A Grove of Ashes and Aspens

  • Metal News: Twilight Force Gains New Members

    Now Playing: Long Live the King by Twilight Force So, we have some updates from a favourite band around this blog. Twilight Force departed with bassist Born, guitarist Arendir, and guitarist and founder Lynd a few months ago, and recently released an announcement on who would be replacing them. There are two new guitarists, a…

  • Alienation in Paganism: How Group Pressure can Affect the Individual

    Now Playing: The One We Shall Follow by Elvenking Before y’all get on my ass about this, yes, I know I’ve written about loneliness and alienation in paganism before, but bear with me. The throes of melancholy and pagan solitude have been gripping my soul and I want to talk about it. So overall, there…

  • Wake Up The Wicked: My Thoughts on the New Powerwolf Album

    Now Playing: Kyrie Klitorem by Powerwolf This past Friday (July 26) marked the release of a new Powerwolf album, following the release of 1589 and Sinners of the Seven Seas as singles. The Spotify release of this album includes the release of a live set from New York City, as well as orchestral versions of…

  • Silliness in Metal: Writing Fun Music in a Heavy Genre

    Now Playing: Ask A Silly Question by Elvenking Something I feel is underrated and not discussed enough is the necessity for levity and silliness in metal. Not to be confused with meme or shitpost metal, because that’s an entirely different thing. As metal is often a very serious genre, I generally find that it can…

  • Damna: A Passion that Cannot be Ignored

    Now Playing: Twilight of Magic by Elvenking Damnagoras (aka Davide Moras) has been the singer for Elvenking since their conception, with a brief time away from the band for the recording and release of Wyrd in 2003-2004. (During this time, he was replaced by Kleid, who, while not the perfect fit for a band such…

  • Recent Music Notices: Brothers of Metal Announces a New Album

    Now Playing: Berserkir by Brothers of Metal An announcement that felt like it was coming since last summer has finally dropped. Brothers of Metal are releasing a new album on November 1st, 2024, titled Fimbulvinter. They have three singles released, one of which is confirmed to be on the new album. Heavy Metal Viking is…

  • 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…