I used "epic" and "intense" for lack of better words.
I'm looking for "epic" and/or "INTENSE" (mostly metal and its subgenres) music - thus, this is mostly a music request thread(This is now primarily a thread in which I share amazing pieces and songs.) (If you feel still like suggesting something though, feel free to do so.) I have descriptions of both categories and examples. There are sub-categories for each, like slow epic, fast epic, and super epic. And for INTENSE: well, it's mostly grim-dark INTENSE.
Instrumentation is a matter worthy of discussion - 90% of the time, I fucking hate anything techno. For "intense" metal music, equalization/production and distortion is an important aspect - I tend to favour the "heavier" sounding piece, or the kind that feels like it's shaving years off your life (with a grindstone or axe - not a razor).
If I can't get any recommendations, at least tell me what you think of this or that.
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"Epic:" primarily constitutes music that is fast-paced, has a relatively fast startup (or epic phrases within it to make up for the slow start), gives a strong feeling of beat, invokes strong emotions, gets the blood running, and gives the feeling of "epic adventure/battle/anything."
slow, church epic (the opening is incredible; however, it loses its power as it progresses, which is generally detracts from the overall epic) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsPlWGV4g9c
balanced epic (IMO, slow-down at 2:20 kinda ruined it. However, it does have strong associations with epic for its beginning and end.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejyBcX_gUNQ
"INTENSE:" like the above, but doesn't invoke a feeling of "epicness" so much as generally gets the blood flowing and invokes strong emotions. The music "hits" hard, having a very strong/driving tempo. Mostly metal.
slow start, epic intense (Even with the slow start, you can TELL something is about to smack you in the face at four million spiked axes of despair per Planck second) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPUeU4ZZw8w
intense intense (epitomized - maybe points off for a bit of silliness around 2:00, but that's to be expected considering the original version of the piece. I ultimately have nothing against it.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_vtVahCYRk
I haven't been able to go through all of them, but some of them were pretty good. I generally like music that focus on melodies rather than have a relatively repeatitive background harmony + a lot of bass. For example: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/306544
That one is neither epic nor intense, but it sounds acceptable anyway.
Still, it's not what I'm looking. The other track you showed was closer to what I had in mind.
More examples below.
epic/intense http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLI3fSgccZU - Sephiroth's theme from Advent Children. It has an epic main theme, but the guitars after halfway don't mix particularly.
slow, doom, church-ish epic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7wJ8pE2qKU - For comparison, Sephiroth's theme again but from FF7 now. Honestly, it's better than the above, more modern version. If anything, if the original files and notes and such were simply re-rendered with a more modern synthesizer or similar, it would be pretty much perfect.
EDIT:
scorpions was okay
Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Mar 12 2011, 12:07 am by Sand Wraith.
If you can get past the japanese lyrics, touhou and shitty as hell first 15 seconds, "messiah" is an awesome song. You might like crazy xenomorph (5/8 x3 + 6/8 melody with a 4/4 beat and a 4/4 refrain) or dance of pundarika (2:55 is pretty nice) by demetori (I like all their music) if you liked messiah/touhoushit. I was going to suggest floxytech/evil activities/nitrogenetics, but I think they're all in the techno category. All that shit is noise to me. nightwish probably isn't epic or intense enough, but hopefully everyone knows about ghost love score. Manzoni Requiem is a really fucking fun song to play, but unfortunately, it probably isn't your kind of epic. IDK how I forgot about emerald sword kalafina - magia, if you don't mind japanese lyrics or connection to a mahou shoujo anime.
Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Mar 12 2011, 8:04 am by rockz.
"Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Chairman - do we have to call the Gentleman a gentleman if he's not one?"
Alright, I'm still a wee unclear on what you want exactly, so I'll just go with the shotgun approach:
I find this song nice and steadily dramatic throughout.
Not exactly the song I imagine in a battle with Satan, but it kicks it up towards the end (~4:50) pretty well.
Oh, and spoiler alert.
One of my personal favorites. It might not be what you're looking for, but you can go choke on a dick if you don't like it.
