Although I usually do not favor "The Headbanging Stuff" as background music while I am DMing as I usually find it a headache-inducing distraction, High On Fire, especially the "Blessed Black Wings" album, has been in heavy rotation for battle music for years.
When the party is wandering through a primeval jungle and stumbles into a Tyrannosaur AND a gigantic scorpion, both of whom attack the party seeking all the meat for themselves, High On Fire is the perfect soundtrack to fighting these giant monsters with swords. Gritty, metal, and lacking all Hammerfall/Blind Guardian "life metal weakness..."
Another album that I've been using as D&D music for the entirety of my "adult DMing career," is by a band that featured High On Fire's frontman Matt Pike. Sleep's "Jerusalem" is a single-song slab of metal-dub that's almost an hour long. Music for wandering the smokey blasted wastelands of an alien world.
When my D&D-playing ex proclaimed "What is this music? It sucks!" I know the relationship was doomed...
Yeah, that ex has got to go.
ReplyDeleteI usually go full-metal all session long. I assumed everybody did until I started reading gameblogs.
Fortunately I traded up for a lovely lady with who owns Jerusalem on LP.
ReplyDeleteAlthough my favorite music is bestial black metal/d-beat/crust/grindcore/power violence, I have a history of metal giving me a headache while I'm DMing.
What I've found problematic about metal, especially when it's more technical or histrionic, is that it really demands your attention which can be frustrating when you're trying to concentrate. Certain vocal styles can have the same effect on me as well.
I've bee getting things heavier lately, but I try to avoid "busier" music and keep things in a Celtic Frost/High on Fire/Sarcofago/Bone Awl/Coffins caveman metal vein.
However, Kylesa are the worst music for gaming I've ever experienced.