u/GurrenSwagann

I went into Kings of the Wyld on the back of reading a lot of Brandon Sanderson and Joe Abercrombie, so in the back of my head I had the expectation of a big, sprawling fantasy adventure with complex characters, thick layers of lore and world building to delve into.

What I got from this book was... Not quite that. Kings of the Wyld wears its inspiration on its sleeve, and it didn't take me too long to get what it was doing. Mercenary groups are referred to as bands with frontmen, they take on gigs and sometimes fall prey to greedy bookers? They're rock stars!

Whether this was just something the author decided to use as a fun theme, or he's a huge fan of rock music and the drama that comes with it is not known to me, but I appreciated it nonetheless. It gave me a chuckle when the band members reacted with such confusion and disdain at the new generation of bands who flaunted themselves caked up in makeup and crazy hair. I was actually surprised by the restraint in not outwardly using more music references in the nomenclature of this world, apart from a character literally being called Sabbatha.

It's light on plot, being a fairly simple rescue story with an antagonist taking the form of an ancient, cursed renegade who has sworn revenge and all the usual trimmings and it casually throws a whole menagerie of fantasy creatures at you left right and center without much weight to it. The band fights centaurs, a harpy, wyverns, a dragon, trolls, etc and it doesn't take long to realize it's just a pretty standard fantasy setting with all the usual faces showing up.

What really made the story shine for me was the characters, humour and moment to moment action. Saga as a band was a really fun cadre of characters who get to shine as badasses just as much as they get into some really unfortunate and embarrassing situations. I won't say too much but my personal favorites were Moog and Matty.

It was very, very funny at times with some very low brow humor that made my simple mind chuckle. The way Matty rejoins the band made me laugh and Moog's antics were a constant source of amusement for me.

The story wrapped up a bit too neatly for my tastes, and certain character resolutions weren't very satisfying. It moved forward at quite a fast pace and certain parts were over a bit too quickly for my tastes, I wouldn't have complained if it were just a bit longer to have more scenes of the band just hanging out to give us some more character development. Why were Moog and Matty so close? Why can't I read more of Clay's horrible childhood? I want to know more of the horrible stuff Ganelon did! I don't think the book suffered too much from not expanding on these aspects that much though, it's just what I was hoping more of.

If you've read this book, what did you think of it? It was quite an easy read, kept me entertained on my holiday.

I wanted to ask for opinions on the Sentinel here because I just fucking love this song. It wasn't the first JP song I heard but it was the first one that really made me go FUCK THIS RULES. I find it difficult to truly put into words what I mean, but I'm sure you can relate when you hear that one song that just really resonates with you and makes you feel things.

Whenever it comes up on my playlist I instantly get a spring in my step and my mood gets better, I feel awesome. The chorus makes the song's protagonist sound like something straight out of a fantasy epic:

*Sworn to avenge

Condemned to hell

Tempt not the blade

ALL FEAR THE SENTINEL!*

Holy fuck! SO COOL

I have no idea who the Sentinel is but I love them. In just a few minutes Priest is able to sell me on this character and makes me want to dive into the lore, design, motivation etc.

Excuse my positive rant over here but I just have to gush over the song because it's so good to me, I'd maybe even call it my favorite song ever.

I think it's wonderful. I'm under no illusion that it's a masterpiece of quality but it's so goofy and fun I can't help but adore it. The way Dio rocks up to the church in that Dnd nerd outfit with his sword, giving harsh stares at the bad guys that don't quite have the desired effect. The way he just sort of awkwardly swings the sword around at the bad guys. The swishy swooshy way he walks down that corridor with the sword. The hooded demon guys, who have cat eyes? The cardboard cutout of Murray that occasionally shows up. It's all so good and I wouldn't change it a bit.

Picked this game up on sale and I've been having a blast playing it locally with my girlfriend. I noticed the game has an online mode so I hopped on to see what it was like. I don't want to generalize or make too much of an assumption, but why does it seem like players are just... Not very good? It feels like nobody blocks, dodges, uses many special moves.

Granted, I have been playing as Thundatross and noticed his block moves are... Really good. Like, I can just hold L1 then hit triangle or square and the other players just die all around me, I have yet to run into a player that actually has a counter to this. I don't feel like I have any skill in winning here but it seems so easy to just rack up kills this way. Is this just an absurdly broken move that has yet to be fixed or am I running into players that just aren't very good?

I'm about a week into my great metal odyssey, my quest to discover cool new stuff in a genre I've never really dabbled in that much. I've been reading up on lots of reccomendations and doing some searching of my own, so I thought I'd share my findings and thoughts here.

First off, there were a few songs of this large umbrella genre that I was already familiar with and really liked. I already liked some Avenged Sevenfold and the old Call of Duty Zombies music by Elena Siegman is baked into my teenage years. I know Galneryus from their amazing HunterxHunter songs and I've of course heard the odd famous song from the ‘main’ bands over the years. You know, those ones.

I'll categorise them by the artist since I find that easier.

Judas Priest - Probably the most ‘mainstream’ of these I've listened to and really clicked with. Rob Halford’s vocals shatter my bones and there's some absolute bangers in their discography. Freewheel Burning, Blood Red Skies and THIS….IS….THE PAINKILLER!! The Sentinel has taken the top spot on this entire list as my favorite one song, it honestly kicks so much arse and makes me feel things I didn't know I could feel.

Gamma Ray- I really enjoy their stuff, very energetic and it makes me want to fly a spaceship at mach speed going ‘hell yeah’ with my alien buddies. My favorite songs I've heard by them are: Razorblade Sigh, Send me a Sign, Razorblade Sigh and Heaven Can Wait. I also really like the version of Send Me a Sign from their later Skeletons and Majestics album which is a bit more chill version with different vibes but I dig it.

