Hiyo!

Here is my attempt to incorporate my love for books with another love of mine- metal. The below books or series are from my read shelf on Goodreads, and more than likely I use the most recently read out of those. Well, goshdarnit, I hope this will be fun!

Note: I am not sorry if you metal isn’t your shot of vodka, but have a go anyway, keep an open mind and you may tell me how horrible it all sounds in the comments!

Note 2: All of the metal genres and sub genres are not mentioned in this post. That would just take forever, and I’m just after a quick fix.

Why I love metal? It just works for my ears. The lyrics are fantastic (even though sometimes you can’t make out what they’re saying ’cause “rawrarwrarrw”). I love the drums, I love the guitar solos, I love the raw freaking power in this music. I grew up being a total pussy, a weak, walked-over naive girl. Metal gave me strength and I was able to go anywhere at all as long as I had the tunes with me.

My going to the dentist song would be Socio by Stone Sour.

My “life is shit, but I can do it” song would be End of The Line by DevilDriver

and so on, and so on… back to books!!!

In no particular order what-so-ever, let’s go!

Traditional Heavy Metal

The book: The Great Iron War series by Dean F Wilson

The band: Led Zeppelin- Communication Breakdown

The steampunk series of The Great Iron War made me think of Led Zeppelin. Both the book and music have this complexity yet a certain airiness about them. The music sounds as strategic as the book is. I can just imagine the Hopebreaker, Lifemaker and Skyshaker getting ready for a stand-off to the tune of Led Zeppelin. Chaos and mayhem hand in hand with orderliness.

Rock

The book: Frank Friendship series by RG Manse

The band: Muse- The Handler

Yes, I just totally put rock among metal. I have a good reason for this- it took me longest to decide which metal category Frank Friendship series fits. Then I realized, because FF series is so out of the box, I needed to categorize the books into a different genre of music. I chose Muse because they are definitely unique. Progressive rock and space rock would be some of the terms used to box their music. The series feels to me like the new Muse album Drones.

Both Muse and Frank Friendship get me worked up, and then there’s a drastic change as to where things are going. I can’t sit down listening to Drones, nor can I sit down reading FF series. It’s kind of like getting zapped by the feels and I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Makes me feel alive!

Funnily enough, after re-reading Screw Friendship I knew exact song for it: Undisclosed Desires – the various aspects, the different layers to the story in both the song and the book.

Medieval Metal

The book: The Good Knight by Sarah Woodbury

The band: In Extremo- Küss Mich

In Extremo seemed to be the proper choice for The Good Knight. Specially Küss Mich. The medieval metal tune suits the book like a fist to an eye and the song represents Gareth and Gwen pining after each other. The rough edges of the music resemble the books murder mystery. Because the book confused me slightly at times, the German lyrics by In Extremo tick that box as well! The band is known to put on a good stage presence with proper clothing and  fire-props.

Power Metal

The book: Seven Days of Friday by Alex A. king

The band: Sonata Arctica- Kingdom for a Heart

Drama, heart ache and matters of the soul ties those two together. The song will more than likely give you a whiplash, but that’s exactly what Seven Days of Friday did to me. It was just overpowering, seemingly non-stop and stormy! While reading the book I was constantly in agony- will the drama drive me insane as well? Just like I won’t be able to read the next instalment in the series any time soon, I wouldn’t listen to Sonata Arctica all day-every day. It’s called power metal for a reason- it can become suffocating!

Dark Metal

The book: Honest by Ava Bloomfield

The band: TOOL- Forty Six & 2

Oh gosh, it’s been a while since I read Honest, but what I can certainly remember was the psychological angst I felt while reading it. It was just… It all felt so real, in a totally spooky way. In that same way Tool is a wicked band to listen and get lost in. For me personally, Tool is the chilling out music- you know,  you kick your feet up, switch off your brain and let the tune take you into places in your head you normally wouldn’t visit.

Goth Metal

The book: Twin Souls series by DelSheree Gladden

The band: HIM – For You

I absolutely love-love-love the song lyrics by HIM. In fact, I love everything about HIM. Yeah, they’re a bit sappy but they’re sappy with a morbid twist. Sure, they invented love-metal but again, it’s with a morbid twist. Not to mention, Ville Valo’s voice makes me weak in the knees. Pff!

Twin Souls series was great. Knowing my love-hate relationship with any books that deal with mushy-feely relationships and grown up action, Twin Souls read just right and innocent enough. A soulmate story entwined with Native American legends? Sold! Dramatic, painful, yet beautiful!

Folk Metal

The book: After Life by Daniel Ionson

The band: Ensiferum- Lai Lai Hei

Swords, deep dark forests, comradery and mysterious environment. After Life made me cry at the end, because after the long, hard, mysterious journey the characters were on, I got so attached that the ending came as a surprise and I was really devastated. Ensiferum suits the book due to the style.

To finish off:

Pornogrind (yes, it’s actually a genre!)

The book: [insert any erotic romance here]

The band: Erm… I really don’t want to go OTT here, so if you actually have interest in the bands in this genre then Google will help you. A musical subgenre of grindcore and death metal, which lyrically deals with sexual themes. Band names and song titles are quite bold and definitely something you wouldn’t want to  cry out on a public street. Not to mention, some of them quite offensive. And, no, I am not a big fan of grindcore or the sub-genre. ’nuff said!