A Grove of Ashes and Aspens

  • Covers in Metal: Penny Dreadful

    Now Playing: Penny Dreadful by Elvenking It’s not uncommon for bands to cover songs from other artists that have served as inspirations to their sound or songs that fit their lyrical theme, both in metal and in other genres. This can either go really well or really poorly, depending on how a band goes about…

  • Recycling Lyrics and Doing It Well in Metal

    Now Playing: A Cloak of Dusk by Elvenking When writing music, lyrics can get a little tricky. Between balancing the story, the rhythmic quality of the words, and how the words sound together overall, it’s not a task that comes easily to everyone. But there is a trick that some people use to make it…

  • Solitary Practice: Dealing with Loneliness as a Pagan

    Now Playing: The Solitaire by Elvenking Dealing with loneliness as a pagan can get really weird. While one can experience this for other reasons, the loneliness that can come directly from being a pagan is another beast entirely. Now, I’m an introvert, so I enjoy spending time by myself doing my own thing and not…

  • The Inherently Political Nature of Art

    Now Playing: Elvenlegions by Elvenking Throughout history, we can see discussions of political themes within art, ranging from a comedic look at history to playing with gender roles to open criticism of current political leaders to a critical look at social issues affecting the modern human being. Now, whether or not some people want to…

  • Tarot and Rune Readings: Using Common Sense for Divinations and Signs

    Now Playing: Reader of the Runes – Book I by Elvenking So something I (thankfully) don’t see too often is people taking divination tools as super literal tools of what exactly will happen in the future. This can get really messy when questions can refer to specific situations with answers that are very vague or…

  • Superiority in Metal: Recognition, Avoidance, and Overcoming

    Now Playing: Chronicle of a Frozen Era by Elvenking So something that comes up sometimes in metal spaces, especially online, is gatekeeping and a certain air of superiority about the kinds of metal one listens to. I’m not immune to this, I’ve been that uptight bitch about the metal I listen to, though I try…

  • Powerfolk and Other Melody Centric Metal and their Classical (ish) Influences

    Now Playing: Neverending Nights by Elvenking “But wait, there’s melody centric metal? That’s a thing? I thought metal was all just really angry screaming and growling and walls of noise!” I hear you cry. And yes, a lot of metal is just screaming and growling and walls of noise. But there’s a lot more to…

  • Language in Paganism: The Necessity of Learning the Language of an Ancient Religion

    Now Playing: Heathen Divine by Elvenking Words are funny markings (or collections of funny sounds, depending on what part of language you’re looking at) that we’ve collectively decided to mean specific things, and now I have to learn how to speak two separate times to actually have more of a chance of getting a job…

  • Earth Day: Giving Back to Mother Earth in a Digital Society

    Now Playing: White Willow by Elvenking Before it comes up, yes, I’m aware of the irony of a folk metal fan being a pagan and wanting to preserve nature and all that. I know I’m a bit of a walking stereotype, and I’m okay with that. Anyway, given that Earth is basically the only place…

  • Metal (Culture) Is Many Things: A Poem

    Metal (Culture) is Many Things It is the breaths between words. It is a sculpture that each person adds to as they encounter it. It is an incomplete song that grows with each new part. It is a tapestry weaved by the weary hands of many generations. It is a large mosaic of individual lives,…