Elric Rocks!
Melnibonéan music… ?

Blind Guardian

Blind Guardian is a German heavy metal band that almost exclusively use literary fantasy themes for their music. While they’re most well-known for Tolkien-based material – such as 1998’s Silmarillion concept album Nightfall in Middle Earth (1998) – one notable exception crops up in their 1992 release Somewhere Far Beyond…

“Quest for Tanelorn” by Hansi Kürsch, André Olbrich, and Marcus Siepen

By the ruins he stands
And he’s waiting for me
To enter Tanelorn
His paths seems strange
But they’re always planned
Seldom he succeeds
About his own fate

He tries to conquer it
Again and again
But at last he’s almost
A ruined man
Not a king or God
Who’s searching for
A place called Tanelorn
Far beyond your dreams

Refrain:
On our quest for Tanelorn
We lose our way
On our quest for Tanelorn

He’s waiting
He’s waiting for me
He’s waiting
He’s waiting for me

[Spiritus sanctus – vita aeterna]

Darkness falling down on me
Darkness – The eternal battle rises

I know the answers
Although they don’t exist
I’m just a mortal illusion

Refrain

(Solo)

So I’m his companion
Through space and through time
His eternal servant
He’s calling me
So I must leave
To any life
To another world
Far beyond your dreams

To know the truth
Just for a while
He’s longing for a place
Where he can find himself
Deliverance
It could be everywhere
How can he find
He’s waiting for me
And for your Tanelorn

Refrain:
On our quest for Tanelorn
We lose our way
On our quest for Tanelorn
We lose our way
On our quest for Tanelorn
We lose our way
On our quest for Tanelorn
We’re left alone

(Thanks to Raphael Tehan in LA!)

Blue Öyster Cult

Blue Öyster Cult was the thinking man’s heavy metal group of the 1970s. It maintains a close relationship with a series of literary figures (often in the fields of science fiction and horror), including Stephen King, Eric von Lustbader, Patti Smith, and Michael Moorcock.

Moorcock got involved with BÖC when lead vocalist Eric Bloom contacted him with what amounts to a fan letter. Moorcock wrote back, admitting that he was quite a fan of Blue Öyster Cult, and through their correspondence decided to collaborate with Bloom on some songs. Moorcock mailed potential lyrics to Bloom, and those inspired the fan-favorites “The Great Sun Jester” (Mirrors 1979), “Black Blade” (Cultösaurus Erectus 1980), and “Veteran of the Psychic Wars” (Fire of Unknown Origin 1981). In 1987 at the Atlanta, GA, Dragoncon Convention (an sf convention), Bloom and Moorcock took to the stage together and performed “Blade” and “Veteran” backed by a local rock band.

“Black Blade” by Eric Bloom, Michael Moorcock, and John Trivers
©1980 B. O'Cult Songs, Inc.

I have this feeling that my luck is none too good
This sword here at my side don’t act the way it should
Keeps calling me its master, but I feel like its slave
Hauling me faster and faster to an early, early grave
And it howls! It howls like hell!

I’m told it’s my duty to fight against the law
That wizardry’s my trade, and I was born to wade through gore
I just want to be a lover, not a red-eyed screaming ghoul
I wish it’d picked another to be its killing tool

Black Blade, Black Blade
Forged a billion years ago
Black Blade, Black Blade
Killing so its power can grow and grow
Grow! Grow! Grow! Grow! Grow! Grow!

It’s death from the beginning till the end of time
And I’m the cosmic champion and I hold the mystic sign
And the whole world’s dying, and the burden’s mine
And the black sword keeps on killing ’til the end of time

Black Blade, Black Blade
Bringing chaos to the world we know
Black Blade, Black Blade
And it’s using me to kill my friends
Black Blade, Black Blade
Getting stronger so the world will end
Black Blade, Black Blade
Forcing my mind to bend and bend

I am the Black Blade
Forged a million billion years ago
My cosmic soul it goes on for eternity
Carving out destiny
Bringing in the Lords of Chaos
Bringing up the Beasts of Hades
Sucking out the souls of heroes
Laying waste to knights and ladies
My master is my slave
Ha ha ha ha ha ha…
You poor fucking humans

Cirith Ungol

Los Angeles-based metal band Cirith Ungol formed in 1981, taking their name from a tower which played a key role in author J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The band made its debut with the Enigma release Frost and Fire (1981), followed three years later by King of the Dead (1984). After One Foot in Hell (1986) the band spent the next five years out of action, before a change of line-up for their fourth and final LP, Paradise Lost (1991).

