Ten Amazing Sci-Fi Metal Songs

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Well, since I was still in the mood for writing heavy metal-themed lists, I thought that I’d compile a list of what I consider to be the very best sci-fi themed metal songs 🙂 Although the heavy metal genre is more commonly associated with the fantasy or horror genres, there’s a surprisingly large amount of sci-fi based metal out there too.

Although I’ve probably missed some songs, and this isn’t a complete list, these are ten of the best songs in the genre that I’ve found.

I should probably also include a FLASHING LIGHTS and/or FLICKERING IMAGES warning for all of the music videos (except “Of Jupiter And Moons”) linked to in this article too. Some videos include more of it than others, with the two videos linked in the”#1″ segment of the list being the most intense, but it seemed best to include a warning.

10) “WWVII Parts 1 & 2” by Sum 41: Although Sum 41 are more well-known as a punk band, they are also heavy metal fans and – as a bonus track on UK and vinyl editions of their 2002 punk album “Does This Look Infected?” – they included a really good sci-fi metal song called “WWVII Parts 1 & 2” 🙂

Taking heavy influence from traditional metal – including some vaguely Iron Maiden style guitars/bass at some points – this song is set in the year 3468 and tells the story of a conflict between the remnants of humanity and genetically-engineered energy beings. Although clearly meant as a stylistic tribute to 1980s metal, it still works surprisingly well as a sci-fi metal song in its own right.

9) “Symptom Of The Universe” by Black Sabbath: Although Black Sabbath’s 1970 song “Iron Man” would be the obvious choice for this list, I’ve decided to go for their 1975 song “Symptom Of The Universe” instead mostly because of its epic galactic scale. It’s also just a much more interesting and complex song than “Iron Man” in musical terms too.

Although perhaps bordering more on the fantasy genre, “Symptom Of The Universe” contains the scale and drama that often features in the very best sci-fi metal songs. Instead of focusing too much on scientific details, it instead captures the underlying mood of sci-fi, of new worlds and travelling between planets.

8) “Of Jupiter And Moons” by Temperance: I stumbled across the music video for this amazing 2018 symphonic metal song completely by accident whilst browsing Youtube and it absolutely astonished me. Although the lyrics probably fit slightly more into the science fantasy genre, this song still sounds a lot like an epic sci-fi metal song – with the lyrics deliberately including some ambiguity over whether “Jupiter” refers to the planet or the ancient god.

7) “Electric Eye” by Judas Priest: Although Judas Priest’s 1982 heavy metal song “Electric Eye” is more “eerily prescient near-future sci-fi” than the type of epic sci-fi found in other songs on this list, it is still a timelessly cool-sounding heavy metal classic 🙂

Although technically set in a dystopian future, the song is more of a satirical song about surveillance that is sung from the perspective of a mysterious spy satellite gloating about how it can watch everyone. This seems to have been a common anxiety in the “alternative” music of the 1980s, since Bad Religion’s dystopian 1988 punk song “Part II (The Numbers Game)” also includes lines about an “electric eye” and spy satellites too.

6) “Mechanicals” by Rage Of Light: Although the song “Mechanicals” isn’t quite the best track on this innovative trance metal band’s 2019 debut album “Imploder”, its the most sci-fi song on the album and still an amazingly dramatic song (even if “I Can, I Will” or “Nothingness” is probably the best track on there).

Telling the story of a space station that has been overrun by evil robots, it contains a brilliant musical mixture of trance-like electronica, metal guitars, growled vocals and clean vocals. Although the song’s music video is pretty much the dictionary definition of “low budget”, the decision to film in an abandoned factory of some kind still fits in surprisingly well with the song’s space station setting.

5) “Twilight Of The Gods” by Helloween: Helloween’s 1987 power metal song “Twilight Of The Gods” is an intensely thrilling metal song about a civilisation that casts off its old gods and builds robotic ones instead… only for the robots to turn on them, resulting in an epic battle between man and machine.

Although its a well-worn sci-fi theme, it is carried off in a brilliantly dramatic and epic way. One of the other cool parts of the song is the sparing use of a robot-style vocal effect during one of the more dramatic parts, which really adds something extra to it.

