There’s this sensation when you’re experiencing a good book and a great album that feels somewhere in between flying and falling. It’s a weightlessness that has many readers and listeners searching for that next spell of satisfaction. Bringing the two mediums together might just be the delicious fix. Like a proper cheese and wine pairing, these 9 combinations of alternative albums and classic literature might give you that delectable feeling of floating.
1. ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Brontë & Take Me Back To Eden by Sleep Token
Wuthering Heights’ Katherine and Heathcliff are the exemplars of a toxic, tragic relationship. They’re people you love to hate and hate to love, and that back and forth is mirrored in Sleep Token’s Take Me Back To Eden. This album’s sea of sultry tones and driving beats feel like the stormy Yorkshire Moors. The lyrics are biting and devastating, and the music itself ebbs and flows between enraged and melancholic. They could have been written by Heathcliff himself. The album is full of yearning that will keep the listener locked into the very end.
2. ‘Lord Of The Rings’ by J. R. R. Tolkien & Apex by Unleash The Archers
If you loved Lord of the Rings for the magic, the battle, and the grandeur, you’ll want to hear Unleash The Archer’s Apex. This thematic power metal album is an epic storytelling about Immortal’s journey to freedom and battle against the big bad: the Matriarch. It’s an album that must be listened to in order (you wouldn’t read a book out of order, would you?), and it follows all of the dips and swells of a masterfully told legendary saga. Unleash The Archer’s music is big. It’s chest filling, throat aching, battle cry big. Add it ito your next LOTR watch-through; you won’t regret it.
3. ‘Fahrenheit 451’ by Ray Bradbury & Hypnotize/Mezmerize by System Of A Down
In the ever-climbing high speed of media consumption, ‘Fahrenheit 451’’s message is more important than ever. Written in an age where television threatened to take over, Bradbury’s work continues to be blisteringly relevant. System Of A Down’s companion albums Hypnotize and Mezmerize take Bardbury’s message for an oblique spin. Ever opinionated in their work, these albums specialize in the criticism of media consumption while brandishing Malakian’s finger-breaking riffs and Tankian’s operatic executions. All the while including fun escape tracks like “Vicinity Of Obscenity” and “Old School Hollywood” to bring a lightness into the mix to stave off the sense of futility.
4. ‘The Magical Year Of Thinking’ by Joan Didion & But Here We Are by Foo Fighters
Didion’s personal memoir encapsulating the year after the sudden death of her husband is a devastatingly poignant work. No other album could hope to match something so vulnerable as Foo Fighters’ But Here We Are. The album, released June 2023, is a dedication to the experience of the loss of their drummer Taylor Hawkins. It hits all of the stages of grief, from disbelief in “Rescued” to soft acceptance in their final number “Rest” and everything in between. It’s their classic sound with an element, so evidently missing. These two works perfectly complement one another, and if any reader or listener is drawn to one, they’ll feel similar catharsis in the other.
5. ‘Inferno’ by Dante Alighieri & Unreal Unearth by Hozier
It isn’t often that an album is inspired by a classic work, but Hozier’s Unreal Unearth is just that. Inspired by Hozier’s reading of ‘Dante’s Inferno,’ Unreal Unearth is a journey through the nine hells. Inlaid with figures in Greek literature, Hozier’s third album has depth in excess. The layers keep listeners coming back again and again to hear his sultry tones and scathing indictments of society, celebrity, and the pain of being human. Pair your next read with the sounds of this album; you’ll definitely need a good glass of wine when you do.
6. ‘The Outsiders’ by S. E. Hinton & Slow Bloom by The Home Team
You probably read this coming-of-age classic in middle school and would have forgotten more about it if “stay gold Ponyboy” wasn’t a phrase that still gets tossed around. There’s something sticky about the tale, something that holds true to its musical counterpart, The Home Team’s sophomore album Slow Bloom. This album shares the same quality of maturation. The Home Team’s musical prowess sits in expressing the inexplicable. It’s a quality that rips emotion straight from the chest while also sonically being deliciously palatable. It’s a dagger behind the back if that dagger was named “Emotional Clarity.”
7. ‘Winnie The Pooh’ by A. A. Mine and E. H. Shepard & Bright Blues by Ripe
It seems strange to compare these fuzzy little adventures with the mature sounds of Ripe’s latest album, Bright Blues. Unlike other selections, the two aren’t thematically similar in execution. Bright Blues isn’t the kind of album that’s going to sing about the power of friendship, but it may exist because of it. The album is the product of a band that found itself free-falling during COVID and didn’t feel likely to survive. It quickly became a collection of works that were incredibly personal and included struggles from friends and family, spidering out in a web of connection, constellations in a night sky. It’s an album that deeply reflects friendship, the human nature of tenacity, and good company.
8. ‘The Metamorphosis’ by Franz Kafka & Tangk by IDLES
If you’re a lover of ‘The Metamorphosis’ by Kafka, you have a taste for the surreal and absurd. An acquired taste, to be sure, but a mind that’s open to digging past the surface. You probably enjoy the journey of artistic expression in its many forms, and underneath it all, enjoy the feeling of connection. IDLES 2024 album Tangk is the perfect pairing. Potentially their most-loved album to date, Tangk, is a love story rife with absurdity and their undeniable, ripping punk sound. It’s an album that wants to be chewed on, savored, and listened to over again and again, a different message waiting around every play-through.
9. ‘The Iliad’ by Homer & What If I Break by Wind Walkers
Homer’s ‘The Iliad’ is, among other things, a magnificent, era-spanning, messy soap opera that spans the greatest man and god alike. It’s love, it’s hate, it’s obligation, deceit, and exploitation. Wind Walkers’ sophomore album What If I Break—featuring new vocalist Trevor Borg—takes on all of these major themes like the classic’s personal soundtrack. Each emotionally charged track could sit as a main character’s personal narrative. “Almost Ecstasy” is a painful love song from Paris to Helen. Achilles laments his destiny and forced hand after Patroclus’ death in “Feeding The Gods.” It’s a post-hardcore modern spin that brings this dusty classic back to life in a whole new way.
