Playlist Filter: Help me find some fight music?

May 5, 2014 11:33 AM

I'm writing a sci-fi novel and I've come to an extended battle scene. Music without lyrics is a MAJOR plus (lyrics can distract me and slow down the writing... but music is good for blocking out noise from outside my study.) Any suggestions? Guitar-oriented hard rock music and VNV Nation-style modern sounds would really help!

And yes, I already use the more rockin' bits of Queen's "Flash Gordon" soundtrack, because why wouldn't I?

posted by scaryblackdeath to Media & Arts (13 answers total)

Explosions in the Sky.

Or there's always Steve Vai.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:57 AM on May 5, 2014

Attack by Joe Satriani.

The album Mind's Eye by Vinnie Moore.

The instrumental version of Sacred Worlds by Blind Guardian.

Hard to find, but a fantastic prog/fusion band called Priam would be perfect, too. Here's one cut, here's another.
posted by jbickers at 12:06 PM on May 5, 2014

Dunno how hard a hard rock you're looking for, but Kowloon Walled City is pretty good combat music.
Also High On Fire, maybe Cobalt.

Uh, Burzum's "Belus" album is good for fight bgm.

Less heavy and less wordsy might be godspeed you! black emperor, Explosions in the Sky as mentioned above, maybe De Facto.

Lots of '90s-era electronic stuff springs to mind, Autechre, Orbital, Juno Reactor, Cinematic Orchestra.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 12:29 PM on May 5, 2014

How would you feel about music with non-English lyrics?
posted by koucha at 1:58 PM on May 5, 2014

Response by poster: Non-English is fine! One of my favorite bands is Delhi 2 Dublin, and more than half of that is in Punjabi.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:33 PM on May 5, 2014

Soundtrack to The Social Network. Very good writing music.
posted by viggorlijah at 2:50 PM on May 5, 2014

300 Violin Orchestra by Jorge Quintero is a really good one (to me, at least).
posted by VioletU at 3:18 PM on May 5, 2014

The Fucking Champs -- Thor is Like Immortal
posted by neroli at 5:05 PM on May 5, 2014

"Shipping up to Boston" by the Dropkick Murphys always makes me want get into a fight.

This should be an instrumental version
posted by VTX at 6:21 PM on May 5, 2014

Daft Punk did some good stuff on the Tron Legacy soundtrack.

I find Apollo440 good for this as well.
posted by Thistledown at 6:54 PM on May 5, 2014

Daturah's Warmachines could work here.
posted by Sonny Jim at 1:23 AM on May 6, 2014

I thought of something else: Andrew W.K.'s "Ready to Die".
posted by Mister Moofoo at 5:19 AM on May 6, 2014

The Pacific Rim soundtrack, with Tom Morello on guitar? Here's the main theme.
posted by sigmagalator at 6:58 PM on May 7, 2014