Something of Something or Something of the Something

What is it with metal bands and this kind of song title? I just got Iron Fire's Blade of Triumph in the mail today. There are 13 tracks total, and included in those 13 are the following tracks: "Bloodbath of Knights," "Dawn of Victory," "Lord of the Labyrinth," "Legend of the Magic Sword," Blade of Triumph," "Island of Damnation," and "Night of the Demon." WTF?

They're not the only band to do this sort of thing, either, and it's not limited to just power metal bands; this thing is seemingly prevalent throughout all genres of metal except maybe alt metal/nu-metal, etc.

I don't get it.

Sign Of The Southern Cross
Hall Of The Mountain King
Victims of Changes
Phantom Of The Opera
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
Seasons In The Abyss
Circle Of The Tyrants
Procreation Of The Wicked

I'm still waiting for someone to release "Damnedy of the Blood".

Is this worse than "The [x]"?

Manowar's Into Glory Ride has three songs in a row that fit this bill:
Secret of Steel
Gloves of Metal
Gates of Valhalla

And since I mentioned Manowar's Into Glory Ride, I came across this album cover parody of it online:

Required Fields wrote:

Manowar's Into Glory Ride has three songs in a row that fit this bill:
Secret of Steel
Gloves of Metal
Gates of Valhalla

Priest have them beat with Redeemer of Souls with 4 songs in a row:

Redeemer of Souls
Halls of Valhalla
Sword of Damocles
March of the Damned

You're right. I listened to that album just the other day, too.

Good observation, Ken. When I see a title like that I prepare myself for a story song (like Rime of the Ancient Mariner) and some of them are stories (Phantom of the Opera, Victim of Changes). I wanted to respond that it probably all started when band names started being phrases or full sentences like "Job for A Cowboy" or "I Wrestled A Bear Once" or "The Lord Weird Slough Feg." But then I remembered the Animals "House of the Rising Sun" from the sixties, so it's been going on for a while.

BTW, I am listening to House "of" Lords at the moment. Ha

Just picking random bands here since I'm bored. Sorry if some of these have been mentioned.

Metal Church:
Gods of Wrath
Line of Death
Ton of Bricks
Lb. of Cure
Weight of the World
Wings of Tomorrow
Mirror of Lies
Son of the Son
Deeds of a Dead Soul

Maiden:
Number of the Beast
Children of the Damned
Flight of Icarus
Flash of the Blade
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Sea of Madness
Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Chains of Misery
Fear of the Dark

Judas Priest:
Run of the Mill
(Sad Wings of Destiny)
Victim of Changes
Island of Domination
Last Rose of Summer
Beyond the Realms of Death (?)
Monsters of Rock
(Angel of Retribution)
Wheels of Fire
Dawn of Creation
Sands of Time
Half of Redeemer of Souls

Nothing too excessive, but mostly good songs.

What would you prefer - one word song titles? Maybe just numbers?

Lich King wins this contest hands down with this song title:

"Attack of the Wrath of the War of the Death of the Strike of the Sword of the Blood of the Beast"

I always wanted to do an album consisting of song titles like this:

1. The first song on side one
2. The song after the first song on side one
3. The track in the middle of side one
4. The next-to-the-last song on side one
5. The last song on side one

etc.

You guys are amazing ! Great observations ! Fun to ponder - and now awre of.
Ha ha - Eyesore, you really hit the jackpot with that purchase -
being a writer of poetry...I would have to say - that - maybe -
it gives importance "of ".......like various Saints in the Catholic church...
say your first name - "of " - then your town location - instant importance !

You've just got SMASHED! By the attack of the wrath of the war of the death of strike of the sword of the blood OF THE BEAST!

Witchfinder wrote:

What would you prefer - one word song titles?  Maybe just numbers?  

Soft Cell are the kings of the one word title

Youth
Bedsitter
Frustration
Memorabilia
What?
Heat
Monoculture
Desperate

and they even have one called Numbers so they have you covered on all fronts 

I never really gave it much thought but there are tons of them out there. And it just isn't in metal either.

Witchfinder wrote:

What would you prefer - one word song titles?  Maybe just numbers?  

Lich King wins this contest hands down with this song title:

"Attack of the Wrath of the War of the Death of the Strike of the Sword of the Blood of the Beast"

Nope. "(Remix Of The) Attack Of The Wrath Of The War Of The Death Of The Strike Of The Sword Of The Blood Of The Beast" is better. Haha.

Anyway, it's not like I have a real problem with this kind of thing; I just find it odd that it seems to be something metal bands do far more than any other kind of band. Iron Fire, however, went a bit overboard on that album. =)

S.D. wrote:

I always wanted to do an album consisting of song titles like this:

1. The first song on side one
2. The song after the first song on side one
3. The track in the middle of side one
4. The next-to-the-last song on side one
5. The last song on side one

etc.  

You will be alienating your iTunes/Bandcamp/illegal download audience.

ZombieHavoc wrote:

S.D. wrote:

I always wanted to do an album consisting of song titles like this:

1. The first song on side one
2. The song after the first song on side one
3. The track in the middle of side one
4. The next-to-the-last song on side one
5. The last song on side one

etc.  

You will be alienating your iTunes/Bandcamp/illegal download audience.

I still remember this joke writeup back in the Napster days about Metallica's new album being one solid, 80 minute long track to dissuade the downloaders. Shame that wouldn't be much of a deterrent at this point other than for the ADD crowd.

Would make the single edits interesting though:

"We've got a worldwide premier of the hot new single from Metallica's latest: '3:22 to 5:47'!"

S.D. wrote:

I always wanted to do an album consisting of song titles like this:

1. The first song on side one
2. The song after the first song on side one
3. The track in the middle of side one
4. The next-to-the-last song on side one
5. The last song on side one

etc.  

Karma to Burn, a stoner, mostly instrumental band, typically labeled all their songs as numbers. Take the track listing from their album Wild Wonderful Purgatory...

1. "Twenty" - 3:30
2. "Twenty Eight" - 4:22
3. "Thirty" - 3:26
4. "Thirty One" - 5:23
5. "Twenty Nine" - 3:03
6. "Thirty Two" - 5:00
7. "Twenty Five" - 4:40
8. "Twenty Six" - 4:13
9. "One" - 4:05
10. "Three" - 3:57
11. "Seven" - 4:40
12. "Eight" - 4:44

Can you imagine 4 albums worth of numbered tracks? I'm not positive, but I think the only songs that have vocals got an actual title. If it was a number, it was instrumental.

Personally, my favorites are the track titles some improv or "esoteric" groups use that incorporate symbols. The real fun is trying to rip those to your computer and pulling up the damn key mapper in case there's a close match for the pictograms the band in question chose for their song titles...

Hadley wrote:

Required Fields wrote:

Manowar's Into Glory Ride has three songs in a row that fit this bill:
Secret of Steel
Gloves of Metal
Gates of Valhalla

Priest have them beat with Redeemer of Souls with 4 songs in a row:

Redeemer of Souls
Halls of Valhalla
Sword of Damocles
March of the Damned

The upcoming W.A.S.P. album has three songs in a row that fit the bill:
6. Slaves of the New World Order
7. Eyes of My Maker
8. Hero of the World

I know it's not four like the one you posted, but still.

I remember getting Pearl Jam's "Ten" on cassette back in the day and noticing that all the songs had on e word titles. It makes me think of a bands set list where they are so familiar with their stuff they have one word titles.

Actually, two songs have two word titles ("Even Flow" and "Why Go") off of Ten.