I am going to link the YouTube versions of these songs for easy access, with a Spotify link for higher quality listening.
The songs listed below are in no particular order. Each is accompanied with a short blurb explaining when I fell in love with the song and why it is included among my favorites. Happy listening!
Cemetery Gates - Pantera 7:07
This is the most recent entry to my Favorites list! And the only one that is driven entirely by the copious consumption of LSD. That's right, this one is on here because while in the throes of an exceptionally potent acid trip, Cemetery Gates was recommended by Spotify. I grew up around Pantera, being a Louisiana boy, so I recognized the song immediately - but the entire feel of the song changed under the influence. What was previously a 7 minute genre-mixing mash became a night-long, unending adventure; a single play of the song stretched into eternity, and the raw energy the song picked up and dropped as it shifted courses felt like a journey in itself. Listening to it sober recalls the same feel of adventure, almost elevating the song above what it would have been had I never experienced it like this. Regardless, there's just some really solid hecking (you're welcome
@Menhera) metal.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4vJr55lngvhSM8WIh9CjQc?si=6bY_d_LSRcaQ73ZozyLXSA
Warriors - Freedom Call 4:18
I fell in love with Warriors in 2002, when the Eternity album first released. The song speaks to me in a number of ways, but it ticks off three primary boxes: it has a positive message, it has awesome guitar work, and it conjures up some seriously epic imagery. I often find myself thinking of the Knights Radiant as I listen to Warriors, and it has become a mainstay for car trips, showers, and introductions to metal for any of my friends. The sequence that starts at around 2:33 is particularly radical. Just pump that ish (again, you're welcome
@Menhera) straight into my hecking veins.
https://open.spotify.com/track/2qHGZZVzYzGn6NZjlAZQL6?si=8SyGJTcTS-mXz3yeUL3K6A
Birthday - Katy Perry 3:35
Now we veer to what appeals to the inner Sargun. First of all, just imagine Katy Perry naked. That's basically what a solid half of the song is implying; and if that doesn't make this one of your top 10 songs, we need to have a talk. Jokes aside, this song ticks off two of the same boxes that Warriors does - it's got a positive message and conjures up some great imagery. To be clear, the song is explicitly about a woman "stopping by" to "party all night" with a friend who is feeling down; the implicit message, that they're going to drink and frick (once more, you're welcome
@Menhera) all night, is just as positive. It's a loud, repetitive, shallow song, but one about enthusiastic consensual fun between people trying to make the best out of a bittersweet time. There's something to be said about a happy song about sex that conjures up respectful enjoyment as opposed to something mildly degrading or sketch.
https://open.spotify.com/track/1NOZvdCovG42qQV7ftVD5d?si=F2AAprkzS_yo3KQCjIgeJg
Starchild - Star One 9:04
Whiplash time - from heavy metal to power metal to pop - and now we're heading into prog metal/space rock. Star One is a supergroup with members from the following bands: Symphony X, Threshold, Nightingale, Nightwish, Ayreon, Guilt Machine, HDK, Gorefest, Shadow Gallery, and ReVamp. Dan Swano, Sir Russell Allen, Damian Wilson, and Floor Jansen all combine their voices as their own separate instruments together with powerful acoustic and electric guitar backed up by some of my favorite bass guitar-playing in any track. In this nine-minute long epic rendition of 2001: A Space Odyssey in three parts, you will find yourself wondering how they managed to blend 2010s-quality sound, 1960s storytelling, and 1990s guitar in a single song that will sell you on using a song to tell a science fiction tale. This is practically a movie in song form; turn it up, melt your brain, and go for the ride. I became enamored with the song when I was on a few long trips with my best friend and he introduced the entire Space Metal album to me. It took some time for me to come to it, but it quickly became my favorite song on the album once I gave it a proper listen-to.
https://open.spotify.com/track/5cNBDWPdCM4eEAs9D1UqIS?si=ROmIRc0dTNeRcy5tZaT30Q
Holy Diver - Dio 5:54
Before anyone says anything about the time not matching up, the best quality YouTube link has the first minute and change of environmental sound cut out and gets straight to the actual song. Check the Spotify link below for the full track including the storm prelude. Holy Diver remains one of my favorite tracks ever. The riff is extremely simple and the song isn't exactly a complex piece of art: instead, my love for it comes from the vocals of Ronnie James Dio, the eponymous lead of Dio. Nonsensical lyrics like "Jump! Jump! / Jump on the tiger! You can feel his heart / But you know he's mean!" become imperative, the force at which they're leveled at you making them commands for not just the Diver figure in the song, but for the listener. Jump on the tiger that is this song. Like the eyes of a cat in the black and blue, this song is going to come for you. If I need to be hyped up, or get into any mood in particular really, or if I just need to feel the strength that Dio has for me, this is the song to do it. I've loved this song since I was a child, and I don't think I'll ever be giving it up.
https://open.spotify.com/track/57fqmDaokbxZ3TaB0jp39q?si=IY_TOe-MQWus9BNML7uB_A
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