A fantasy story written in verse, Peer Gynt tells of the adventures of the eponymous Peer. The sequence illustrated by the music of In the Hall of the Mountain King is when Peer sneaks into the Mountain King's castle. The piece then describes Peer's attempts to escape from the King and his trolls after having insulted his daughter.(The above discription extracted from Wikipedia)

I first heard this song when I was 5 years old. My kindergarten teacher put it on the record player. It was raining outside and it was just before "nap time". That song made a huge impression on me, how the increasing tempo and ominous tones told a story you could only visualize in your head. I have heard that song many times since then in cartoons (best part of Fantasia), movies etc. and always think of that day.

So when I decided I wanted to write a little bit more of a metal song, I thought to pay homage to this song, whose theme or story content is most metal indeed, and one that made a great impression on me. And of course, I'm not the first.

The band Savatage has a song called "Hall of the Mountain king", but does not use the familiar melody at all in their song. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (without Dio) does a version of the original composition, but adds lyrics to it. The Who, Electric Light orchestra and Big Brother and the Holding Co. have also played versions of the original. Rick Wakeman (Yes) played a snippet of the riff in his epic "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and Kirk Hammet runs through it during a live solo at a San Francisco Metallica Show. So obviously, the original piece made an equal impression on many others as well.

In the original play, the main character escapes. In my song he foolishly returns and meets a horrific end at the hands of the evil Troll king. I wanted it to unfold as a story song, or "heroic lamentation" like a bunch of vikings would sing whilst hoisting many brews, like Stive, Tom and I did recording as the " Viking Horde backup singers". My son Jeremy joined the clan as well.

So to sum it up, this song pays a nod of thanks to Edvard Grieg, master musical story teller, but is an original song of my own design.

~ George

If you are interested in checking out some other takes or inspirations from Grieg's compostion here are a few....

Jerusalem Orchestra

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzyi3C4gNnE

Blackmore'sRainbow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIpsgd0Oq_4&feature=related

Apocalyptica

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw0TikGmVz4&feature=related

And for laughs and for using a troll...

Savatage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SknePa_CuSk&feature=related