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Come Read Way Too Much About "Masters of the Multiverse", a CD by Dragony
Prologue
(You can just skip all this and go down to where I start reviewing the tracks if you want. I'm rambling here.)
Ridiculous Scotland-focused power metal band Gloryhammer is coming back at me soon with a new CD, and I'm pretty hype to find out what the third chapter in their ongoing saga is gonna be. I'm so dang hype I actually pre-ordered, and this is the first time I've ever said that about a CD.
(CDs were shiny discs with information and/or music printed on them, kids. Ask your parents.)
As long as I was on Amazon throwing money at the musical-industrial complex, I figured I'd pick up something else to bump up my shipping status to "free" and also because I'm really into goofy power metal lately. By this I mean, I like a band that takes their music seriously but not necessarily themselves seriously. I'm looking for strong, driving music with some lore and thought behind it, not a new religion to follow or a debate class on what "real" metal might be.
With that in mind, I picked up "Masters of the Multiverse", CD number 4 by the Austrian band "Dragony", operating on three lines of thought:
A: I really liked their name. It's very ... dragon-y.
B: They were favorably compared to Gloryhammer in many writeups I googled,
and C: The track list of this CD looked Interesting to me.
By Interesting, I mean... well, let's finally talk about this disc some.
Intro
"Masters of the Multiverse" is a very fandom-focused CD. Six tracks of eleven are directly referencing other media properties, two more MIGHT be doing that, and one is a straight-up cover of an eighties song big in its fandom.
This is not really uncommon in the kinds of metal I listen to. Megadeth's "Five Magics" directly referential to the novel "Master of the Five Magics", Nightwish is constantly namedropping fantasy stories, Blind Guardian have an entire album dedicated to Tolkien and several other songs that weave in and out of genre fiction like "The Dark Tower", and ... heck, actual people I know have gone down this road.
What I'm sayin' here is that the kind of metal I listen to is a big ol' elf nerd festival, but they're talented elf nerds.
So what I'm going to do with this is go track by track, give my thoughts on the song itself, point out what it's referencing and whether you could tell from an outside standing start, and ... that's it, no score. If this interests you, you can find it (on Spotify if you like!) and score it yourself. I'm not gonna stop you.
Track 1: Flame of Tar Valon
Stole of all colors
The head of the order
Channeling wisdom the dark can't defeat
Bright in the night
Burns the Flame of Tar Valon
Watcher of the Seals
Hail the Amyrlin Seat
The Track: You can tell right off this is not gonna be "heavy" metal. Violins and some brass carry us in, and then the drums appear and oh right this -is- metal after all, but with a light bell-like tone to it. Siegfried Samer has a very clear, easy-to-understand voice which is good when the lyrics are the focus on a piece like this.
On the whole, this is a good starting track. It eases the listener in and gets them used to what they're gonna be listening to. I'm really fond of the audible wind-up on the "HERE SHE COMES, HERE SHE COMES" lyrics mid-track.
The Reference: Whoof, welcome back to 1990 everybody. It's Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time", everyone's favorite fantasy series that had a strong-ass start and then dragged on and on and ... I'm sorry, I've been passed a note. This is no longer everyone's favorite fantasy series that does that. Sorry.
Would you notice? You know, I don't think you would. If you didn't know "The White Tower of the Aes Sedai in Tar Velon" was a place in the books you'd probably just think "Ah, they are doing some worldbuilding now." Gonna say this could fly under the radar for most people.
Track 2: If It Bleeds We Can Kill It
If it bleeds we can kill it
It's on tonight
Steel your heart and then fill it
With hunter's pride
In the night
We wait
Come and join our metal crusade
The Track: We plunge right in with a loud "WAAAAAAAAH" to let us know that the late eighties have arrived. They brought synth-y keyboards and a steady thum-thum-thum drumbeat with them. This one's a pure rocker, maybe the first synthwave-metal song I've heard. (Except maybe Gloryhammer's "Universe on Fire".) This song's designed to get you all pumped to grab your weapon of choice and get LOCKED IN BATTLE.
The Reference: Not as blatant as the previous track, but yeah. You know this one: The Predator, Arnie's 1987 film about fighting an unseen alien hunter.
Would you notice?: Aw hell yeah you would. They're counting on it.
