Dead Heretic

I have a confession to make. I had never figured French people to be much into fantasy. I always thought the French were too cultured to bother with the scribblings of two-bit hacks like Tolkien, or even worse, George R.R. Martin. Not only was I wrong, I was spectacularly off the mark with this assumption. Yes, you may call me a donkey's douche now.

Three Wyrms over on Ampwall is a release by the band Chalice of Wyrms. It is an instrumental piece harking back to middle age romances of the type of King Arthur and others. And it is done exceptionally well.

Musically, this is going to transplant you right into the saga of a medieval questing knight out to give a wyvern a bit of a trim. The synths make a tonne of nods to the styles of the middle ages, from lyre-sounding notes, winds and more. Yet, amidst all the trees of middle ages sound peaks out a little modern synth playfulness. It is magical. It is fun and whimsical. Chaucer was never this much fun and Arthur would just shake his too-serious head. Chalice of Wyrms have made something special here.

The eight tracks are arranged into the three heads of the wyrm: fire, castanets, and dance. And it all comes together as a unified whole, telling the tale and reflecting on a wyrm's life. It is the life of the three heads as a community, and one that has the problems of many of our communities.

Chalice of Wyrms does what many on Ampwall are doing. They are writing and producing truly unique visions of what musical art is and doing it with a style that would stun Lancelot into the embarrassed silence of a naked hobo in the foyer of Buckingham Palace.

Get some energy into your life. Wyrms are full of wild whimsy.