From Hammerfall to the Horde - the Origins of the Blizzard Artstyle
How Heavy Metal influenced Blizzard and the World of Warcraft.
Summer, 2005.
I was 18, had just finished high school. I was gaming, listening to metal, learning guitar, playing basketball, and just having fun. Then I discovered World of Warcraft. The biggest cultural force to come out of the world of gaming, probably ever.
I still remember the first time I stepped into Duskwood, that eerie blue mist between the silhouettes of dead trees, leveling my Night Elf warrior (don’t judge, or do, that’s ok) while Manowar, Iron Maiden and Metallica blasted through my speakers. It felt epic. It felt dark. It just felt so… metal.
But that feeling wasn’t an accident.
Warcraft was designed by metalheads, and it shows.
Heavy metal is in the DNA of Warcraft.
Before I ever played WoW, I was really into fantasy art.
I’d buy Magic: The Gathering cards in the mid 90s just to examine the artwork, long before I even understood the rules, or even knew English. I copied the artwork in StarCraft and other game manuals.
That love for fantasy led me to Blizzard’s games, and to the man who pretty much defined their entire visual universe: Samwise Didier.
Samwise was a Blizzard’s art director from 1991 to 2023, and his fingerprints are on everything from Warcraft and Starcraft to Diablo.
He’s also a dedicated metalhead.
Outside Blizzard, he’s painted album covers for Hammerfall, and designed merch for Amon Amarth, and many other bands. His art has literally bridged the worlds of metal and gaming.
He got hired based on the drawings he made for his DnD group, which he collected and put together in a portfolio. He has stated that the name “Warcraft” came from an old D&D character he played, a warrior who used every weapon possible, creating the opposite of “Witchcraft.”
For more Concept Art and Illustration insights, as well as old Blizzard anecdotes, check out Samwise’s art channel on YouTube.
A mind of metal
Then there was Chris Metzen, Blizzard’s creative director, and the guy who made Warcraft lore feel like an epic power metal album lyric sheet.
Outisde of drawing cool warriors, Metzen wrote about honor, sacrifice, corruption, and redemption. Themes that could be taken straight out of a Manowar or Blind Guardian lyric sheet. It was pure, epic, over-the-top fantasy.
He crafted mythic storylines based on simple RTS units. Orcs and humans was a just a game about two races as enemies, which he expanded upon through Warcraft 2 and 3, creating races, lore and epic characters. Each with distinct values, struggles, and goals.
Instead of a straight up carbon copy of the more European, Tolkien-esque fantasy, like so many others. They leaned in to a kind of Warhammer meets Marvel or Conan-comics, and Manowar, or KISS album art.
I think that’s why so many of us felt at home in Azeroth. It was simply put a game set in a world of a Heavy Metal album cover.
The Blizzard house band: Elite Tauren Chieftain
Some of the guys at Blizzard also tried their hand at playing metal, with Samwise as their lead vocalist. Their in-house band, Elite Tauren Chieftain (usually shortened as ETC), performed at multiple BlizzCons. Their fan favorite “I Am Murloc” even made it into Guitar Hero III. Whatever you think about the songs, they were fun and had an undeniable catchiness that made us WoW-heads go around humming them for years.
It was close in time to Dethklok, or Metalocalypse as the show was called. A really fun show on AdultSwim, with lots of inside metal jokes. The show even had original death meral music. Kind of similar to ETC. Easy to digest with some growls and catchy leads.
The show had many of the biggest stars in metals as guest performers. One of those was The Neck, a.k.a. Corpsegrinder. Leading me to the infamous Corpsegrinder Warcraft interview. If you haven’t seen it. ▶ Please enjoy.
That’s Mr. George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, vocalist of Cannibal Corpse. A well known undead main (warrior I think) back in the day, and Horde loyalist with a Horde insignia tattoo. That clip became legendary, and cemented him as a Warcraft superfan. He is even represented in the game, an inclusion because of, or perhaps in spite of, that very clip.
Over the top
When you think about it, both worlds share the same DNA:
Over the top: Bigger spikes, lots of fire, brutal warpaint, and massive shoulderpads… I mean amps.
Passion: In everything. Wether it’s rage and the heat of battle, glory, anger, or grief, is dialed to 11.
Humor: Warcraft often had a tongue in cheek vibe, just like a lot of metal bands do, while staying dead serious about the quality and ambition of their creative output.
Epic storytelling: It’s Victory or Death. “Lok’tar Ogar”.
Metal was built upon fantasy worlds, and metal made it an even stronger part of counter culture, and I think Blizzard, and especially Warcraft brought the metal aesthetics to a broader audience.
They’ve built upon each other, and they have the same roots, which is why they go hand in hand, and that’s awesome to me.
Why it’s exciting to me as an artist
I’ve spent years creating dark fantasy art, and artwork for metal bands.
And back when I spent all that time getting lost in World of Warcraft, I realized the “Blizzard artstyle”, bold, colorful, heroic, was the perfect visual translation of what metal feels like, and that it had so much in common with the album covers I loved.
Sometimes playing WoW felt like stepping into a Frazetta painting, and that was simply glorious to me. I’ve had similar experiences in few other games (such as Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2). So when I create album art today, I am still very much inspired by, amongst others, Samwise Didier and Christ Metzen, because I want the artwork to be filled with as much passion, and as impactful and emotional like their art is (which really is just great visual storytelling).
If you play in a band, you know your album cover is the “dark portal” into your sound. That’s what Blizzard understood from day one: the power of visual identity to separate yourself, while also tell stories and make a cohesive world from your creative ideas.
Ready for work?
If you grew up on World of Warcraft, Warhammer, and/or heavy metal, you probably know exactly what I am talking about. It’s helpful to really tap into that nostalgic feeling of exploration while being creative. Let your visuals, your music, your art, whatever it may be, carry that same sense of drama and intensity.
And next time you look at a Hammerfall cover or an old WoW cinematic, remember:
They’re all part of the same lineage.
📬 Want to work with me? obscenum.art@gmail.com
🎨 Instagram → @obscenum.art
🌐 Portfolio → obscenum.se
TL;DR
Warcraft was built by metalheads, and it shows.
Its world, art, and stories share the same heart as heavy metal: will to power, rebellion against oppressors, and mythic world building.
From Hammerfall to the Horde, it’s all the same metal spirit.
Cheers and beers! 🤘