4) “Tribute To The Past” by Gamma Ray: It was a really difficult decision between this 1993 power metal song by Gamma Ray (which also has an amazing live version from 1995 too) and two other time-travel themed metal songs, namely “Ripping Through Time” (2011) by Unleash The Archers and “The Time Machine” (2021) by Iron Maiden.

All three are absolutely amazing songs. But, since Gamma Ray’s “Tribute To The Past” was the first one of these songs that I heard, I decided to include it on this list (also, I already have songs by the other two bands on this list too. Oops! Spoilers).

Combining more energetic segments with slower and more melancholy moments, this song is a truly epic piece of fast-paced sci-fi metal. Telling the story of a man who experiments with a time machine, but finds himself stranded in time – including a visit to an apocalyptic future – it reminded me a lot of a more “metal” version of an amazing sci-fi novel from 2007 called “The Accidental Time Machine” by Joe Haldeman, with maybe some tiny hints of the more dramatic parts of Jodi Taylor’s amazing “Chronicles Of St. Mary’s” (2013? – present) series of time travel-based sci-fi comedy thriller novels too.

3) “Abyss” by Unleash The Archers: It’s impossible to write a list of sci-fi metal songs without including something from the modern traditional metal/power metal band Unleash The Archers, who are pretty much the poster band for sci-fi metal. It was difficult to choose just one song by them, but I eventually settled on their 2020 song “Abyss”.

Telling the story of a slumbering immortal who awakens in the future and travels across the galaxy, this song is at least mildly evocative of something like Robert Heinlein’s 1961 sci-fi novel “Stranger In A Strange Land” or even elements of Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel “Brave New World“. I’ve chosen this song because of both its epic sound – the musical equivalent of travelling through space at light-speed – and the amazingly dramatic way that lead vocalist Brittney Slayes delivers some of the verses.

It is “epic sci-fi” in musical form, not to mention that the music video for it is also an amazingly cool-looking piece of short sci-fi filmmaking too. Seriously, don’t let the more understated early parts of this video put you off, it builds into something truly epic 🙂

2) “To Tame A Land” by Iron Maiden: Legendary heavy metal band Iron Maiden have written a few sci-fi themed songs over the years (including ones based on the two sci-fi novels I mentioned in the previous entry) and it was really difficult to choose just one, especially since some songs like their amazing 2015 song “If Eternity Should Fail” sit somewhere on the ambiguous border between sci-fi and fantasy. Still, I eventually settled on their 1983 song “To Tame A Land”.

Although heavily inspired by Frank Herbert’s legendary 1965 sci-fi novel “Dune” and consisting of a vague retelling of the story, the band famously couldn’t title the song “Dune” because Herbert didn’t like metal bands and obstinately refused to allow them to use the title.

Still, if you’re a fan of this novel (and I really must re-read it sometime, it’s been over a decade and a half…), then “To Tame A Land” is a really good musical distillation of it – capturing the epic scale and atmosphere of the story in both its dramatic lyrics and melodic guitars. Yes, it misses out on some of the thematic subtleties of the book – such as how Paul is meant to be a critique of heroes and rulers – but, as a seven and a half-minute distillation, it still perfectly captures the sheer epic-ness of this pivotal sci-fi novel.

1) “Stargazers” by Nightwish: Although a studio version of this majestic symphonic metal song initially appeared as the opening track of Nightwish’s 1998 album “Oceanborn”, I’d argue that this is one of those songs that is at its very best in live recordings and/or videos.

It is also, like their 2002 song “Ever Dream”, a song that is equally good regardless of whether it is sung live by original vocalist Tarja Turunen’s solo band or by Nightwish’s current vocalist Floor Jansen. Just be sure to look for a live recording and/or video to hear this song at its very best though.

Although light on futuristic technology, this song tops the list because it captures the feeling of wonder and awe associated with the very best science fiction. Telling the story of a tour through galaxies and across planets, everything about this song – from the operatic vocals, to the amazing keyboard riffs to the ornately poetic language (eg: “tragedienne”, “ambrosial”, “ephemeral” etc...) – is just epic in scale and delivery.

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Anyway, I hope that this was interesting 🙂