So, this idea just sort of hit me as semi-interesting tonight. I bashed out the below text based on the idea.
Walpurgis
The remnants of mankind, those spared by the War Pigs, are given to insanity, addiction, dreams and hallucination in the bleak aftermath of the Electric Funeral. Survival is marked by Paranoid struggles against the threats of a world consumed by madness; from The Wizard of the Vast Wastes and his Shunned minions; the time-traveling, vengeful god-like, merciless Iron Man; the deranged Fairy-King Jack the Stripper and his goose-stepping, steel-booted armies (those same ruthless murderers of drug-induced nightmares seen before the lunatic cries of "Fairies Wear Boots"); the false hope that is the thought devouring Church of Planet Caravan; the mutated, cannibalistic Tainted of the Hand of Doom; the demented Rat Salad Brood of the Forbidden Depths; the Snowblind Horrors that unravel reality beyond Luke’s Wall; to the pagan, demon-worshipping rites of the fell cultists of the Black Sabbath, this campaign is certainly not in the Land of Oz…or is it?
Still one of my favorite albums ever, Black Sabbath's Paranoid. With it's doom and gloom and social commentary, Geezer Butler's harrowing lyrics seem to mesh together to form a vision of mankind's grim demise. Throw in a couple B sides from singles off Paranoid (The Wizard and Snowblind), include the intros and outros (Jack the Stripper and Luke's Wall), and viola, a dozen distinctive aspects to formulate a campaign around. Oh, and yes, Walpurgis is not the preferred title, but in case you're wondering it's the 'original' War Pigs, linked below. Crazy? Yes. Promising? Maybe. How to make it actually work? That's the fun part.
Walpurgis warns about the disastrous end awaiting devil-worshippers, so no I am not advocating black magic or the dark arts or anything. I just love me some Sabbath.
It was either this, or Rush's 2112, but that's an idea for another Crazy Campaign.
~Sham, Quixotic Referee
Wow, nice post. Still - I think Dio (Rainbow and Sabbath era) was more "D&Dish".
ReplyDeleteI recently heard Rainbow's Temple of the King via a Youtube music video sent to me by a friend. Very curiously interesting. I got a nice old-school Zepplin vibe from it, and I think I'll have to dig a little deeper.
ReplyDeleteAs for Sabbath and Paranoid - I'm not that familiar more out of laziness than disinterest. I guess it's time for me t get cracking and pick up another Metal album...
Great idea fodder!
Ha, great idea! Maybe I'll see if I can come up with something similar. Is that an original album cover for Paranoid? I've never seen that version before.
ReplyDeleteI've heard snatches of Walpurgis before--I recently downloaded a live concert bootleg of Sabbath playing in Paris, 1970. (Highly recommended, if you haven't seen it, BTW.) Ozzie sort of mixes the lyrics to Walpurgis and War Pigs together during the performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtqy4DTHGqg
Thanks for the comments. Kinda off-the-wall idea, but it works in a 'hey wouldn't it be cool if' sorta way.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, David. I actually hadn't heard Walpurgis until I did some wiki surfing while writing this post.
In regard to that cover, it's the sleeve for the Paranoid Single. The more colorful one you and I are familiar with is the standard LP one...which was chosen/designed to fit that LP's original title, War Pigs. The Record Co. felt it was a poor album title choice given the political climate surrounding 'Nam, so they went with Paranoid. Fans often mistakenly think that cover is the 'Iron Man', but it's not. (yeah, most of that was gleaned from the always reliable world of wikipedia lol).
PS: If wiki sources are to be believed, it's odd that the Paranoid Single cover and the LP cover are essentially the same theme, if that LP cover was indeed designed for the song War Pigs...next up, Sham presents a series of posts as he listens to Black Sabbath's Paranoid and comments on the meanings thereof. ;-)
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