Soul Calibur has lots of good epic tracks... maybe not what you're looking for exactly either, though. This is just one that comes off the top of my mind.
I suppose if I were fighting off being raped by tentacle monsters, this is the song that would be going through my mind...
It's sex in song form.
Yuki Kajiura' music is so thoroughly epic I just couldn't resist at least one.
That's all for now. This reminds me I need to start sorting my shit better.
Post has been edited 11 time(s), last time on Mar 12 2011, 5:54 pm by Tuxedo-Templar.
Queensr˙che have a number of very epic metal songs.
Unfortunately I can't find the best versions of some of them on Youtube. Things that make the songs epic: Iron Maiden/Dream Theater style vocals. Anti-Society message. A tendency to build up to a frenzy.
Also, lol. I can't believe EMI bleeped "fuck" in that second song. At least it only happens once.
If you can get past the japanese lyrics, touhou and shitty as hell first 15 seconds, "messiah" is an awesome song. Didn't really like it. Opening was pretty bad as you've mentioned, but the middle didn't really make up for it, IMO.
You might like crazy xenomorph (5/8 x3 + 6/8 melody with a 4/4 beat and a 4/4 refrain) Holy shit, beginning sounds like a remix of something by Meshuggah. Can't name the exact track, but it's definitely Meshuggah here. Nue's theme is awesome, too. Although, it doesn't have seem to have the same weird discordant harmony that is more present in Meshuggah songs. Oh well. p gud. Anyway, this is definitely, without a doubt, a remix of something by Meshuggah. Just can't name the damn song. >_<
or dance of pundarika (2:55 is pretty nice) by demetori (I like all their music) if you liked messiah/touhoushit. This is pretty cool. But it's not what I'm looking for. This song isn't an absolutely brain-obliterating, massive overdose of extreme intensity capable of melting lead or epic enough to render all to nothing. Oh, also, more Meshuggah around the middle.
I was going to suggest floxytech/evil activities/nitrogenetics, but I think they're all in the techno category. All that shit is noise to me. I generally summarize techno as "lol i can write 256th notes so i will put it everywhere." Also, techno doesn't really compare to human played music - at least, I've yet to find worthwhile techno.
nightwish probably isn't epic or intense enough, but hopefully everyone knows about ghost love score. Manzoni Requiem is a really fucking fun song to play, but unfortunately, it probably isn't your kind of epic. It's not quite, but it runs very close to what I'm looking for. Given a slight rework, it could be pretty epic.
IDK how I forgot about emerald sword If I found this a few years ago, I would have certainly loved it. Now, to me, it's just "oh, cool, I remember when I loved that kind of stuff." herpesdurpes
kalafina - magia, if you don't mind japanese lyrics or connection to a mahou shoujo anime. Considering that for a lot of the songs I have I can rarely ever understand the singer except for rare snippets (or I misunderstand), I don't really mind foreign languages. For isntance, this song is pretty cool, but it's not incredible-epic. Pretty epic overall, but not quite the Sun-melting universe-ending sort of epic I'm looking for. 2:50 sounds really cool.
p cool. Not what I'm looking for though. lul Just saying, Imperial March is actually pretty epic. I'd put in under "slow, doom epic." u rly b trollin be dawg lulz
jk, I'm still looking. Just a bit slowly at the moment.
Quote from name:Tuxedo-Templar
Alright, I'm still a wee unclear on what you want exactly, so I'll just go with the shotgun approach:
I find this song nice and steadily dramatic throughout. Pretty cool. It's an ambient epic, I'd say, like the Old King Allant track I posted.
Not exactly the song I imagine in a battle with Satan, but it kicks it up towards the end (~4:50) pretty well. Pretty cool. Maybe another ambient epic.
Oh, and spoiler alert.
One of my personal favorites. It might not be what you're looking for, but you can go choke on a dick if you don't like it. Another ambient epic.
Soul Calibur has lots of good epic tracks... maybe not what you're looking for exactly either, though. This is just one that comes off the top of my mind. Lots of what you've found so far is ambient epic, but none of which are really what I'm looking for.
