The Enchantment of Modern Society through Metal, Wizardry or Witchcraft?

   Passing through the airport I see people scoured across the floor, desperately checking the flight monitors, their computers, and their smart phones all at once.  It is spring break in America, and millions of travelers embark upon epic quests to achieve a week of freedom away from the rat race of daily life.  Now the fun is over and it is time to fly home.  Back to reality.  I check in for my flight, get my ticket, and sit down in a room full of hundreds of people.  Even still, everyone is glued to their phones, charging their computers next to the wall.  There is little conversation besides the orders from the various family commanders that prowl the terminal, preventing children from leaving their sight.  I too, fall victim to the desperate hold technology has over many individuals, get on my computer and start playing some games to pass the time. I check the weather in Denver, and sure enough it is 45 degrees.  I pull out my sweatshirt in preparation of the cold shock I would receive when I get outside of DIA.  Technology affects so many aspects of modern human life, its hard to imagine life without it.  But escaping this is necessary for almost everyone.  Metal is one way that millions of humans around the world escape the postmodern reality that is the present.  
  Metal is a harsh, no holds barred style of music that encompasses a whole lifestyle.  A lifestyle against the monotony of industrialized civilization and the demystification of the natural world.  At a metal show, you can be caught in a sea of people moving uncontrollable, left to fend for yourself.  There are costumes, demons, and nothing is sacred.

  
  The fast, aggressive pace of metal music overwhelms the listener.  Loud, distorted guitars backed with thundering bass and relentless drums keep the crowd mesmerized with the ferocity of the band.  Unleashing this immense amount of power and energy is essential to creating the atmosphere of a metal show.  Power creates the hierarchy at a metal show.  The band controls the most power.  They control the music, they control the crowd, they are demigods of the metal realm.  Then comes the promoters, VIPs, managers, entourage, etc.  They act with a power derived from the band, because they are closely connected.  Backstage access wields immense amounts of power, specifically over the average concert-goer in the crowd.  Within the crowd there are power struggles in the pit for instance.  The strongest and bravest brawler will gain the respect of others, whether through fear or admiration.  Power is a vital component to the re-enchantment process.  Power intoxicates people, and is part of the re-enchantment associated with metal and metal culture.  The power of the amplifiers is wielded by the band, and that creates the unique experience of a metal show.