Fantasy Music from Around the Web

It's Saturday evening, and I could write a serious post on noteworthy topics…or I could write about something silly, like fantasy music. Hm. Let's go with the latter.

It's hard to find tunes about magic, wizards, dragon slaying, and the like on your local radio station's Top 40, but on the internet? You can find everything.

Here are a few tunes I've stumbled across over the years (as well as an online fantasy-only music station). There's a mix of different types of music (though I've yet to come across a country or rap fantasy song), so if you don't like one, try the others. And, of course, feel free to add yours in the comments.

Fantasy Music

Lord of the Rings by Blind Guardian (the song predates the movies, but the YouTube video I found uses clips from Peter Jackson's trilogy):

Stormbringer by Deep Purple is straight out of the 70s and sounds like it. Supposedly, it has nothing to do with Elric's Stormbringer sword in Michael Moorcock's series, but they always go together in my head anyway.

Black Blade by the Blue Oyster Cult does reference the Elric books (the song was co-written by Moorcock).

I must confess: I read a ton of DragonLance and Forgotten Realms books as a kid, so I was tickled when I came across Raistlin and the Rose by Lake of Tears. It's on some of my iPod running mixes to this day. (Yes, I am that geeky.)

Those of you who have played World of Warcraft will probably have heard this one already, but even if you're not a gaming fan, you'll be able to smirk at the lyrics if you grew up playing D&D or reading about wizards in robes. If nothing else, the singing gnomes are cute.

Big Blue Dress by Cranius

I'm not sure there's any real fantasy in Tears of the Dragon by Bruce Dickinson (aside from the fact that the title has the word dragon in it), but if you like ballads, you might dig it.

If you like metal, there are quite a few bands that have done fantasy-themed songs and albums:

Thor by Manowar

Emerald Sword by Rhapsody of Fire

Asgard by Therion

A Quest for the Crown by Falconer

For those who like steampunk, there are a couple of groups that get into it with steampunk costumes and lyrics. Airship Pirate by Abney Park may be the best known.

The Death of the Cog by The Cog Is Dead is another fun steampunk tune:

For more steampunk music, check out The Clockwork Cabaret, a weekly radio show that you can listen to live online.

Lastly, you can listen to Radio Rivendell through iTunes or the web. It's a "non-commercial, non-profiting European web radio station dedicated to playing the best fantasy music there is. 24 hours a day, all year around."

Do you have any fantasy music you'd like to recommend?

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