Songs of Shyish

[Sception]

Inspired by the perennial "What Are You Listening To" thread in off-topic, what songs, if any, do you associate with Death factions, subfactions, or even particular characters or units in Age of Sigmar? Here's a few I've collected over the editions:

Nagash
* Bear Ghost - Necromancin Dancin
* Les Friction - Dark Matter
* Centaur World soundtrack - The Nowhere King
* Decemberists - the Mariner's Revenge

the last one probably needs a bit of an explanation given that there's nothing especially nautical to Nagash's theming & narrative in AoS, but to me it's a perfect example of the type of prayer Nagash might answer as a deity in the Realms and how he would choose to answer it.


Soulblight Gravelords

Legion of Blood
* Brian David Gilbert - Lay All Your Love On Me, performed by a vampire

Kastelai Dynasty
* Deathklok - Thunderhorse

Neferata, Mortarch of Blood
* Olympos Mons - Cleopatra
* Ludo - Love Me Dead

Mannfred Von Carstein, Mortarch of the Night
* Voltaire - When You're Evil

Lauka Vai, the Mother of Nightmares
* Nicki Minaj - MONSTER (just Nicki's verse)

Ulfenkarn / Radukar the Wolf / The Thirsting Court
* Dschinghis Khan - Moskau


Nighthaunts
* Dark Souls 3 soundtrack - Slave Knight Gael

Grieving Legion
* Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows

Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief
* Garbage - Only Happy When It Rains

Kurdoss Valentian, the Craven King
* Billie Eilish - You Should See Me In a Crown

Awlrach the Drowner
* Boogie Wit Da Hoodie - Drowning


Ossiarch Bonereapers

Mortis Praetoreans
* Deathklok - The Gears

Petrifex Elite
* Queen - We Will Rock You

Crematorians
* Aviators - Let There Be Fire

Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament
* Josh Ritter - Old Black Magic

Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis
* The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

Vokmortian, Master of the Bone-Tithe
* Junior Parker - Taxman


Flesh Eater Courts


edit: all the links broken because I don't know how to stop an obnoxious number of them from becoming embeds otherwise.

 

[Raven Torrid]

I always like threads like these where music can be shared and discussed.

For starters I am going to quote myself from a similar older thread, with fixed links too (btw. Sception, I managed to get rid of embedding by inserting the link and adding a custom text).

Some quite obvious:

Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - Evil Theme
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - Necropolis Theme

Some not so much:

Storm Corrosion - Lock Howl
The whole atmosphere of the song and the ominous clapping just does it for me...can imagine skeletons, zombies and ghouls just dancing and marching to it. Love to listen to it while I convert or paint.

Comus - Diana
The lyrics of the song fit perfectly to a scene of a girl being chased by a vampire in the woods of Sylvania IMO.

Steven Wilson - The Holy Drinker

Opeth - The Throat of Winter
Especially from 4:00, the...I'd call it...Dark Flamenco part.

King Crimson - The Devil's Triangle
The bolero-ish continuous march + super ominous mellotron at 3:45...just perfect.

Modest Mussorgsky - Night On Bald Mountain
Antonin Dvorak - Symphony No.9 - Allegro con fuoco
Goblin - Suspiria Theme
Philip Glass - Koyaanisquatsi
Philip Glass - Pruit Igoe

Looking at the list, I'm still pretty much in agreement with what I posted back then. If I'd try to separate it for different factions, it'd be something like this:

Vampire Counts - a lot of these fit the "Vampire Ball" atmosphere, while others are more lyrically fitting:
Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - Evil Theme
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - Necropolis Theme
Antonin Dvorak - Symphony No.9 - Allegro con fuoco
Comus - Diana
Steven Wilson - The Holy Drinker

Flesh-eater Courts - if there is a lot of chanting, repetitive rhythm and an overall ominous atmosphere, chances are I'll connect it to FEC:
Storm Corrosion - Lock Howl
Opeth - The Throat of Winter
Goblin - Suspiria Theme
Philip Glass - Koyaanisquatsi
I'd also add Dead Can Dance - The Fatal Impact to this category

Ossiarch Bonereapers - Themes filled with grandeur, bold movements, marches, and an overall imperial sound:
King Crimson - The Devil's Triangle
Modest Mussorgsky - Night On Bald Mountain
Philip Glass - Pruit Igoe
Also would like to add Gustav Holst - Mars here. It's only natural, The Devil's Triangle is an adaptation of Mars after all.


Will surely be coming back with more ideas.

 

[Grave Tacticus]

If you haven't experienced the Disciples 3: Reincarnation Undead themes, you're definitely missing out. Linked here for your listening pleasure.

Definitely Allegiance Death music.

 

[The Sun King]

Lauka Vai, the Mother of Nightmares
* Nicki Minaj - MONSTER (just her verse) youtu dot be/Z9gkv2XVXuc

Hahaha this one is spot on Sception!

 

[eatU4myT]

Dance Macabre is always the one that pops into my head. Not only because there is a spell named after it (!), or that it was written as a musical interpretation of a poem about the dead rising from their graves, but also because of how it feels like a representation of a battle unfolding - setting up the terrain, and then suddenly the undead appear, they advance to battle, then huge swirling combats ensue, after which one army retreats from the field, and the remaining few skeletons totter off into the distance... Or maybe that's just me?!

 

[Sception]

I managed to get rid of embedding by inserting the link and adding a custom text).

Ah, yes, of course. Thank you.

 

[Raven Torrid]

A few more additions:

Vampire Counts:
Ghost - Life Eternal
Opeth - Bleak
Megaraptor - Bloody Tears (Castlevania OST Metal Cover)

Nighthaunt - even the game's name fits, unintentionally:
Revenant (VG) Soundtrack - Track 12
Revenant (VG) Soundtrack - Track 13
Revenant (VG) Soundtrack - Track 16

Flesh-eater courts:
Ghost - Ghuleh/Zombie Queen

 

[eatU4myT]

I've been playing Danse Macabre today, and my wife reminded me of the other reason I like it - it's the Jonathan Creek theme tune!

 

[Sception]

Hahaha this one is spot on Sception!

Yeah, some of the songs listed I'm still a bit iffy on, but that one I'm pretty happy with.

...

I try to stick to songs with lyrics that also need to at least kind of sort of fit, if only as a bit of an extra challenge, but for general mood music that fits the tone of Shyish and Death armies throughout the Realms, Souls game OSTs are always a easy go-to for me.

In fact, of those tracks, Slave Knight Gael's track from the Dark Souls 3 DLC, with its tones of tarnished nobility broken under the weight of eternal servitude in the sombre phase 1 build up exploding into a wild cacophony of strings and voices in phases 2 and 3 that make you feel like you're caught up in some apocalyptic supernatural storm, is such a perfect fit for the entire Nighthaunt faction that I'm going to go ahead and add it to my initial post.