The "Epic" Metal Debate Thread

[Woolie Wool]

For me, "epic" is a feeling of overwhelming hugeness in the music itself, a sort of grandeur that you can just get sucked into in a level beyond just "cool music". Examples:

Dream Theater - Only A Matter of Time
Dream Theater - Learning to Live
Dream Theater - Scarred
Dream Theater - Octavarium (the song)
Iced Earth - Angels' Holocaust
Iced Earth - Travel in Stygian
Iced Earth - Dante's Inferno
Queensryche - Roads to Madness
Judas Priest - Dreamer Deceiver
Judas Priest - Beyond the Realms of Death
Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (the song)
Iron Maiden - Blood Brothers
Iron Maiden - The Longest Day
Symphony X - The Accolade
Symphony X - The Odyssey (the song)
Metallica - To Live is to Die (they actually got a super-long song right with this one)
Savatage - Prelude to Madness/Hall of the Mountain King
Dio - The Last in Line (the song)
Dio - Egypt (The Chains are On)
Fates Warning - Epitaph
Fates Warning - Guardian

 

[mutantllama]

Iced Earth - Angels' Holocaust
Iced Earth - Travel in Stygian
Iced Earth - Dante's Inferno

Fuck yes.

 

[Black Friday]

Fuck yes.

Add Burnt Offerings title track in there and I fucking agree.

 

[Avigrus]

Yes - Burnt Offerings is fucking epic az.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Epic to me mostly has to do with the structure and... Something else that I can't quite define. Length is necessary to me, but an extended instrumental section doesn't make a song epic. Rhapsodic song structures are epic... I don't know, my definition is very unclear. But it certainly has to do with length.

...Yet Amon Amarth somehow gives me a sense of epic without having particularly long songs.

 

[waif]

I don't even need to listen to a full song. I can listen to a melody and say "that's epic." So length and structure I don't think have anything to do with it. It's a musical thing. It would be nice if someone with a good knowledge of music theory could explain.

 

[byrne]

Bathory - A Fine Day to Die
Miasma - Schizophrenia?
Destroyer 666 - Genesis to Genocide

... the first three that sprung to mind.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

46 replies and no mention of Cirith Ungol.

 

[Belligerent]

Good thread Einherjar.
My list could go for days but ill mention a few.

Equilibrium
Turisas
Ensiferum
Agalloch - The Mantle
Immortal - Antarctica
Hypocrisy - S/T (particularly the song Fractured Millennium)
Green Carnation - Light of Day, Day of Darkness
Keep of Kalessin - Armada
Most Amon Amarth's material is epic as fuck
All Emperor

and whoever said "Echoes" by Pink Floyd would be spot on.

 

[wandering_taco]

Ensiferum

My friend found a song of theirs, Treacherous Gods, on a WoW vid and showed it to me, its pretty badass.

 

[Belligerent]

^Your friend would be correct sir.

 

[Darkness Of Christ]

Songs:
Slayer - Raining Blood
Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss
Slayer - South Of Heaven
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
Metallica - One
Metallica - Dyers Eve
Iron Maiden - Paschendale
Behemoth - Conquer All
Behemoth - Slaves Shall Serve
Opeth - The Grand Conjuration
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Opeth - Bleak
Opeth - Deliverance
Opeth - Master's Apprentice
Strapping Young Lad - Love?
Machine Head - Halo
Dark Tranquility - Monochromatic Stains
Into Eternity - Timeless Winter
Katatonia - Evidence
Lamb Of God - Laid To Rest
Megadeth - A Tout Le Monde
Megadeth - Symphony Of Destruction
Megadeth - Hangar 18
Meshuggah - Bleed
Pantera - Walk
Wolfpack Unleashed - Religion Of Control
Bloodbath - Eaten

Albums:
Behemoth - Demigod
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Opeth - Deliverance
Slayer - Reign In Blood
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
Metallica - ...And Justice For All
Bloodbath - Nightmares Made Flesh
Machine Head - The Blackening
Lamb Of God - Ashes Of The Wake
Katatonia - Viva Emptiness (don't know if it's really metal, but it's still epic)

 

[Burkhard]

Fates Warning - Epitaph
Fates Warning - Guardian

Definitely!

Other songs (not mentioned yet) I'd call epic:
Candlemass - "Demon's Gate"
Psychotic Waltz - "Into The Everflow"
Shadow Gallery - "The Queen Of The City Of Ice"
Shadow Gallery - "Ghostship"
The Third And The Mortal - "Oceana"

 

[tagradh]

It's more a select few songs than actual albums for me so..
Keep of Kalessin
Spite Extreme Wing
Forefather
Amon Amarth
Amorphis
Primordial
Mithras
Catamenia
Krohm
Immortal
Emperor
Dimmu Borgir (only stuff from the first 3 albums really)


and in a really gay way Turisas/Equilibrium/Blind Guardian/Demons and Wizards are all pretty epic.

 

[Einherjar86]

Green Carnation - Light of Day, Day of Darkness

I've never listened to or even heard of these guys before. Since you posted this I've been reading about them online. They sound epic as hell, and their upcoming album is going to be a sequel to Light of Day, Day of Darkness. I'm definitely checking them out as soon as I can.

 

[supseudonymous]

People need to differentiate between epic and just catchy imo.

 

[Einherjar86]

^That is a relative point. Epic songs can certainly have a catchy melody, but a simply catchy melody is not necessarily "epic."

I'd definitely say that epic songs usually possess catchy qualities. For instance:

To Holmgard and Beyond by Turisas: catchy as all hell and very epic, in my opinion

However...

Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive) by Dark Tranquillity: catchy as all hell as well, but doesn't possess "epic" qualities

Or would someone else argue otherwise?

 

[waif]

Also some epic songs aren't necessarily all that catchy.

 

[Tennyson]

I think a lot of qualities go into giving a song that epic feel, however they don't need to exist simultaneously. My examples would be:

Wintersun- Death and the Healing: What makes this song so epic for me is when they go immediately into a key change when they transition from the opening guitar riff to the vocals. Key changes are epic! And the fact that they do it with every verse and in each chorus just makes me wanna


Ensiferum- victory songs is great as well. This song progresses and builds with Ensiferum's characteristic folk instrumentals and heavy guitar, has a rockin chorus and a cool bridge part with a Capella Finnish chorus.

I could go on and on, but those two just came to my mind right away.

 

[rms]

where do you live in Buffalo wee lad?