Gustav Holst was most famous for his orchestral suite, The Planets. Why is this relevant to metal?
Well if you listen to the first movement of the suite, Mars Bringer of War, you will hear a very familiar sound.
Where have you heard that in metal? Let's look at all the metal bands that have used that riff or a variation of it....
Diamond Head- Am I Evil?
Judas Priest- War
Symphony X- The Divine Wings of Tragedy
Savatage- The Prelude to Madness
Overkill- Who Tends the Fire
Nile- Ramses Bringer of War
Mars Bringer of War wasn't the only part to be used in metal. Bathory used the melody from Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity.
Other bands that have paid tribute to Mars.... King Crimson's The Devil's Triangle and Rush's Jacobs Ladder. I believe some bands like Led Zeppelin have paid tribute to Holst in live performances as well. There are probably other bands who have used a variation of Holst's epic sound.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
King Crimson went beyond just doing a "tribute" to it by actually playing a version of Mars: The Bringer of War at some concerts. Each show on the Epitaph live set ends with it.
ReplyDelete