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Topic: Concept Albums

Baphomet
To Mega Therion
Member # 615

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posted

I may have made this thread in the past, I'm not sure... but, well, here it is again. This is another one of those "you people suck and this thread won't get much action" threads.

Anyway... a concept album is traditionally an album which tells a story through its songs, often revolving around a single character. For some reason, critics hate them... but I can't get enough of them. I just feel like telling a story in addition to creating music simply adds an entirely new artisitic dimension to the work.

So...

Iced Earth - Night of the Stormrider

This album tells the story of a man who is betrayed by his own religion, and turns away from it in anger. Essentially, the dark forces in the world reach out to this enraged man and use him as their vessel to bring death and destruction to Earth. Through it all, he feels no remorse for his deeds, and upon reaching the end, numbly accepts his fate of eternity in Hell. Tragic, no?

Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

I haven't gotten this album's plot completely figured out yet, but I believe it deals with biblical lore. It tells the story of a "Seventh Son" who is born with powers to heal, powers of clairvoyance, etc., and whose birth marks some sort of prophecy coming true. The forces of Good and Evil try to manipulate his powers throughout his life, and it seems at the end of the story he perishes.

EDIT: I just looked it up, here's what I came up with. Taken from TrueMetal.org:

"According to ancient western myth (of which I've been unable to find a source), the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter or the seventh son of a seventh son possesses heightened occultic abilities. The album is based on the fantasy novel Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card, tells the story of such a child, who from the moment of his birth is subject to manipulation by the forces of good and evil, and must come to terms with his powers and how to use them."

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

This industrial masterpiece explores the "downward spiral" of a character who begins the story with a feeling of invincibility, but through drug abuse and various other tragic happenings, becomes schizophrenic, suicidal, and eventually numb, dead to the world... but not necessarily dead, I haven't quite figured that one out. On the second to last track, "The Downward Spiral", it seems that the character commits suicide ("He couldn't believe how easy it was/He put the gun into his face/Bang"), but the last track, "Hurt", kind of implies that he's still alive, just numb to everything, as I said. However, I could also see the lyrics to "Hurt" describing the character lying dead after he shot himself... bah, I really don't know.

Fear Factory - Obsolete

This album's story is essentially a rip-off of the Terminator series, but it's still damn cool nonetheless. All of Fear Factory's albums chronicle a part in the story of mankind's demise and the "rise of the machines" so to speak, and Obsolete explores mankind's resistance to the rule of these machines. If one had to point out a main character in this story, it would be the character Edgecrusher, who is a powerful warrior and leader in the human resistance.

Yeah... I guess that's it.

[ 03 August 2003, 06:43: Message edited by: Baphomet ]

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SirLardsAlot

Forum Idiot
Member # 715

Rate Member

posted

quote:
Originally posted by Baphomet:

I haven't gotten this album's plot completely figured out yet, but I believe it deals with biblical lore. It tells the story of a "Seventh Son" who is born with powers to heal, powers of clairvoyance, etc., and whose birth marks some sort of prophecy coming true. The forces of Good and Evil try to manipulate his powers throughout his life, and it seems at the end of the story he perishes.

EDIT: I just looked it up, here's what I came up with. Taken from TrueMetal.org:

"According to ancient western myth (of which I've been unable to find a source), the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter or the seventh son of a seventh son possesses heightened occultic abilities. The album is based on the fantasy novel Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card, tells the story of such a child, who from the moment of his birth is subject to manipulation by the forces of good and evil, and must come to terms with his powers and how to use them."

w00t!

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