Nachtmystium all had the flu, and had to cancel.

Wolves in the Throne Room's van broke down in Montana, and they had to cancel too.

I HAVE ANGERED THE METAL GODS. I'm... sad. I've got no metal concerts until Immolation comes to Des Moines in a couple of months.

BUT.

I have my Mayhem ticket.



Oh hell yes.

Recently, I read this book.



It provides a sociological view on extreme metal music (so, everything from death to doom to black metal, and some avant garde). I found it incredibly interesting. I've never encountered such a thing before, probably because people, unfairly, tend to not think highly of us metalheads.

The author has written in the past for Terrorizer magazine, which is pretty much my choice for black metal magazines (Decibel is good too, and doesn’t cost quite so damn much for us Americans). I was very impressed by the way he is able to distance himself from a scene that he clearly must have some love for, to write articles for a black metal mag. He is critical, but not scathing. It's quite refreshing.

Really the only downfall of the book I felt was its brevity. The author covers only the UK, Swedish, and Israeli scenes (which I was very grateful for. There are some awesome Israeli bands, and they've gotten very little attention), and a bit of the American scene, but mostly only the Florida death metal scene, with mention of the Southern California Metallica/Slayer/Megadeth bits. I was hoping that there would be more on American black metal too; he mentions Absu, but only in relation to American bands using mythology that is not American (Absu sings about Scottish myths and legends), and that is all. Wolves in the Throne Room is a very good American black metal band, though, with very interesting viewpoints, and I would have liked to see that explored some, particularly the spiritual aspect of black metal (Which brings me to an interesting point- someone start a black metal band that incorporates Native American mythology. Do it now!).

...Ahem. Anyway, in my time reading, I learned some interesting things about the scene that I did not realize before. I know my black metal, though I know much less about the other kinds, and I know that the genre has some really weird quirks, like being extremely- what's the word he used? "Transgressive"- while also being somewhat puritanical. It's just something that is, and it's something interesting to muse over, but it's not something that I'd ever thought about the reasons why before.

Things I learned:

1. Extreme metal music is deeply concerned with control. The author says that moshing is a perfect example of this. It is wild, erratic, and often people get hurt; that being said, if someone falls in the mosh pit, someone else always helps them up. My own experience agrees with this. The times I've been picked up in crowd surge, someone has always been there to pull me back, and fine young gentlemen have always been willing to shelter me from the pit/surge. Which brings me to...

2. Sexism is not appreciated. This is one I had not really thought of much before, but it's really true. Besides a couple of songs that I can think of off the top of my head, there is very little reference to women anywhere in extreme metal music. Bands that utilize female vocals (sounding like female vocals, I'm not talking about all girl bands, like Astarte), tend to be looked down upon, or at least pushed to the peripherals of the scene. Cradle of Filth would be a good example of this. Raunchiness is really not tolerated. Mr. Kahn-Harris seems to think this is because femininity itself is not tolerated within the scene. Makes sense. Most extreme metal girls who aren't just at the show with their boyfriends tend to be a lot like me. Admittedly, I'm girly to an extent, but you'll never see me drunk or naked, and I'd be happy to break your wrist for trying. The author also gives this aversion to sexism as an example of why many extreme metal scene members oppose nu-metal; the raunchiness of songs like Limp Bizkit's "Nookie" is not acceptable.

3. The asceticism of black metal. I wish he'd have gone into this more, but that's probably because I'm a black metal supergeek. If extreme metal is elitist, black metal is super elitist, full of people like this man, who rarely drinks, never does drugs, and practices for 3 ½ hours every. single. day.



Of course, he then plays like this:



But I could write a whole blog post on the awesomeness that is Hellhammer, so I'll save that for a later date, yeah?

4. This is INTERESTING. Mr. Kahn-Harris argues that extreme metal is actually the perfect balance between transgression and conformity. It is transgressive because it is not the norm, but it operates on certain rules. No femininity, no moshing at black metal shows (wish the dumbass from the Marduk concert I attended last November had read up on that one), the asceticism thing in black metal. The author actually suggests that it would be good for society to see more of the extreme metal scene as it would show the world that we need a healthy balance of transgression and conformity to thrive.

That will never happen, of course. No quicker way to scare off a black metal fan than to use the words "new" or "change," and it's a well known fact that we don't like outsiders sniffing around our subgenre (and I even feel that way. If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the freaking kitchen). Not to mention the uninformed public view of us all being puppy-slaughtering Satan-worshippers. But, it's nice to get some good press, for once.

Of course, the author makes it clear that there are aspects of the scene that he is not comfortable with, and there are aspects of the scene that no one should be comfortable with. Some black metalists in particular are racist dickheads.
Ironically, one of them is Hellhammer.

Every scene has its share of occasional dumbasses. It happens. Even so, as a fan I believe there's a lot to be gained from extreme metal, and it's nice to see a professional opinion that will defend that statement (THERE'S A BOOK. that means it's not just me anymore).

I'd recommend this book, if you're at all interested. Fascinating read, and helps me understand my little subculture a little more (and love it a little more too!)

Stay metal, my friends. \m/

Not what you were expecting?

I don't typically like pretty boys, but I would take this man in a womanly fashion.



It's amazing what a little bit of warpaint and a whole lot of geekitude will do to me.

This shop is not far from me. Apparently this gentleman feels very strongly about it.

Yikes

I'm endeared by the comments, though.

And I'm totally going to have to check out this shop.

**

Incidentally, I quit going to church about the same time that my preacher started telling everyone in the congregation that The Da Vinci Code was evil, and that he didn't see it and you shouldn't either.

Encountering something other than what you've been taught does not make it evil, especially if you in willful ignorance refuse to open your mind (but more importantly, your heart. People be people, yo). It does, however, say something about you.

I don't normally get irked like this. For some reason this set me off. I'm sorry.