Greetings,
Firstly, my name is Steve. Kinda stumbled upon the group by 'accident'. Joined Emusic.com and found Dark Empire, then Persuader, Iron Savior's Megatropolis soon followed and then I found Savage Circus. Damn you guys kick butt
.
The first thing I realized is that you guys don't write songs....you write
saga's! Like the bards of eld you guys have all the highs/lows/emotion of things that are bigger than just a song (greatly surpassing Hammerfall/Manowar et al.). The closest comparison I can make for Doom/Death is Queensryche's Mindcrime (IMO of course).
Now of course to the inevitable 'fan suggestion'. Most sagas have been done to death, Lord of the Rings has been song worthy since Zepplin, Dark Tower has been done and so has E. Poe but 'Fantasy' has come along way since then. There is an author by the name of Steven Erikson and a series called the 'Malazan Book of the Fallen' (going on 10 books 600+ pages each, hailed by Glen Cook as a masterpiece, anyway...). Great story but full of things that would make great songs in the right hands.
Specifically the story of the 'Chain of Dogs', a 'rag-tag' army led by a young commander across half a continent escorting 30,000 refuges to safety even though it cost all their lives in the end. There is love, betrayal, heroes, magic, death, rebirth and all the while the promise of hope, all told from various perspectives including a 'historian' along for the march (perfect third person perspective for songwriting...).
Anyway, I've always thought his books are perfect for song material and you guys are definitly the bards for that kind of thing. Books called 'Deadhouse Gates' btw (
http://www.malzanempire.com).
Oh, and just cause no-one asked, fav song (so far), The Ordeal (close with Evil Eyes and that 'broken wings at the end of the rainbow song......', the album hasn't left my CD player in weeks, I deliver pizza every weekend and you guys fill the mp3 player along with Thunderstone, Statovarius, Hibria and Blind Guardian.)
(and I'm Canadian and would love to see you guys tour here)
Best of luck with the next album (lookin forward to new Persuader, Dark Empire and Iron Savior as well).
Deathstalker
(Steve)
