Click here for the official soundtrack

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The search for precious metals has been a major driving force of human achievement since the dawn of time. From alchemists attempting to create gold, to the colonization of the Americas by the Europeans, metals have been instrumental in the advancement of humanity. I searched for a metal most precious and coveted by me: fantasy metal.

Fantasy metal is a chief export of several European countries, such as Finland, Germany, Italy, and England. It is generally considered an alloy of both folk and power metal, with trace amounts of others in certain regions. For instance, Scandinavian fantasy metal is more likely to have some amount of death metal, while fantasy metal from the United Kingdom is more likely to have traces of speed metal.

In order to find the fantasy metal I wanted, however, I turned to Pandora Internet Radio, home of the Music Genome Project, an invaluable refinery tool. I entered several sources, so that I could tap richer, more diverse veins

The sources I entered were as follows:

- Finntroll (Finland)
- Korpiklaani (Finland)
- Nightwish (Finland)
- Elvenking (Italy)
- Rhapsody of Fire (a personal favorite of mine) (Italy)
- DragonForce (England)
- Dark Moor (Spain)
- Kamelot (USA)

The plurality of the bands were from Finland. Huh. Not surprising, really, as Finland is rather rich in fantasy metal.

Some of the better songs I found were
- Dark Moor - A New World
- Edenbridge - Color My Sky (unfortunately links to a Naruto AMV)
- Edguy - Arrows Fly
- Eluveitie - Of Fire, Wind and Wisdom
- Elvenking - March of Fools
- Elvenking - Jigsaw Puzzle
- Korpiklaani - Tapparouta