Track 3: Grey Wardens
Now the demon rises
From the corridors of night
Punished by the Maker
Inception of the Blight
Only the Wardens
Will rise up to fight
They are the guardians
The bane of the Blight
The Track: Here we go. Heaviest thing on the album so far, with a very oppressive feel to the drums and some, uh... stringy... You know, I'm not much good at describing music? Anyway this has a dark tone to it and that fits the lyrics. Mages fucked up, disturbed the dreaming city where Old Gods sleep, and now a blight of demons has risen to destroy the land.
The Reference: Yep, this is Dragon Age Origins. Man this captures the feel and spirit of that game pretty strongly, in part because it's a direct quote of the lore set to music but also because of that... dark atmosphere I mentioned.
Would you notice? There's a good chance you would. Dragon Age was a big deal, and the Grey Wardens have been directly referenced in both of the sequels if you hadn't played the first. It does give away some spoilers you might be pissed to learn for the first time from a non-game source, though.
Track 4: Defenders
Trembling from the aftershock
Our blood begins to boil
The ticking of the judgment clock
The stench of gas and oil
Raging on like lightning
To the edge of time and space
And at the speed of destiny we race
The Track: We're getting lighter again, with this track about racing spaceships or something all through the universe as fast as possible, and also being defenders of the light and by the way you're awesome because you like heavy metal.
The Reference? I got nothing here, this just sounds like a great time. I wanna race spaceships now.
Would you notice? I didn't.
Track 5: Fallen Star
The gates of the heavens
Are forever closed
And the Prime Evil threatens to rise
And so the story repeats once again
Bathed in sadness and fire and rain
Winds of fortune guide us safe through our fate
Beyond stormy nights and the tempests from afar
Dark the thoughts are in my heart of late
Woe to you who beheld the Fallen Star
The Track: Starts with That Riff, so if you suspected where this was from you're SURE ABOUT IT NOW. This is the slow ballad song, slow and grim and depressed. We're all doomed, we have to try, but this is going to happen again and again and there's no escaping it.
The Reference? When I say it starts with That Riff ... yeah. The next words are "Stay a while and listen." This is Diablo. Specifically, Diablo 3.
Would you notice? If you've never played Diablo or heard of Diablo or seen any memes about Diablo, no. Otherwise, yeah, this is the second-biggest fandom flag on the CD.
Track 6: Angels on Neon Wings
In the shape of things to come
With our visions and memories undone
After Third Impact a new age begins
As we are cleansed from all our sins
And now our eyes all shine in the darkness
In the magic and mystery of night
Winter has come with evangels of madness
And all these shadows will turn into light
The Track: Really heavy strings, then it eases back to an almost "anime opening" lightness and soaring, pop-singer vocals. This has a weird contrast in tone, because the lyrics get dark but the song itself stays bright and hopeful-sounding all the way through.
The Reference?This one's a little weird. There's the obvious Evangelionisms dropped at the start, and then it ... uh...
You would do anything for love
Love wouldn't do anything for you
Like a bat straight out of hell
Into the midnight skies you flew
...*scratch head* ...That sure is a big slice of Meat Loaf. (Or a big sparklesome Jim Steinman drop but the slice pun came to mind first.)
Would you notice? You're gonna notice SOMETHING. This one's weird.
Track 7: Days of High Adventure
At the heart of it all
Are the days of adventure
With their magic and mystery abound
When we all believe our imagination
It's where all of the answers are found
And we dream of the nights
And the days of adventure
When all the old tales and stories were true
Where the dragons fly high
In amber sky
Where all love is true
And never will die
The Track: Look, you drop dragons soaring in a gemstone-colored sky, you already got me in. This is the big Anthem Song, the statement of intent. The one that makes your eyes glisten with tears as you face towards the dawn and clench your fist at the beauty of it all. The one that makes you wanna run out and find a level 4-6 D&D group and roll up an elven spellsword. You know. That song.
The Reference: Your nostalgic fantasy-loving heart.
Will you notice? Unless you are dead inside.
Track 8: Evermore
On a journey through time
We shall follow the sign
In the secrets of Evermore
We are lost in darkness and blind
All eyes on us!
We are the warriors of history
Our minds will set us free
The Track: Did I mention I'm terrible at describing music? I like this track, but damned if I can dissect why. There's some very subtle guitar work waaaay off in the left channel and I can't really make out why it sounds so good. I do notice on this track that they really like to ... sort of ball up the music for the chorus and have EVERYTHING back the vocals, and then dissapate back out to the side channels when the chorus is over.
