Been debating which band my human characters should expose the main six and Spike to first. As many of you may know by now, I'm a big metal guy. The dark topics and themes presented throughout the story made it a prime candidate for explicitly heavy background music. Morbid Angel seemed like a good option to kick things off, but they were being used for some of the other characters already. That's when it hit me. Introducing Twilight and her friends to more melodic styles first would likely make them curious because of their compositional structures. Albums like Finis Malorum and Far Away from the Sun can be broken down into parts that form a fuller picture when they're put back together. While you can kind of recreate regular death and black metal styles on an individual level, it's a lot harder to do with their melodic variations. The atmosphere and environments work because they do. That's pretty much what it all boils down to. Considering Finis Malorum roughly translates to The End of Evil, a title that lines up with the characters' ultimate goal, Sacramentum seems like the perfect choice to open things up. I'm putting way too much thought into this in case you guys couldn't tell.

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The only issue I see with this concept is that you're not allowed to use copyrighted music (other than MLP) in your writing. Well, not the only issue...there's the fact that you'll be writing for a niche audience, as many have no clue who those bands are, nor have they heard of their music.

7964975
I'd Recommend Sabaton or Nightwish. They are decent.

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I think those would suit less dark stories. This one ticks off all the boxes - depression, suicide, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and so on. Some of them affect the characters directly while others are situations they observe from the outside. I have to go in on the heavy stuff because those are the only styles that feel appropriate.

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You can't quote the lyrics, but you can mention bands by name. I post the music in the authors' notes so people can hear what they sound like.