Dungeons & Dragons will never die. The venerable tabletop roleplaying game has amassed an array of famous fans, from Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello to Fast & Furious star Vin Diesel, and spawned a big budget movie, 2023’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. And then there’s a whole army of avid D12-botherers in the world of rock and metal, running the gamut from lawful-good to chaotic-evil. Looking for something heavy and fantastical to soundtrack your latest campaign? Here are 11 tracks straight out of metal‘s own Monster Manual.
Clutch – 24 Earth Years (1998)
‘Back in 1980, we played AD&D,’ testifies Clutch singer Neil Fallon on this killer outtake from The Elephant Riders sessions, adding, ‘My character was baffling, a druid wizard halfling.’
Morgion – The Serpentine Scrolls/Descent To Arawn (1999)
Stately, lumbering doom-death from Orange County, Morgion took their name and album title Solinari from D&D. Clearly, they were all over it; Arawn is God of the Dead in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.
Nightwish – Wishmaster (2000)
This stirring title track is a nostalgic flight through storytelling legend, gliding us over Middle Earth to the universe of D&D module offshoot Dragonlance, where Silvara and Starbreeze dwell.
Blind Guardian – The Soulforged (2001)
The German power metal kings held an online fan poll to determine the topic for a new song. The winner was Dragonlance, because of course it was.
Probot feat. Jack Black – I Am The Warlock (2004)
JB is an out-and-proud D&D nut, so it’s easy to imagine he’s lording his Warlock class over fellow adventurers on this highlight from Dave Grohl’s labour-of-love Probot LP.
Visigoth – Dungeon Master (2015)
A rollicking trad metal paean to every good D&D DM: “Take a chance, roll the dice, is this hell or paradise? In this land of high adventure carve your fate!”
Soulspell – Dungeons & Dragons (2017)
A trifle on-the-nose, perhaps, but these savvy power metal whizz-kids got Rhapsody frontman Fabio Lione to be Dungeon Master on this grandiloquent love letter to the RPG.
Gygax – Dice Throwers & Rock n’ Rollers (2018)
“Reap the consequences of our Gygaxian pact,” gargles Ewigkeit/ex-In The Woods multi-instrumentalist Mr Fog on this grim slice of D&D-obsessed UK black metal, taken from the LP Balrog & Roll.
Orcrypt – Dice & Damnation (2020)
“Reap the consequences of our Gygaxian pact,” gargles Ewigkeit/ex-In The Woods multi-instrumentalist Mr Fog on this grim slice of D&D-obsessed UK black metal, taken from the LP Balrog & Roll.
Summoning The Lich – Cult Of Ophidian (2021)
Sludgy blackened deathcore from these Missouri obsessives with a cool rep for inter-band gaming, whose debut United In Chaos was a fully-fledged D&D universe concept album.
Red Fang – Endless Sea (2022)
With this roving, enigmatic rumble these Portland stoners hold the metal end up on Spelljams, the strikingly eclectic soundtrack album for current D&D campaign Spelljammer: Adventures In Space.
