# heavy instrumetal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2007, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123 "2007-03-01T04:20:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/21 "2007-03-01T16:49:23Z")
Anything by Pelican. They’re a quite good metal group that is entirely instrumental. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/22 "2007-03-01T17:17:48Z")
Just thought of another one: Liquid Tension Experiment. They’re composed primarily of members of Dream Theater but they do all instrumentals. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_O](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Scott\_O](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_O)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/23 "2007-03-01T19:29:39Z")
I haven’t kept up with his recent output, but the guitar wiz Joe Satriani has written some great, great instrumental hard rock over the years. \*Surfing with the Alien \* and [_Flying in a Blue Dream_](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fl5s8qxtbtc4) are the CDs I’m essentially familiar with, but most of his albums have at least a few choice examples. (Check out “One Big Rush” and “Back to Shalla Bal” in the link I provided.) ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/24 "2007-03-01T19:33:26Z")
Great suggestions so far. How about some Rush? There’s _La Via Strangiato_, _YYZ_, large instrumental portions of _By Tor and the Snowdog_ and _2112_, to name a few. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/25 "2007-03-02T02:57:25Z")
At least two **Wishbone Ash** songs would be _great_ for this purpose: **FUBB** (_There’s the Rub_) and **Outward Bound** (_New England_). I also second the **King Crimson** nominations. There’s also **Kansas** ’ \*\*Magnum Opus \*\*- not a pure instrumental, but it has just eight lines of lyrics in the middle of a very long song. ---
**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/26 "2007-03-02T03:11:56Z")
Hmmm. Howzabout Edgar Winter’s **Frankenstein**? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/27 "2007-03-02T03:18:08Z")
“Reoccurring Dreams” by Hüsker Dü. Also, “Metal Machine Music” by Lou Reed. ---
**Author:** ![jweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@jweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jweb)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/28 "2007-03-02T04:03:19Z")
“Just Like You Imagined”, “Complication”, by Nine Inch Nails “Triad” by Tool ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/29 "2007-03-02T04:08:06Z")
I strongly recommend _Musipal_ by Wagon Christ. (That’s the name of both an album and a song, and I’m referring to just the song.) ---
**Author:** ![Improvisor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/50afbb/32.png) [@Improvisor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improvisor)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/30 "2007-03-02T04:11:25Z")
Check out some of the early stuff by [Critters Buggin](http://www.crittersbuggin.com/), especially their first album ‘Guest’. They are a bunch of session musicians around Seattle that do alot of different projects. Their line up is drums, bass, Hammond organ, and tenor saxophone with heavy effect processing (distortion, wah pedals, phaser, etc). I always imagine their early music that if there was a movie about a group of bad-ass hitmen that were demonic monsters, this is the music that would be playing as they walked in slow-motion onto the screen. ---
**Author:** ![H3Knuckles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@H3Knuckles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H3Knuckles)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/31 "2007-03-02T04:12:27Z")
representing the nerdy gamer selection: [The Black Mages](http://na.square-enix.com/uematsu/black_mages/index.html), a group of current and former Square-Enix music dept. employees who perform hard-rock/heavy-metal arrangements of Final Fantasy music from Nobuo Uematsu’s tenure as series composer. Their music’s also available on iTunes. It’s often surprising just how good a lot of it is. Obviously the battle music transitions well (seeing as how it was already meant to have an up-tempo, intense sound), but a lot of other things are pretty impressive. _The Skies Above_, from the album with the same name, may have an odd choice for lead singer (doesn’t really fit the style of the song), but the adaptation of the sombre piano solo _Zanarkand_ from Final Fantasy X as the base for a heavy metal piece is awesome. Also, _Dancing Mad_, the music from the final confrontation in Final Fantasy VI never sounded so good (especially the one part starting about 2/3 in, which is done as a guitar solo). ---
**Author:** ![H3Knuckles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@H3Knuckles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H3Knuckles)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/32 "2007-03-02T04:32:32Z")
Hurrr… my name’s Henry, hurrr note to self: read thread title more closely :smack: Anyway, as for my suggestion, only two songs, the aforementioned _The Skies Above_ and _Otherworld_ have singing. All the others are instrumentals, many are rearrangements of music (originally written more or less for an orchestra) to be played by a 5-piece band (2 guitars, bass, drums, keyboard) in a hard-rock/heavy metal sound. ---
**Author:** ![Poopraham\_Lincoln](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Poopraham\_Lincoln](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poopraham_Lincoln)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/33 "2007-03-02T15:33:18Z")
A few other good current bands: Russian Circles, Mono, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/34 "2007-03-02T15:37:53Z")
Kronos Quartet has some pretty heavy instrumentals, as does Savatage. **Zabali\_Clawbane** recommended Apocalyptica, and I second that one, too. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/35 "2007-03-02T18:17:00Z")
There’s a cellist by the name of Claude Lamothe who kicks ass, although his live performances are more metal than what he has on CD. ---
**Author:** ![Godfrey\_Daniels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Godfrey\_Daniels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godfrey_Daniels)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/36 "2007-03-02T21:05:02Z")
Hellecasters - Escape From Hollywood or Return of the Hellecasters ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/37 "2007-03-03T12:04:14Z")
**John Ellis** (ex-Stranglers, etc.) has a series out called _Gallery Music_. Six cds originally composed for playing in a German art gallery. The mood varies, but a fair amount is quite sombre or dark. _Das Geheimnis Des Golem_ might suit. It’s #2 in the series. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/38 "2007-03-05T02:34:42Z")
Hocus Pocus by Focus, if you don’t count yodelling… [You Tube live version here.](http://youtube.com/watch?v=7SJGDG5GZ2c) ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/39 "2007-03-05T03:44:08Z")
**Bach** : _Heavy Organ At Carnegie Hall_ ---
**Author:** ![gromehown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@gromehown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gromehown)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123/40 "2007-03-10T19:31:51Z")
Fear Factory “Machine Debaser” is probably the heaviest instrumental I’ve come across. One could also consider “Intro to reality” by Anthrax. Arch Enemy “Vox Stellarum” Opeth “Silhouette” Jeff Kollman “Neo 80s mumbo jumbo” is a grippingly intense minute and a half of heavy shred. This was the first song that came to my mind after reading your description/request. I just remembered Sepultura’s “Kamaitachi”, that’s kinda heavy too. And for something a little different, Megadeth’s “Duke Nukem” theme. And why not the theme from Red Alert. Available here: ftp://ftp.westwood.com/pub/redalert/previews/audio/hellmarch.mp3 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-instrumetal/394123.md?page=1)