Helloween- Fucking awesome stuff. Eagle Fly Free gets my blood pumping, Phantoms of Death is peak demon slaying music. I really enjoy the Dark Ride and 7 Sinners albums in particular, they have a bit of different vibe to the more overtly classic power metal albums before them. Salvation, The Dark Ride, Who is Mr Madman? and The Sage, the Fool and the Sinner are the standout songs from these albums for me. I do have to mention the Chameleon album though. Now I can imagine longtime fans absolutely fucking hating this album because it feels so out of left field and different to their usual stuff but I actually dig some of the songs on it. Crazy Cat is really fun and reminds me of some old Japanese Super Sentai intro and Cut in the Middle feels like some meta commentary on washed up rockers that's still a good song in itself. It seems to me that this album was them just doing what they wanted and having fun with it. Is it metal? Hell no. Do I enjoy some of the songs on it? Hell yeah.

Black Sabbath- Now I'm an adult and I'm not afraid of offending anyone with my own music opinions but I'm aware that I'll probably get poop flung at me for this… I'm not a fan of the Ozzy stuff at all. I obviously respect it for pioneering the genre and having such an impact but I can't stand his singing at all. It's not until Dio joined them that I actually started liking what I was hearing. Not knocking people who like it, I'd definitely say the Ozzy stuff has a more distinct, gloomy style as opposed to the Dio era but it's just not my thing. Neon Knights was a banger, and the Dehumanizer album? Ooooh yes. Eternal Idol has some songs I really like on it too.

Stratovarius- I've only heard a few so far but I really like what I've heard.

Manowar- This is actually the band that sort of kicked this off for me. I heard Dawn of Battle in Brutal Legend years ago and thought it was cool, and it was going back to the song and the band that helped push me down this metal rabbit hole. After listening to more of their stuff, I have to ask… are they a joke or meant to be taken seriously? Their lyrics honestly sound like they were written by rebellious teenagers who think heavy metal is an actual religion to be worshipped and proudly sing about how it's the only real music out there. I know power metal music is inherently cheesy and it's good to have some awareness and embrace it while still playing it straight, but I can't tell with these guys. Also those outfits!?

Rhapsody- I like them, but I have some gripes. My most minor one is that sometimes their accents makes me horribly mishear some of their lyrics. There’s a line in Beyond the Gates of Infinity that I thought went ‘they’ll lick your balls and they drink your vein’ and I had to do a double take. The other one is that after listening to a bunch of them, they feel a bit samey. I suppose that's a me problem for listening to their albums in succession but there's not really much variation from what I've listened to.

Their instrumentals also remind me of old JRPG battle themes, which I don't know is intentional or not but it's great. I love the way their albums take you on a whole adventure! Symphony of Enchanted Lands is an epic fantasy adventure to get a cool sword. Algalord is calling so your hell must wait! 🤘 I think it's cool how they come up with all these names and battles and world building, even if most of it is probably nonsense. Feels like they're actually singing about the likes of Dargor, Shadowlord of the Dark Mountain in a completely straight, non-pisstake way which I respect.

I have tried some other bands too, but wasn't a huge fan. Blind Guardian was recommended to me quite a bit but I couldn't really get on it with it, not a fan of the guy's voice. Mercyful Fate too, the guy sounds like he's about to start crying half the time. He can do the high notes well, though! I don't really like any Megadeth I've heard but Hangar 18 is the closest I've come. Metallica and Maiden, I can't really say because I haven't gotten round to them properly yet but I'm sure I'll find some stuff in there I like.

Based on what I've liked and not liked so far, I think my taste definitely skews towards the more upbeat, hell-yeah-inducing power metal side of things than the slower, heavier moody stuff. Looking forward to hearing more! Happy to take more suggestions based on what I've described I'm into here, and also endure whatever rotten fruit you have to throw my way based on your favorite songs that I didn't like. 😉

I've always been a fan of rock music thanks to the stuff my parents listened to while I was growing up. Queen, Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper, Def Leppard etc. I love that sort of music myself, but metal was something that never really appealed to me. I never really went out of my way to sit down and listen to it but what I did hear just sounded like guys yelling in either high pitched voices or low growls, and it wasn't my thing.

HOWEVER in the years since I did hear metal and metal esque-stuff in the media I was into. Some examples include the Transformers 1986 movie soundtrack, Power Rangers intros (up to SPD at least), Devil May Cry 3 soundtrack and even some Sonic the Hedgehog music. It occurred to me that it was the sort of stuff I absolutely vibe to, so I guess I have my nerdy interests to thank here.

Anyway, recently I decided to actually start going out of my way to listen to some of the classic metal stuff from the 80s onwards to see what I enjoyed. I decided to start with Judas Priest on a whim, and I really liked what I heard. Painkiller was awesome, but I think I may have made a greivous error peaked early by listening to The Sentinel because holy fuck it's one of the best songs I've ever heard. Seriously, I've been walking around just listening to it a lot, banging my head and singing along without even realizing. It's so fucking good and nothing else I've listened to after it has come close to catching the sheer joy that song gives me. I guess that's my current peak and everything else will sound a bit lesser in comparison but that's fine!

I'm looking for recs if anyone has any! Based on the stuff I've listened to so far, I think I have some preferences. I love Judas Priest and Rhapsody too, so I like songs with vocals I can actually understand, nothing too angry. Overly folksy sounding stuff isn't really my jam either but I'm happy to have my mind changed! I like fast stuff that really gets my blood pumping and wouldn't feel out of place either fighting fire breathing mecha zombies or doing 200mph down a road in Need For Speed. Thank you!