story. The founder of this band, Varg Vikernes was nicknamed Count Grishnackh, which was a nod to the captain of Orcs, Grisnakh. His first band was even named “Uruk-Hai”. For those who do not know, “Uruk-Hai” was the strongest race of Orcs in Mordor.

4.       Amon Amarth

This band only subtly showed the inspiration they got from “Lord of the Rings”, but it was there. The band’s name, Amon Amarth, means “hill of doom”, which is the other name of Orodruin, the volcanic mount of doom, in which the story’s protagonist, Frodo Baggins, journeyed toward, to destroy the one ring.

5.       Rush

The band had written a song in 1975 titled “Rivendell”. Rivendell is a majestic city occupied by Elves, such as Elrond. Then a year later, they wrote a song titled “The Necromancer”, which was the nickname that Gandalf gave to Sauron, the main antagonist in the literature.

6.       Led Zeppelin

This band also wrote many materials inspired by Tolkien’s myth. For example, their song “Misty Mountain Hop,” inspired from Misty Mountains or Hithaeglir. Another example is “The Battle of Evermore,” which gave references to the book in its lyrics, like the words “the ring wraiths ride in black, ride on.”

7.       Megadeth

One of the founders of this band, Dave Mustaine admitted that when writing the song “This Day We Fight,” the band was inspired by Aragorn’s battle speech in the last film in the trilogy, “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.” At that time, Aragorn tried to lift the spirit of the soldiers in fighting what they thought would be a losing battle against Sauron’s army.

8.       Sabaton

This band was known by its themes about fantasy and war. Its song in 2007, “Shadows” was all about Mordor and the terrible army of Sauron, the dark lord who created the one ring.

 

 

 

 

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