Metal as a Global Force

            As I watched the documentary about metal around the world, I started to realize metal is a powerful liberating tool.  It invades the conscious of those who listen to it, especially if they are oppressed or alienated in their society.  Whether it be a Muslim, atheist, or even Christian, metal has found its way into almost every corner of the world.  It gets to the core of something deep within humans, something primal.  Music is the perfect medium to reach these primal instincts in modern society because the violence, aggression, and anger is all expressed through sound instead of actual violence which is not allowed.  Metal heads express their anger at a concert with other like-minded individuals, and even though on the surface a pit might seem like the most brutal street fight around, there are rules in the pit which advocate helping others when they fall down and other precautions to prevent serious injury.  I was interested in the Indonesian metal scene, especially because they were under a dictatorship when the first major metal bands such as Metallica had concerts there.  The Metallica show ended in mayhem as the military arrived and thousands of ticket holders were denied entry to the venue.  Soon, a riot ensued as the local Jakarta residents displayed their intense passion for freedom of speech and demonstrations like metal shows.  Metal music can be adapted to any culture, as Sam Dunn points out through the distinct Balinese metal that incorporates traditional gods from their culture instead of using the same symbols from metal in America or Europe.  It is an incredibly pervasive and adaptable style of music, more than most.  I am very interested to see the metal scenes emerge out of countries that had recent revolutions such as Egypt and many other North African and Middle Eastern countries.  In fact, the domain Egyptmetal.net has already been bought and is under construction now.  Hopefully, these countries will enjoy free expression for many years to come, and along with it heavy metal music.  Here is a video I found online showing off some Pakistani metal bands, thought it was pretty interesting plus they include links to learn more about the Pakistani metal scene.  Although this is the opinion of one member of the scene who uploaded a video to youtube, it is an inside look at a developing metal scene in a unique place.  My 10 favorite Pakistani Metal bands   

Female Metal Fans

Metal has never been conducive to female audiences, continually degraded and exerting their ‘power’ over women by using them as tools.  They are often depicted as slaves, bound by chain or rope.  A vast majority of the famous metal bands are all male, so what attracts females to the scene?  Keith Kahn Harris describes many different reasons that metal fans begin listening to metal, but many of them are males.  I believe females start listening to metal for much of the same reasons, they feel alienated in society and want to escape their reality and enter the scene.  They find comfort in expressing their individuality, and they seek power that they feel society and the metal scene believe they are not as powerful as men.  From what I have observed in female metal fans is a desire to overcome and disprove the men of the metal scenes assumptions that women are weaker, in music and in real life.  A metal chick is the kind of girl who wouldn’t think twice about pouring a drink on you at a bar for saying something insulting or idiotic.  Girls that play in metal bands want to show the boys how it’s done.  They want to prove they are just as talented and can rock just as hard.  I went to metal show in Portland, Oregon when I was younger and one of the opening bands had a female lead guitarist.  At first, my friends and I looked at each other, laughed and scoffed that there is no way that girl is going to shred the lead solos.  And in fact, she shredded harder than any member of the headlining act.  I think the satisfaction of knowing that every guy in the room will have the exact same initial assumption about her playing skills gives her even more motivation to showcase her talent.  That is the mentality of a female metal fan.  They want to be just as metal as the guys, and often times they are.  

Power and Status in the Black Metal Community

As heavy metal transgressed towards extreme metal, the struggle for power among some black metal bands in the 1990’s took on a whole new form of insanity.  Suicides, murders, and church burnings were commonplace in Scandinavia during the rise of second wave black metal in the late 80’s and early 90’s.  Were these actions true attacks on Christianity or merely an attempt to solidify their scene as the most ‘metal’ and gain a reputation worldwide.  Although metal has been accused of influencing murder, suicide, and rape for quite some time, these crimes were directly perpetrated and boasted about by the leaders of the bands at the forefront of the scene.  Bands like Mayhem created Norway’s largest cultural export through fear and destruction.  I believe in the beginning of the black metal scene in Norway the actions were genuine and not meant to gain any commercial success.  These people truly wanted to attack the Christian faith.  A majority of these bands did not perform live, and musicians such as Gorgoroth’s lead singer Gaahl have stated it was not meant for an audience other then themselves.  Now, bands continue to infuse satanic and anti-Christian messages into their lyrics and symbolism, but their actions are much less radical then the founders of the scene.  The experience of black metal is one that promotes the hedonistic individualism, complete indulgence.  Fans of black metal are more likely to gain the attention of an average person walking down the street.  The outfit includes combat boots, almost exclusively black clothing, and the adornment of chains and spikes in a warrior like display of power.  At concerts, the live spectacle includes staged crucifixions, many anti-Christian symbols such as the inverted cross and pentagrams, and fake and sometimes even real animal blood.  All of these factors create a sense of enchantment, a total departure from the regulations of modern society and a return to a more barbaric, medieval existence.  The bands use these symbols to exert power over the weak, and only the strong will be able to listen to black metal due to its intensely graphic and perverse imagery and lyrics.  Black metal is still not as popular as heavy metal, but it has thousands of followers around the world.  These fans experience the scene and indulge in all of their pleasures, without fear of the rules of society.  They display their allegiance to the scene by joining the black metal scene’s crusade against the oppressive Christian religion and show no mercy or restraint towards authority.  Black metal fans are a unique breed, and it is one of the most extreme forms of metal due to its violent past and rhetoric.