7. Bal-Sagoth Bal-Sagoth is a band that is consistently compelled to wield heavy narrations of sweeping fantasy tales to the backdrop of larger-than-life symphonic speed metal. "A Tale from the Deep Woods" from the album Battle Magic takes place in the thick forests of medieval England and tells a story about a rouge warrior who relies on his gods and nature to survive as he journeys many miles from battle to battle. The song title, or better yet song paragraph, "The Dark Liege of Chaos Is Unleashed at the Ensorcelled Shrine of A'Zura-Kai (The Splendour of a Thousand Swords Gleaming Beneath the Blazon of the Hyperborean Empire Part II)," in and of itself guarantees the group a spot on this list, since it is the longest song title in metal -- quite possibly in all of music history.
6. DragonForce DragonForce? Yeah, DragonForce. Before your ears even hear the far-reaching speedy guitar solos and fantasy searing lyrics, the band's name should invoke the urge to soar on the back of a dragon across a European countryside. One of the band's most famous songs, "Through the Fire and Flames," caps Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock as a massive draining epilogue to the plastic shredding video game. Opening the song with the words, "On a cold winter morning/In the time before the light/In flames of death's eternal reign/We ride towards the fight/When the darkness has fallen down/And the times are tough alright," this seven-and-a-half-minute flight through the skies headed toward a setting sun is a mere dew drop in a five-album ocean.
5. Coheed and Cambria The band name was taken from two characters, Coheed and Cambria Kilgannon, from the sci-fi comic The Amory Wars, written by frontman Claudio Sanchez. The band takes storytelling in music to a whole new level, putting people like the Boss and country music to shame with eight-minute epic alt-metal narratives. The album The Afterman: Ascension features an astronomer/scientist/astronaut/geek named Dr. Sirius Amory, who goes on a mission to investigate a cosmic energy source that keeps his universe intact. Not only are the songs stories that need hours of confusing explication far beyond this paragraph to form some semblance of understanding, but the massive album titles like Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness can frustrate writers who struggle to squeeze them into brief album reviews.
