Lords of the Trident: The Comedy of Heavy Metal

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Photo via Lords of the Trident - Facebook

Lords of the Trident

Lords of the Trident

What's funny about metal music? 

“Everything is funny about it,” insists Fang VonWrathenstein (though his parents know him as Ty Christian), self-described barbarian vocalist for Madison's mighty power metal warrior, Lords of the Trident, who will be playing the first day of Milwaukee Metalfest on Friday May 17 at The Rave/Eagles Club. 

VonWrathenstein continues, “Metal, in essence, is being ridiculous. It’s taking an amp and adding more gain to it than previously possible. It’s seeing just how fast or aggressive you can play your instrument. It’s taking insane technical and virtuosic prowess on your instrument and turning it into ‘Look how badass and intimidating I am.’ Metal brings that sense of ‘over the top’ to just about every aspect of it, and that’s something that’s worth celebrating!” 

Alongside lead drummer Master Hercule Schlagzeuger, lead guitarists Baron Taurean Helleshaar and Akira Metal as well as Pontifex Mortis leading (of course!) on bass, the Lords’ celebration of metal’s inherent ridiculousness doesn’t sacrifice musicianship for the intentionally comedic elements they bring to an artform whose practitioners and adherents often take so solemnly as to seemingly be unable to crack a smile. 

“I think a lot of fans—and especially bands-—forget how fun that ridiculousness can be, and place metal on this ‘very serious’ pedestal. Manowar is the perfect example of this. How can you look at what they’re doing and not think it’s one of the most overdramatic, silly things in the world? I love it! I love being ‘way too metal’ for its own sake. But diehard fans interpret it in the most serious way possible and can’t see how insanely silly it all is. That misinterpretation is, to me at least, one of the most silly things about it. I think that’s where a lot of the memes of the 'metal guy' stem from,” VonWrathenstein elaborates.  

The quintet’s remakes of everything from Christmas hymnody to Beyonce are worth giving a listen, but in the main, their lyrical concerns center around the kind of fantastical sword and sorcery lore that comprises the nigh novella-length bio on the act's website—and being maximally metal, there’s plenty of humor there and in many of the music videos they’ve shot over the Lords’ 15 years of recording such offerings as Death or Sandwich, Chains On Fire and their conceptual opus, Shadows From the Past. 

“I think we take our music, lyrics, etc., very seriously for the most part,” VonWrathenstein maintains, adding, “The stage banter, merch, branding, etc., though is all fair game for having fun. So many metal bands have fallen into the aesthetic that they’re not allowed to have fun, or poke fun at their own genre. They’re too serious. I, personally, have a lot more fun at shows where the band is clearly enjoying themselves, and I try to bring that energy into everything we do.”

Mad with Power

All the lordly amusement they proffer, including the annual Mad With Power music festival they curate, doesn't come cheap though. VonWrathenstein is, therefore, grateful for the power of crowdfunding and the security of day jobs. 

He explains, “The non-musician areas of the music industry have always been exploitative and have always made it difficult for the ones making the art to actually make a living off of it. The big difference now is that we have avenues like Patreon, i.e., direct-fan-funding, that gives us the ability to fund projects—and in some cases, livelihoods—without the middleman of a label, agent, etc. We’re incredibly fortunate to be the #1 most-funded independent power metal band on Patreon, and it allows us to do a LOT of things that would be otherwise completely unreachable for a regular band.” Everything from touring nations close as Canada and far as Japan to upgrading to in-ear monitors for their battles (what lesser metal bands would call concerts) is abetted by their followers' support. 

With that in mind, it’s fair to say VonWrathenstein speaks for more metal minions than the Lords when he chuckles, “I think most of us will be keeping our day jobs for now, ha ha!” 

As for those musical battles in which they engage, he warns, "We have a local plastic surgeon on call at nearly every show, because most people aren’t fully prepared for the fire, swords, explosions, cannon fuse, confetti and face-melting shred they’re about to experience. We’ve lost many a brave soul who got too close to the barricade without at least a full set of iron plate armor. The upside of a lot of the people in the crowd dying is that the ones left standing are some of the bravest and most stalwart fans you could ever ask for.” 

Fiery Stage Presence

VonWrathenstein isn’t joking about the fire, at least, as flames play prominent roles in some of the Lords’ videos and stage show. “I’ve learned a great secret about using fire on stage,” he confides “Don’t tell anyone. I run by the ‘ask for forgiveness, not permission’ model, as Great White has ruined it for everyone,” he adds regarding the headline-making pyrotechnics accident at a 2003 show. “Knock on wood, we haven’t had any issues in 15-plus years of setting mics and guitars on fire, and I believe it’ll stay that way.”

And though the Lords' Metalfest date will be another battle, it’s still going to be a show. “I’ve always been a huge proponent of putting on a show when you perform,” he insists. “After all, it’s called a ‘show’ not a ‘listen.’”

Here's a taste of the Lords’ Dungeons & Dragons-adjacent visual aesthetic in the gloriously overblown video for “Knights of Dragon’s Deep” from 2015’s Frostburn ...