Jump to content

Music for WH40K

Dracos

By Dracos
in + AMICUS AEDES +

Recommended Posts

Servant of Dante Venerable Brother

Servant of Dante

Posted
Posted

I really want to like Bolt Thrower, and I do listen to practically nothing but metal, but I only really enjoy melodic vocals so it’s not really my thing. :P

 

I was really into this particular song when I first got into 40k so even if the theming isn’t exactly right I associate it with the God-Emperor of Mankind:

https://youtu.be/X_ZsERw4pWo

 

And personally I think another Judas Priest song works pretty well for the Ministorum:

https://youtu.be/NOGMQ-ySqOY

 

40k’s themes are rather specific (well, at least the ones I focus on) so I don’t know a ton of music that both fits my tastes and works for 40k. There’s always

https://youtu.be/wy-sVTaZRPk

Which is fun, and by the same person who did the song Ficinus linked above

Slave to Darkness Venerable Brother

Slave to Darkness

Posted
Posted

Depends on what I am painting, e.g. if its Chaos I usually listen to DSBM, Doom, Drone... If I am painting Blood Angels I listen to Abba (reminds me of a kid when I started my Blood Angels at the start of 2nd ed and my mum bought a copy of ABBA - Gold and played it to death). Space Wolves and Wardruna go well together, Gregorian Chant whilst painting Templars, Hippy panpipe stuff or Clannad/Enya for Eldar... Something that gives me feels for the faction in question. I dont listen to audio books when painting now, I always end up starting a new army because of one character in the book. 

Haywire Battle-Brother

Haywire

Posted
Posted

Speaking for myself, if I'm painting Warhammer 40K, I go for a playlist of the race-appropriate music from Dawn of War and Dawn of War II.

 

If I was doing Fantasy, I would've gone for the race-appropriate music from the Total War: Warhammer soundtrack.

 

I feel they best capture the tone and atmosphere, myself. Metal, to me, is just too.... angry.... I can never focus with it playing.

Panzer Veteran

Panzer

Posted
Posted

Metal, to me, is just too.... angry.... I can never focus with it playing.

 

Love it when people say something like that. :biggrin.:

'Angry' music doesn't really make it harder to focus or relax or anything else (nor is metal automatically 'angry' btw). It's just that you don't like it. I for example can focus with metal in the background really well and even sleep with it .... because I like it and am used to it. However I find some of the more popular kinds of music really annoying which of course doesn't help with focussing etc. :wink:

Halandaar Venerable Brother

Halandaar

Posted
Posted

Metal, to me, is just too.... angry.... I can never focus with it playing.

 

Allow me to introduce you to Power Metal, which is melodic, catchy and upbeat, with singers who actually sing (not shout/growl), often with orchestral or folky elements, with lyrical content that wouldn't be out of place in a Warhammer book. It is ridiculous in the best possible way.

 

Love it when people say something like that. :biggrin.:

'Angry' music doesn't really make it harder to focus or relax or anything else (nor is metal automatically 'angry' btw). It's just that you don't like it. I for example can focus with metal in the background really well and even sleep with it .... because I like it and am used to it. However I find some of the more popular kinds of music really annoying which of course doesn't help with focussing etc. :wink:

 

So true, I find particular "popular" styles (especially DnB, Dubstep and general electro-type music) extremely obnoxious and in some cases even "angrier" sounding. Even some of the quoted soundtracks have harsh industrial sounding segments to them.

BitsHammer Veteran

BitsHammer

Posted
Posted

Yeah Gloryhammer are great. I've learned about them because it's the sideproject of the Alestorm singer. :biggrin.:

Alestorm is also great. I feel like I need to make a playlist with Bolt Thrower, Iron Maiden, Alestorm and Gloryhammer in it and put it on a random loop.

 

I'd either die from the adrenaline rush or paint 3,000 points in sitting.

Walter Payton Veteran

Walter Payton

Posted
Posted

To possibly move away from the old power-metal and into what music in the 41st millenium is like:-

 

Personally, I've always thought that music produced by 20th-century totalitarian regimes fits pretty well with 40k.  Songs like "Swear to Protect the Fortress of the Revolution", "March of the Soviet Tankists", and "Stuka-Lied" (all NSFW) have the right combination of artlessness and bombast that one would expect from the Imperium.  The Munitorum probably has some miserable slave who spends all day writing propaganda ditties and then giving them to some ancient servitor which composes a tune on the spot, prioritising a preselected set of characteristics to make it seem extra-bombastic.  19th-century music from the age of nationalism like "La Victoire est a nous" or "Kong Christian stod ved højen mast" also fits.  I mean, these lyrics practically scream 40k:

King Christian stood before the lofty mast,  

In mist and smoke; 

His sword was hammering so fast;  

Through Gothic brain and helm it passed;  

Then sank each hostile hulk and mast,  

In mist and smoke;  

Flee, cried they, flee who can!

Who can face Denmark's Christian?

Who can face Denmark's Christian in battle?

 

 

 

Religious music also really evocative and very "40k", for example "Eine Feste Burg ist unser Gott" or "Bogurodzica" are the kind of thing you can imagine being chanted as Space Marines armour up for war or in a Ministorum chapel.  "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is also the kind of thing you can imagine the Ministorum writing:-

 

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat,  

He has sifted out the hearts of men before his judgement seat,  

O be swift my soul to answer Him; be jubilant, my feet,

Our God is marching on!

 

DuskRaider Venerable Brother

DuskRaider

Posted
Posted

I prefer synthwave when I'm painting, in particular Gost and Perturbator. A lot of the time I'll go right to the grandfather of the genre and listen to some John Carpenter as well. That may sound silly, but he's composed some great synth music, in particular the Halloween III soundtrack (a movie I also love).

 

Gost is my favorite. He blends synth with a heavy beat and occult lyrics and imagery. He's heavy enough to frequently be on death metal tours and festivals, which is an accomplishment for an electronic artist IMO.

 

This is probably my favorite album of his:

 

https://youtu.be/M1KNzcSflLE

Knight of the Raven Venerable Brother

Knight of the Raven

Posted
Posted

I'll preface this by saying my only criterion for music during my artworks is that I like it. I can paint World Eaters while listening to anything from the soundtrack of Mass Effect 3, to the French Canadian musical of Notre-Dame de Paris, to the songs from Disney's animated Aladdin trilogy, to the Russian versions of Friendship is Magic ballads where I understand precisely zero words, to an unholy crime against nature mixing all of that*.

So take this post with a grain of salt.



As I listen to this, I can easily picture the forces of the Great Crusade solemnly embarking on their transport ships, then its fleets gathering near the edge of the solar system for their first dive into the wider galaxy to reclaim Mankind's legacy. I feel this music evokes looking up at the sky at night and realizing all of this is finally within your grasp, as well as some mix of optimism and hopefulness. Perhaps even idealism, which would fit the general feeling of the dawning Imperium as they seek to reconquer the stars.



This one speaks more of the later Imperium to me. More and more instruments play together as the music goes on, not unlike its various forces assembling together into a vast army as war calls. I find there's a sense of defiance and, once again, hope when the brass instruments get involved. The latter feels even more prevalent once the Gregorian chanting shifts after that and I can't help but picture Guilliman's return and the Indomitus Crusade in my head.

The climax of several instruments eventually fades away, leaving only the chanting, back to its initial rhythm. Appropriate, I'd say.

I may have been influenced by the context of these pieces of music though: Rome entering the era where leaving Earth has become more than a pipe dream for the first one, and the Eastern Roman Empire as a whole for the second one.

* plz don't make one

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.

  I accept