I suppose if I were fighting off being raped by tentacle monsters, this is the song that would be going through my mind... Nope.
Nope.
It's sex in song form. Pretty awesome. But it could be even more epic.
Yuki Kajiura' music is so thoroughly epic I just couldn't resist at least one. Nope. It's okay. But, nope.
That's all for now. This reminds me I need to start sorting my shit better.
Queensr˙che have a number of very epic metal songs.
Unfortunately I can't find the best versions of some of them on Youtube. Things that make the songs epic: Iron Maiden/Dream Theater style vocals. Anti-Society message. A tendency to build up to a frenzy.
Nopenopenope. Nopenopenope.
Also, lol. I can't believe EMI bleeped "fuck" in that second song. At least it only happens once.
The problem is that none of these songs carry the dismal, decadence, the hate and the anguish, nor the evil, or the despair, or the hate or wrath, or the raw force of power behind the example songs I've listed.
I'm gonna go through a few of the examples I've previously posted, maybe add a few, to illustrate what I mean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOd2LSHs5Ek - Force of power. It doesn't need the singer to actually even say any coherent words; if he was speaking nonsense but kept the pitches and beats, you could still tell that the damn song is talking about something that *will* crush you. It's a honey badger, it ain't givin' a shit over what you want.
I take a moment to say this: most of which that has been posted is good. I mean, it's good music. Some of it is catchy, or is fitting for what it was used for, but for the most part, carries no absolute, unstoppable force that can tear apart worlds and swallow galaxies. This is what I mean by epic; those songs I've presented within the "epic" category produces a feeling of a terrible vastness, something like the nature of Cthulu.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFom-4Lnj9E - Both intense and epic. Right from the beginning, you can tell it's evil. In this song, the lyrics are indispensable - "all of nature's songs go mute" - the imagery produced through the music, lyrics, and even distortion and growling style of vocals is something unstoppable, apocalyptic. Inevitable destruction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVQr6Bla9_4 - Weak Aside, by Bloodbath. Lyrical opening around 0:50 -> "to ashes burn the pastures." It's not just the meaning behind the phrase itself (I cannot comprehend the previous line. Nevertheless, it is good because of the next factor I will explain), but the accents and syllables that make up the phrase too. It all comes together to be just "awesome, epic, intense." The song goes on to be awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43YGAzRR3Dw - Overall, amazing song, even if it is a bit simplistic. Epic and intense - echo effects, subject of the lyrics, double bass - it all works. Even though some people (farty) say double bassing through an entire song, Hell Destroyer simply wouldn't be itself if there *wasn't* the constant double bass to keep the song moving. This song also has similar aspects to the point I made above. Around 2:34 -> "By the fire of my wings, I'll melt you all to cinders". The enunciation doesn't really make sense (melt something to cinders????), but the pronunciation is what makes it fit. If "burn" was used instead (as it was in Weak Aside, above), the feel of the song would be reduced.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc98u-eGzlc - You take the above songs, which are ultimately relatively simple, and then you compare it to Bleed by Meshuggah (or, really, anything by them) - huge difference. This song carries force of power, is "intense", presents terrible terrible vastness. I can't understand the singer for shit - that doesn't matter, because the feeling carried by the pronunciation is enough. Overall, this song is decay, despair, mind-fuck, frustratingly fruitless struggle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuoDQKtiiJA - More Meshuggah. For the record, I know next to nothing about music. When people say that their songs are "so complex" or have ridiculous beat structures at the beginning (and proceed to describe it with actual music notation), I generally have little to no idea what it is actually supposed to mean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPUeU4ZZw8w - Honestly, when I first heard this song, my first impression was that it was going to be a boring, slow song. I sat through it, loved it. Near 2:30, what I would call the main theme. Damn, the entire song is just buildup for the 5:10 solo, and it's wicked.
Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Mar 12 2011, 10:48 pm by Sand Wraith.
Although that doesn't fit your description either. Your definitions of "powerful" and "epic" are very different to mine. I suppose this is why they say that music is a matter of taste.