The Reference: Look, can I really get away with calling this a summary of the plot of 1995 Squaresoft RPG "The Secret of Evermore", a game about traveling between the mentally-generated dark utopias created by four trapped citizens in a science experiment gone wrong? You better believe I can.
Will you notice? ... But even I'm willing to call it a stretch. Who's even played that game?
Track 9: The Iron Price
Claim the shores and claim their lives
There'll be no tomorrow
As the Iron Fleet arrives
In the night that comes again
As the water's rising high
In the cold you're drowning
With the breaking of the waves we come
And your hearts will break with them
The Track: We're getting dark again. This one's a steady slow inexorable march, up and down like the sea.
The Reference: I am told this is a Game of Thrones thing.
Will you notice? I am also told that after the last week or two nobody cares about Game of Thrones anymore.
Track 10: Eternia Eternal
Forged in the fires
And the darkest depths of war
We’re riding out to fight the hordes
Of evil Skeletor
Chosen by the sorceress
Wings of falcon, soaring flight
A prince called to the castle
To join the epic fight
The Track: Big brassy rumbling horns and majestic, "epic sounding" guitar. This is exactly what you think it is: The giant capstone of the album. A gallopy rolling tribute to...
The Reference: ...yep. He-Man. This sold me on the album, if they were willing to write an unironic ode to the glory of punching Skeletor in the face, what ELSE were they capable of? Great things, it happens.
Will you notice? ... I don't know, did you?
Track 11: The Touch
You're at your best
when the going gets rough
You've been put to the test
but it's never enough!
You got the touch!
You got the power!
When all hell's breakin' loose, you'll be right in the eye of the storm!
The Track: A pure-hearted, irony-free cover of that brick of sparkling glittery cheese "The Touch", from the Transformers movie, originally by Mister Stan Bush. The song that gave me such a high tolerance for soaring anthems of triumph and victory. Maybe the reason I'm listening to music like this. When you hear those synth keyboards, you'll understand: Dragony are not doing this out of a sense of irony, but of love and joy.
The Reference: Am I the only one who thought it was "riding the eye of the storm", by the way? Because you've never walked or run, so how do you get around?
Will you notice? You got the heart, you got the motion.
IN SUMMARY
Man I love this CD. Uh...
...
fuck. I'm not cut out for music reviews.
That's all everybody! Bye!
(You can just skip all this and go down to where I start reviewing the tracks if you want. I'm rambling here.)
Ridiculous Scotland-focused power metal band Gloryhammer is coming back at me soon with a new CD, and I'm pretty hype to find out what the third chapter in their ongoing saga is gonna be. I'm so dang hype I actually pre-ordered, and this is the first time I've ever said that about a CD.
(CDs were shiny discs with information and/or music printed on them, kids. Ask your parents.)
As long as I was on Amazon throwing money at the musical-industrial complex, I figured I'd pick up something else to bump up my shipping status to "free" and also because I'm really into goofy power metal lately. By this I mean, I like a band that takes their music seriously but not necessarily themselves seriously. I'm looking for strong, driving music with some lore and thought behind it, not a new religion to follow or a debate class on what "real" metal might be.
With that in mind, I picked up "Masters of the Multiverse", CD number 4 by the Austrian band "Dragony", operating on three lines of thought:
A: I really liked their name. It's very ... dragon-y.
B: They were favorably compared to Gloryhammer in many writeups I googled,
and C: The track list of this CD looked Interesting to me.
By Interesting, I mean... well, let's finally talk about this disc some.
Intro
"Masters of the Multiverse" is a very fandom-focused CD. Six tracks of eleven are directly referencing other media properties, two more MIGHT be doing that, and one is a straight-up cover of an eighties song big in its fandom.
This is not really uncommon in the kinds of metal I listen to. Megadeth's "Five Magics" directly referential to the novel "Master of the Five Magics", Nightwish is constantly namedropping fantasy stories, Blind Guardian have an entire album dedicated to Tolkien and several other songs that weave in and out of genre fiction like "The Dark Tower", and ... heck, actual people I know have gone down this road.
What I'm sayin' here is that the kind of metal I listen to is a big ol' elf nerd festival, but they're talented elf nerds.
So what I'm going to do with this is go track by track, give my thoughts on the song itself, point out what it's referencing and whether you could tell from an outside standing start, and ... that's it, no score. If this interests you, you can find it (on Spotify if you like!) and score it yourself. I'm not gonna stop you.
