Most of the Doo-Wop Fantasy albums are inspired by classes you can play in World of Warcraft. But Necromancer was too rich of a concept to pass up…
So this album is kind of like imagining the Diablo 2 Necromancer living in World of Warcraft’s Duskwood.
“In the Garden of the Gone” sets the whole tone for the necromancer album. Quiet, ponderous, a little spooky. Lurking in a graveyard.
This will be a great Halloween album.
“Fighting Teeth with Teeth” took forever to get right, striking the right balance between creepy, funny, and catchy.
And you will probably never hear another song with “Chomp-a-womp-a-doo-wop, a chomp-champ-chew” in it. I am soooo proud of that phrase.
“Everyone Plays with Clay” is the first step our necromancer really takes down the road towards raising the dead — raising a clay golem and spending the whole time justifying it as not that weird. And the vocals are so pretty.
“I Called to the Bones” is a song about our necromancer being surprised by a werewolf and instinctively calling out to the graveyard bones to protect her.
Yes, it’s a song that tries to make story sense of the Diablo 2 spell Bone Armor. You’re welcome.
“Not on Strings” is the song where our Necromancer finally raises a skeleton, all the while convincing themself it’s a favor to the deceased and not a power trip.
My favorite moment on the album is the incredible harmony on “a new companion for me.”
“Curse of Weakness, Curse of Pain” turned out so damn catchy. And it was fascinating trying it out with different nonsense syllables for the chant in the background and seeing how that affected the whole sound of the song. Lyrics are part of the prompt.
“The Memory is in the Bones” is about how our necromancer is able to raise skeletal mages and they still remember the powers they had before dying and can still cast cool stuff like fireballs and ice bolts and whatnot.
“Rise and Fight” is a glorious battle song — our necromancer faces off with a bevy of attacking spiders, throwing her risen skeletons at them over and over again.
“Death isn’t a loss on this battlefield
It’s a chance to start again”
“Your Life is Mine Now” is basically a song about our necromancer casting drain life. I think that’s a spell necromancers had in Diablo 2… but realistically, I was picturing the beautiful green ribbon my demonologist warlock used to cast in Warcraft.
“Look What I Made” is the flip side of “Bone Dragon Rising” on the paladin album. Except here, we see the beauty and triumph that the necromancer feels, instead of the disgust and horror from the paladin.
Though the paladin does have a brief cameo.
“Fight the Spider Queen” is the climactic battle song in Doo-Wop Necromancer.
Look, all I can tell you is there just aren’t other albums like this anywhere. Complex, rich, soothing, catchy harmonies with full, epic fantasy stories threaded throughout.
This is such a pretty end to the necromancer’s story…
“I’ll put you back the way I found you
Tucked back to sleep beneath the dirt
You had one more song in you
…
And the graveyard fills up like a choir
Settling after the song is done”