u/4-4-2_Diamond

I'm putting together a playlist of metal... epics, for a lack of a more accurate word. What I'm looking for are long songs that feel they like play out like a story.

Hard requirements:

• 10:00+ runtime
• Studio versions only
• No elongated chunks of silence (such as adding a hidden track after a couple of minutes of silence), up to 10 seconds for artistic effect is fine

Soft requirements:

• No classic verse-chorus structure
• No repeating sections/riffs
• Dark atmosphere
• Melancholic sound should be avoided

What I've definitely included so far:

• Iced Earth - Dante's Inferno (textbook example of what I find fitting for the playlist, ticks all the boxes)
• Aeternus - There's No Wine Like The Bloods Crimson (another textbook example)
• Enslaved - 793 (Slaget Om Lindisfarne) (solid example, doesn't meet all the soft requirements, but it has that sort of epic story feeling)

Songs I'm still considering:

• Akercocke - Shelter From The Sand (a strong candidate)
• Iron Maiden - Rime Of The Ancient Mariner (feels a bit repetitive, lacks that dark atmosphere)

I have a preference towards black/blackened sound, but I put no restrictions on the genre.

The end goal is a rather short, curated list of up to 80 mins (which will likely amount to 5-6 songs), so I'd love to hear as much as possible before I make the final selection. I'm grateful for any recommendations.

Long time reader, first time poster. Lots of stories here stem from dissatisfaction, so I thought I might share something a little lighter to brighten the story pool.

For context, you need to know one thing about my wife; she has certain joint issues, hips mainly. Nothing big, but it tends to make any activity that involves bending a nuisance. One such activity is putting on socks. She can do it herself, but it's sometimes just easier if I do it for her. I don't mind this at all.

So the story happened one morning when she's getting ready for work and I'm still in bed (I worked a later shift). She approaches my side of the bed with a pair of socks and bare feet. No words are needed, I sit up and proceed to put on the first sock. I like to do things properly, so working from an opposite angle, you can't quite put on socks precisely as you do on your own feet. So I twist and pull the sock until I get the toe and heel parts in place.

As I do the tweaking, she says "They don't have to be perfect, they just have to be on the foot." I didn't say anything, but my inner, devilishly grinning self thought "aaalrighty then".

I take the second sock and snap it onto her foot about two inches past the toes. It's holding on firmly enough so it can't be shaken off. Technically, it was on the foot.

Her jaw dropped for a second, then turned into an "OK, you got me" smile, followed by an "I can't believe you did that" sentence. I proceeded to put the sock on properly, we shared a kiss and she was off to work, while I went back for a bit more shut eye.