Track 1: Flame of Tar Valon
Stole of all colors
The head of the order
Channeling wisdom the dark can't defeat
Bright in the night
Burns the Flame of Tar Valon
Watcher of the Seals
Hail the Amyrlin Seat
The Track: You can tell right off this is not gonna be "heavy" metal. Violins and some brass carry us in, and then the drums appear and oh right this -is- metal after all, but with a light bell-like tone to it. Siegfried Samer has a very clear, easy-to-understand voice which is good when the lyrics are the focus on a piece like this.
On the whole, this is a good starting track. It eases the listener in and gets them used to what they're gonna be listening to. I'm really fond of the audible wind-up on the "HERE SHE COMES, HERE SHE COMES" lyrics mid-track.
The Reference: Whoof, welcome back to 1990 everybody. It's Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time", everyone's favorite fantasy series that had a strong-ass start and then dragged on and on and ... I'm sorry, I've been passed a note. This is no longer everyone's favorite fantasy series that does that. Sorry.
Would you notice? You know, I don't think you would. If you didn't know "The White Tower of the Aes Sedai in Tar Velon" was a place in the books you'd probably just think "Ah, they are doing some worldbuilding now." Gonna say this could fly under the radar for most people.
Track 2: If It Bleeds We Can Kill It
If it bleeds we can kill it
It's on tonight
Steel your heart and then fill it
With hunter's pride
In the night
We wait
Come and join our metal crusade
The Track: We plunge right in with a loud "WAAAAAAAAH" to let us know that the late eighties have arrived. They brought synth-y keyboards and a steady thum-thum-thum drumbeat with them. This one's a pure rocker, maybe the first synthwave-metal song I've heard. (Except maybe Gloryhammer's "Universe on Fire".) This song's designed to get you all pumped to grab your weapon of choice and get LOCKED IN BATTLE.
The Reference: Not as blatant as the previous track, but yeah. You know this one: The Predator, Arnie's 1987 film about fighting an unseen alien hunter.
Would you notice?: Aw hell yeah you would. They're counting on it.
Track 3: Grey Wardens
Now the demon rises
From the corridors of night
Punished by the Maker
Inception of the Blight
Only the Wardens
Will rise up to fight
They are the guardians
The bane of the Blight
The Track: Here we go. Heaviest thing on the album so far, with a very oppressive feel to the drums and some, uh... stringy... You know, I'm not much good at describing music? Anyway this has a dark tone to it and that fits the lyrics. Mages fucked up, disturbed the dreaming city where Old Gods sleep, and now a blight of demons has risen to destroy the land.
The Reference: Yep, this is Dragon Age Origins. Man this captures the feel and spirit of that game pretty strongly, in part because it's a direct quote of the lore set to music but also because of that... dark atmosphere I mentioned.
Would you notice? There's a good chance you would. Dragon Age was a big deal, and the Grey Wardens have been directly referenced in both of the sequels if you hadn't played the first. It does give away some spoilers you might be pissed to learn for the first time from a non-game source, though.
Track 4: Defenders
Trembling from the aftershock
Our blood begins to boil
The ticking of the judgment clock
The stench of gas and oil
Raging on like lightning
To the edge of time and space
And at the speed of destiny we race
The Track: We're getting lighter again, with this track about racing spaceships or something all through the universe as fast as possible, and also being defenders of the light and by the way you're awesome because you like heavy metal.
The Reference? I got nothing here, this just sounds like a great time. I wanna race spaceships now.
Would you notice? I didn't.
Track 5: Fallen Star
The gates of the heavens
Are forever closed
And the Prime Evil threatens to rise
And so the story repeats once again
Bathed in sadness and fire and rain
Winds of fortune guide us safe through our fate
Beyond stormy nights and the tempests from afar
Dark the thoughts are in my heart of late
Woe to you who beheld the Fallen Star
The Track: Starts with That Riff, so if you suspected where this was from you're SURE ABOUT IT NOW. This is the slow ballad song, slow and grim and depressed. We're all doomed, we have to try, but this is going to happen again and again and there's no escaping it.
The Reference? When I say it starts with That Riff ... yeah. The next words are "Stay a while and listen." This is Diablo. Specifically, Diablo 3.
Would you notice? If you've never played Diablo or heard of Diablo or seen any memes about Diablo, no. Otherwise, yeah, this is the second-biggest fandom flag on the CD.