Not only do all the band’s studio albums use paintings of Elric by Michael Whelan, but many tracks reflect the mood of Moorcock’s fantasy work. “Nadsokor” and “Chaos Descends” (One Foot In Hell) most clearly display the influence of the Elric stories.

“Nadsokor”

Mighty warrior raise your sword
Against the seething Chaos horde
Sworn to serve but taught to hate
The unseen masters of your fate

Nadsokor

Mighty balance in the sky
Determines who's the next one to die
The Black Sword drinks on the souls that fell
And sucks it with it down to Hell

Nadsokor

Hawkwind

The collaboration between Moorcock and Hawkwind culminated in the 1985 album The Chronicles of the Black Sword, which detailed the story of Elric and the sword Stormbringer. Moorcock did narration on the album and on parts of the tour which followed. The tour featured mime actors playing Elric, Zarozinia, the Chaos gods etc. The Live Chronicles double-album is a recording made on the tour and again features Moorcock narrating the story between the songs based on it.

“Elric [the Enchanter]” by Dave Brock and Alan Davey
©1985 Rock Music

The song he sang was surfaces
Nothing deeper than a child knows
He could sing sand into pearls
So the saying goes

Some said he was a sorcerer
Or a warrior chief
But he was the stealer of souls
The lord of Chaos reaps

And he’s frozen in a time trap
Slowly losing power
And he’s frightened if he makes a move
The dream will soon turn sour

Sprawling in a Ruby Throne
Head cupped in his hands
The lord of dragons, Elric’s thoughts
Were of quests to far off lands

A black sword was at his side
Murmuring in its scabbard cold
Waiting for the moment to arrive
To drink the very essence of soul

He did not know that the sword he’d hold
Would turn his priceless empire into fool’s gold
The truth, the shadow of the sword will hide
’Til it’s too late, a traitor at his side

And as he gazes from his ruby throne
He’s growing restless of the life he’s sown
To get away, embark on a quest
And put his powers of sorcery to the test

The drugs he takes to keep himself awake
lose their effect, he can no longer wait
To find the sword and gain more power
And make his move before the dream turns sour

Chronicle of the Black Sword (1985)

Tracks:

1. Song of the Swords
2. Shade Gate
3. [The] Sea King
4. [The] Pulsing Cavern
5. Elric [the Enchanter]
6. Needle Gun
7. Zarozinia
8. The Demise
9. Sleep of a Thousand Tears
10. Chaos Army
11. Horn of Destiny

Extra tracks on the Flicknife CD re-release (SHARP 033D):

12. Arioch
13. Assault & Battery (live)
14. Sleep of a Thousand Tears (live)

Extra tracks on the 1990s CD re-releases (DOJOCD 72 & GCDHA 0142-2D):

12. The War I Survived (live)
13. Voice Inside My Head (live)

Recorded:

• Tracks 1-11 and “Arioch” at Rockfield Studios, Monmouth – August & September 1985
• “Assault…” and “Sleep…” at Hammersmith Odeon, London – 4 December 1985
• “The War…” and “Voice…” at Hammersmith Odeon, London – 22 April 1988

Musicians:

• Dave Brock – vocals, guitar, keyboards, synthesisers
• Harvey Bainbridge – synthesisers, keyboards, voice of Arioch
• Huw Lloyd Langton – lead guitar, vocals
• Alan Davey – bass guitar, vocals
• Danny Thompson – drums
• Dave Charles – guest percussion

Live Chronicles (1985)

Tracks:

1. Song Of The Swords
2. Dragons And Fables
3. Narration
4. The Sea King
5. Angels Of Death
6. The Shade Gate
7. Rocky Paths
8. Narration
9. The Pulsing Cavern
10. Master Of The Universe
11. Dreaming City
12. Choose Your Masques
13. Fight Sequence
14. Needle Gun
15. Zarozinia
16. Lords Of Chaos
17. The Dark Lords
18. Wizards Of Pan Tang
19. Moonglum
20. Elric The Enchanter
21. Conjuration Of Magnu
22. Magnu
23. Dust Of Time
24. Horn Of Fate

Recorded: Hammersmith Odeon, London – 4 December 1985

Musicians/Performers:

• Dave Brock – vocals, guitar, keyboards, synthesisers
• Harvey Bainbridge – synthesisers, keyboards, voice
• Huw Lloyd Langton – lead guitar, vocals
• Alan Davey – bass guitar, vocals
• Danny Thompson – drums
• Tony Crerar – mime & dance
• Kris Tait – mime & dance, vocals