Australian Twelve Foot Ninja got big in 2021, not just stepping out Revenge, their first new album since 2016, but having also distributed an accompanying comic strip and a novel of nearly 1000 pages, The wyvern and the wolf, which dives head first into the origin story of the fictional being whose name the group bears. So we invited singer Kin Etik to choose his favorite rock and metal songs inspired by books, short stories and other pieces of literature.
Distilling an entire story or even a part of it, as told in its original form through literature, is a complex challenge and one that comes with a certain aura of expectation – if it is. a legendary book, you had better make sure your song is worthy of being mentioned in the same breath!
That’s not a problem when it comes to Kin Etik’s selections, as he has adopted a wide range of adaptations taken from the pages of works by HP Lovecraft, George Orwell, and even psychedelic adventurer Timothy Leary, between others.
Find out which songs caught his attention the most below.
Twelve Foot Ninja’s new album ‘Vengeance’, comic book of the same name and novel ‘The Wyvern and the Wolf’ are all now available and can be purchased here. Follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
An official summary of the novel reads: “Set in a dark and wild world, The Wyvern and The Wolf tells the story of an orphan samurai named Kiyoshi who is adopted by the ruthless leader of a ninja clan. “
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Mastodon, “Iron Defense”
This piece was my first exhibition at Mastodon, and the opus which is Leviathan. It is inspired by the classic novel by Herman Melville Moby dick.
Overture with a crisp drum fill, courtesy of Brann Dailor, it’s a straight belter that sounds like it’s being performed by a bunch of bearded and sea beasts. All aboard!
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Metallica, “The Call of Ktulu”
Continuing on the nautical edge we have Metallica’s epic instrumental tribute to HP Lovecraft Shadows over Innsmouth, which is the story of a malicious underwater civilization, and is part of the ‘Cthulu’ myth.
This Ride the lightning the instrumental sounds born from the sea, drunk with brine, and are as colossal as its abominable inspiration – an oceanic epic that lasts just under nine minutes. Their 1986 song, the megalithic “The Thing That Should Not Be” is also linked to the same myth. Apparently Cliff Burton was a Lovecraft fan. Killer tracks!
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David Bowie, “Big Brother”
This one-track post-glam powder keg was written by Bowie, and intended for a never-produced TV musical based on George Orwell 1984. It was included on the seminal Diamond dogs, which included other pieces written for the unrealized musical. The theme of the album is quite dystopian, so the songs inspired by Orwell’s dark prophecy feel right at home. This is my favorite of these songs.
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The Beatles, “Tomorrow never knows”
This psychedelic madness, which was way ahead of its time, and which looks like a cut album from a Chemical Brothers, was inspired by the book, The Psychedelic Experience: A Handbook Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, by psychonauts Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert and Ralph Metzner.
The book is about a guided experience of psychedelics towards a shamanic, or “Ego Death”. Apparently John Lennon bought the book and went home to take LSD and follow the directions exactly.
There are lyrics in the song, straight from the book. “Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream. ” Good advice.
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The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil”
This classic track was written by Jagger and Richards, and inspired by the book, The Master and the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgkov, which is based on what would happen if the Devil visited the USSR Jagger’s words are a meditation on world atrocities from Satan’s point of view.
On the line, “I screamed, who killed the Kennedys? / When after all, it was you and me.”We are directed towards the realization that the Devil is in everyone. Heavy.