Track 6: Angels on Neon Wings
In the shape of things to come
With our visions and memories undone
After Third Impact a new age begins
As we are cleansed from all our sins
And now our eyes all shine in the darkness
In the magic and mystery of night
Winter has come with evangels of madness
And all these shadows will turn into light
The Track: Really heavy strings, then it eases back to an almost "anime opening" lightness and soaring, pop-singer vocals. This has a weird contrast in tone, because the lyrics get dark but the song itself stays bright and hopeful-sounding all the way through.
The Reference?This one's a little weird. There's the obvious Evangelionisms dropped at the start, and then it ... uh...
You would do anything for love
Love wouldn't do anything for you
Like a bat straight out of hell
Into the midnight skies you flew
...*scratch head* ...That sure is a big slice of Meat Loaf. (Or a big sparklesome Jim Steinman drop but the slice pun came to mind first.)
Would you notice? You're gonna notice SOMETHING. This one's weird.
Track 7: Days of High Adventure
At the heart of it all
Are the days of adventure
With their magic and mystery abound
When we all believe our imagination
It's where all of the answers are found
And we dream of the nights
And the days of adventure
When all the old tales and stories were true
Where the dragons fly high
In amber sky
Where all love is true
And never will die
The Track: Look, you drop dragons soaring in a gemstone-colored sky, you already got me in. This is the big Anthem Song, the statement of intent. The one that makes your eyes glisten with tears as you face towards the dawn and clench your fist at the beauty of it all. The one that makes you wanna run out and find a level 4-6 D&D group and roll up an elven spellsword. You know. That song.
The Reference: Your nostalgic fantasy-loving heart.
Will you notice? Unless you are dead inside.
Track 8: Evermore
On a journey through time
We shall follow the sign
In the secrets of Evermore
We are lost in darkness and blind
All eyes on us!
We are the warriors of history
Our minds will set us free
The Track: Did I mention I'm terrible at describing music? I like this track, but damned if I can dissect why. There's some very subtle guitar work waaaay off in the left channel and I can't really make out why it sounds so good. I do notice on this track that they really like to ... sort of ball up the music for the chorus and have EVERYTHING back the vocals, and then dissapate back out to the side channels when the chorus is over.
The Reference: Look, can I really get away with calling this a summary of the plot of 1995 Squaresoft RPG "The Secret of Evermore", a game about traveling between the mentally-generated dark utopias created by four trapped citizens in a science experiment gone wrong? You better believe I can.
Will you notice? ... But even I'm willing to call it a stretch. Who's even played that game?
Track 9: The Iron Price
Claim the shores and claim their lives
There'll be no tomorrow
As the Iron Fleet arrives
In the night that comes again
As the water's rising high
In the cold you're drowning
With the breaking of the waves we come
And your hearts will break with them
The Track: We're getting dark again. This one's a steady slow inexorable march, up and down like the sea.
The Reference: I am told this is a Game of Thrones thing.
Will you notice? I am also told that after the last week or two nobody cares about Game of Thrones anymore.
Track 10: Eternia Eternal
Forged in the fires
And the darkest depths of war
We’re riding out to fight the hordes
Of evil Skeletor
Chosen by the sorceress
Wings of falcon, soaring flight
A prince called to the castle
To join the epic fight
The Track: Big brassy rumbling horns and majestic, "epic sounding" guitar. This is exactly what you think it is: The giant capstone of the album. A gallopy rolling tribute to...
The Reference: ...yep. He-Man. This sold me on the album, if they were willing to write an unironic ode to the glory of punching Skeletor in the face, what ELSE were they capable of? Great things, it happens.
Will you notice? ... I don't know, did you?
Track 11: The Touch
You're at your best
when the going gets rough
You've been put to the test
but it's never enough!
You got the touch!
You got the power!
When all hell's breakin' loose, you'll be right in the eye of the storm!
The Track: A pure-hearted, irony-free cover of that brick of sparkling glittery cheese "The Touch", from the Transformers movie, originally by Mister Stan Bush. The song that gave me such a high tolerance for soaring anthems of triumph and victory. Maybe the reason I'm listening to music like this. When you hear those synth keyboards, you'll understand: Dragony are not doing this out of a sense of irony, but of love and joy.
The Reference: Am I the only one who thought it was "riding the eye of the storm", by the way? Because you've never walked or run, so how do you get around?
Will you notice? You got the heart, you got the motion.
IN SUMMARY
Man I love this CD. Uh...
...
fuck. I'm not cut out for music reviews.
That's all everybody! Bye!