A Grove of Ashes and Aspens

  • 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,…

  • Pagan Metal: My Deep Love of Elvenking

    Now Playing: Pagan Purity by Elvenking I’m not sure how obvious it is, but I am, in fact, a massive Elvenking fan. Maybe it’s the violin, maybe it’s the fact that they’re pretty Italian elf boys, maybe it’s the folk metal start leading into powerfolk in more recent albums, who knows. Maybe it’s the fact…

  • Classical Music: Universal Language or Tool of Oppression?

    Now Playing: Wonderland by Tungsten So as a classically trained musician living in Canada, I read music in the traditional European (or “Western”) fashion. Basically, I was trained to read music like all those snooty, elitist assholes who act like the big name composers from before 1920 are the best thing to ever happen to…

  • A Year of Metal

    Now Playing: Son of a Wolf by Powerwolf 2023 was a solid year for power metal. New albums from Elvenking, Twilight Force, Bloodbound, and Powerwolf (as well as a live album from Freedom Call), several EPs and singles from Sabaton, Rhapsody of Fire, and DragonForce, with album announcements set for next year from several of…

  • Interests and Composition Style: Should They Overlap?

    Content warning: Mentions of death, mental health, suicide, and war. Now Playing: The Time of Your Life by Elvenking A question that composers who are just starting out sometimes ask, and one that is very worth considering, is the question of how to make music, specifically what music one should make. This is an interesting…