I will always associate Blue Oyster Cult's 'Fire of Unknown Origin' with gaming. It was an album my best friend and I would play in the background when we played.
When I was in the Army, we took turns putting CDs on Jonesey's stereo, and it received frequent play.
Not the most swords and sorcery themed album ever, but it's the one I think of.
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Loving the Maiden, Metallica, Rush and Dream Theater. Lately however, I've been getting into the grindcore stuff. Lamb of God. Killswitch Engage. Chimaira. As I Lay Dying. All That Remains. Trivium.
Probably too heavy for anything but a mass battle though. I suppose I'd fall back to Yngwie Malmsteen - Trilogy or maybe Dio - Dream Evil for the ultimate metal/gaming album.
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I will always associate Blue Oyster Cult's 'Fire of Unknown Origin' with gaming. It was an album my best friend and I would play in the background when we played.
When I was in the Army, we took turns putting CDs on Jonesey's stereo, and it received frequent play.
Not the most swords and sorcery themed album ever, but it's the one I think of.
Love BOC, and this is the album that got me into them. When I make favorite song cd mixes, Burning for You is almost always on them....
"Fire" is a good record, but "Burnin' For You" was played on the radio entirely too much (and still is on "classic rock" radio). I got really "burned" out on it.
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Lately however, I've been getting into the grindcore stuff. Lamb of God. Killswitch Engage. Chimaira. As I Lay Dying. All That Remains. Trivium.
<raises glasses up bridge of nose>
Except none of that is grindcore. Grindcore hails from the British anarcho-punk and classic 80's American hardcore movements.
Examples:
Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse Now
(early) Carcass - Reek of Putrefaction
Extreme Noise Terror - Raping The Earth
Napalm Death - The Wolf I Feed
.... that's just a few. :)
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Okay, not albums, but bands, namely two: Manowar and Blind Guardian. There was always one of their albums playing in the background for our very first D&D campaign back in the early 90's.
And by always I do mean ALWAYS. In retrospect, it's kind of hilarious when Hail and Kill is playing when we were gently strolling through peaceful elven woods...
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Good ol' grindcore
I guess dmchucky69's list would probably be called groovecore.
That takes me back...
Argh, can't focus on one album...
Depends on the game and mood I'm going for. Early Metallica invokes feelings of late 80's basement dwelling goodness, while Opeth and Amon Amarth were pretty much our soundtrack in the 3e era.
I have an instrumental version of Mastodon's "Crack the Skye" that makes for excellent background music for gaming.
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Off topic and slightly funny facepalm moment.
Lately however, I've been getting into the grindcore stuff. Lamb of God. Killswitch Engage. Chimaira. As I Lay Dying. All That Remains. Trivium.<raises glasses up bridge of nose>
Except none of that is grindcore. Grindcore hails from the British anarcho-punk and classic 80's American hardcore movements.
Examples:
Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse Now
(early) Carcass - Reek of Putrefaction
Extreme Noise Terror - Raping The Earth
Napalm Death - The Wolf I Feed
.... that's just a few. :)
This reminds me of an ad I once saw of a band looking to do "hardcore," and listed off examples like Mudvayne, Disturbed, Staind, etc. I answered the ad and gave them examples of actual "hardcore" bands(NYHC, etc), and the guy I spoke to thought I was making the genre up. *facepalm* We had a long, long chat.
It's really hard to impress to new/surface metal fans that there are, indeed, community-accepted genre names for most stuff, and not sound like an arrogant prick in the process. I've tried and failed.
Fans don't need to have a doctorate just to enjoy music they like, but tossing around specific genre labels without knowing what the genre actually is, is kind of annoying.
Sutter would probably know.....I just called it, Trivium and Lamb of God are even used as examples of groovecore on the wikipedia entry.
Maybe it's regional, but I've never heard a single instance of someone calling themselves groovecore until reading this.
The bands that DMChucky69 listed are variants of metalcore, arguably. But the term metalcore is anathema to certain groups and they try their best to avoid it by labeling themselves heavy metal, NWOAHM (New Wave Of American Heavy Metal), Melodic Death Metal, etc.
I try to avoid over genre-izing music.
To me there are about 3 levels of definition:
First, is it Rock, Classical, Dance etc?
Then , using Rock as an example, is it Rock and Roll, Metal, Folk, etc?
Then, using Metal as an example, is it Extreme Metal? Power Metal?
Sometimes I'll go one more, like in Extreme Metal I'll make a distinction between Black and Death Metal, since fans of one aren't necessarily fans of the other.
Lamb of God are Death Metal, though generally they're a modern style of Death Metal influenced by aspects of the American Metal scene, specifically Pantera.
Trivium are Thrash Metal, but again a modern variant of it that is influenced by other genres.
Once you start getting into using words like "groovecore" or "djent" and stuff, you just get to the point where almost every band is its own genre.
I have had endless debates with my son over the "micro genres" of metal, where it seems that many bands who sound just like someone else just makes up their own genre hoping to set themselves apart.
While in high school he was the "lead bassist", as he called it, for a Christian metalcore band. Personally, I can't tell the difference between metalcore and several other X-core bands. So then I get a lecture on the way you can differentiate between the genres by things like guitar tone, the type of tuning they use, even the way they dress. Sure, I can tell the difference between black and death metal, but I was kinda there when those genres first began appearing in the 80s.
Or maybe it's just because I'm old, and you kids wouldn't know real music if it popped up and hit you with a Strat. :)
Glad Amon Amarth is on the first page of the thread since they're pretty ridiculous.
Blood Brothers - Crimes (not only a great album but I wrote up a few dark side-quests based on a Mr. Peacock and Scarecrow)
The Black Mages - The Black Mages (prettymuch a standard in most of my games. Every time we'd listen to Force Your Way at least one person would yell out: "Look out, Squall! A T-Rexaur!")
Yes - Relayer (Not really a metal album but it pushes the boundries)
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Lamb of God are Death Metal, though generally they're a modern style of Death Metal influenced by aspects of the American Metal scene, specifically Pantera.
Trivium are Thrash Metal, but again a modern variant of it that is influenced by other genres.
Once you start getting into using words like "groovecore" or "djent" and stuff, you just get to the point where almost every band is its own genre.
LoG is part of that NWOAM (New Wave Of American Heavy Metal) genre. The only reason someone may want to infer Death Metal is because of Blythe's vocals. But this would be the first time I've read anywhere that anyone had suggested they were death metal. But they are definitely inspired by Pantera and essentially picked up the mantle circa 2005.
I will agree that Trivium has thrash metal elements.
(Unfortunately?) I have a bunch of friends where the distinction may be necessary for them to pursue a band further since there are thousands upon thousands to filter through and you have to depend on the knowledge of a well-informed friend to sub-categorize them for you. I have friends that won't listen to death metal or black metal, but if the band is a hybrid of each subgenre, they're willing to check it out. Same with Doom. You say Epic / Traditional to one or Sludge / Crust to another or Funeral / Death to a third, it makes a difference to them.
YMMV.