Ah, first impressions. It’s always difficult to make a good one, especially if you’re writing a column geared towards a particularly dense art form. The task is doubly difficult when that density is derived from said art form’s penchant for all things dark, caustic and disturbing.
The art in question is metal. All kinds of it. Death metal, black metal, doom metal, grindcore, goregrind, thrash metal, death thrash, blacked thrash and blackened death (I could do this for a good two pages and never step outside the boundaries of truth). Doesn’t ring a bell? Don’t worry. I’m here to educate you. Think of me as your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
If you think this course isn’t part of your curriculum you’re mistaken. Metal heads are growing in legion. Their ranks are expanding, oozing under the pretty face of pop culture, ready to burst. There are TV shows, glossy magazines, arena tours and corporate sponsors. Ask around and you may be surprised how many friends listen to black metal, or at the very least have heard of it. We are everywhere.
It’s not 1990 anymore. Extreme metal has moved out of the basement. It’s no longer the sole providence of society’s rejects. It’s no longer the province of young rockers disgusted with the consumer culture nightmare of the 80s, it’s a full blown global culture. It’s one that’s just beginning to be studied in academia.
Most of today’s metal heads are essentially a generation of nerds. They didn’t go to the “beer party” in their friend’s garage to get their first taste of grind or death metal; they found it on the web. The encyclopedic nature of the internet allowed for absorption of metal culture on a massive scale. No more tape trading or grimy zines. They did battle with one another in web forums, hurling obscure names and references like so many iron spears. File sharing allowed for some of the world’s most obscure releases to grace the ears of metal heads around the globe once more.
This massive level of interaction and accessibility has let us connect the dots between bands like never before. Were NYDM (that’s New York Death Metal) legends Immolation actually the world’s greatest stoner doom band? Is pagan folk metal just country music for Scandinavians? Was black metal the Soviet Union’s fault? Is Gojira dominating metal heads worldwide using hip-hop beats? Want to find out? Stay tuned.
.jpg)
