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Commodified Evil’s Wayward Children: Black Metal and Death Metal as Purveyors of an Alternative Form of Modern Escapism A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Religious Studies in the University of Canterbury by Jason Forster University of Canterbury 2006 Contents Abstract 1 Introduction 2 1. Black Metal and Death Metal Music 5 Audible Distinctions and Definitions: both of and between Black Metal and Death Metal Music 5 Dominant Lyrical Themes and Foci 10 A Brief History of Black Metal and Death Metal Music 15 A Complementary Dichotomy of Evil 41 2. The Nature and Essence of Black Metal and Death Metal 46 The Eclectic Nature of Black Metal and Death Metal 46 The Hyperreal Nature of Black Metal and Death Metal 54 The Romantic Nature of Black Metal vs The Futurist Nature of Death Metal 59 The Superficial Nature of Black Metal and Death Metal 73 3. Black Metal and Death Metal as purveyors of an Alternative form of Modern Escapism 80 Escapism 80 Mainstream Escapism and the “Good Guys Always Win” Motif 83 Embracing an Evil Alternative 92 A Desensitizing Ethos of Utter Indifference 99 4. The (Potential) Social Effects of Black Metal and Death Metal 103 Lyrical Efficacy 103 (Potential) Negative Social Effects 108 (Potential) Positive Social Effects 126 Conclusion 130 Bibliography 133 Abstract This study focuses on Black Metal and Death Metal music as complimentary forms of commodified evil, which, in contrast to most other forms of commodified evil, provide an alternative form of modern escapism. In particular, it demonstrates that in glorifying evil their respective natures and essences effectively suggest to us that the ability to overcome our problems, and cope with the world’s atrocities, lies not in the vain hope that justice will prevail, but rather, in embracing evil and actively cultivating a desensitizing ethos of utter indifference to the plight and suffering of others. In addition, because Black Metal and Death Metal have both generated their own distinct sub- cultures, which are predominantly populated by marginalized youths, this study simultaneous begs the question: What is it that motivates them to produce and/or endorse forms of music, and thereby become members of sub-cultures, which ostensibly promote such a negative world view? Consequently, it also demonstrates some of the important ways in which they can serve to help their proponents regain a sense of power and control over their lives. It then concludes by looking at Black Metal and Death Metal’s (potential) social effects – both negative and positive. 1 Introduction Evil has always fascinated and perplexed us. It has also long proved a potent seller. Few subjects, for instance, possess the potential to sell more newspapers or magazines than those whose headlines promise to reveal the grisly details of some fresh atrocity or act of terror. Yet traditionally, when not thinking about or conceptualizing evil as being personified in supernatural Devils and Demons, people have simply tended to focus on its utility as a descriptive/classificatory term. In its broadest sense, this has led to everything that is adverse to human life, from war and massacres through to drought and famine, being either classified as or referred to as evil. In a narrower or more specific sense, it has also led to the term “evil” being used to distinguish a qualitative difference between various degrees and types of wrong doing and wrong doers. Hence Daniel Haybron’s assertion: “call Hitler and the Holocaust evil and you are unlikely to arouse much disagreement. On the contrary: you will have better luck generating dissent if you refer to Hitler and the Holocaust merely as bad or wrong.”1 For the reality is that “such tepid language” is simply inadequate in the face of such atrocious subject matter. In fact, as he justly concludes, “[p]refix your adjectives with as many ‘verys’ as you like; you will still fall short. Only ‘evil’ it seems will do.”2 So, while we are used to thinking of evil as a descriptive/classificatory term, what we are not used to thinking of evil as is a commodity. That is, as something that can be produced and sold in our market-based economic system.3 Yet, with mediums as diverse as movies, books, CDs and PlayStation games trafficking in everything from Demons, Vampires, Werewolves and Zombies through to war, terrorism and serial killing, this is increasingly what it is being reduced to; which is a real cause for concern. For as forms of media, such mediums constitute potential means of moulding/altering/distorting their consumer’s perceptions not only of the various myths, religions, folklore, historical events and figures they eclectically appropriate in their composition, but crucially, of the world around them. And beyond this, of both desensitizing their consumers to real world 1 Daniel M. Haybron, “Moral Monsters and Saints,” in The Monist, Vol. 85, No. 2 (2002), p. 260. 2 Haybron, “Moral Monsters and Saints,” p. 260. 3 Allan G. Johnson ed, The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology: A User’s Guide to Sociological Language, 2nd ed (Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 2000), p.51. 2 evils and insidiously aiding them in the subconscious development of aggressive, even physically violent, dispositions. As a rule, however, this highly capitalistic exercise in reductionism has been mitigated, at least to a certain degree, by two important facts. The first of these is that such mediums simultaneously serve as forms of mainstream escapism. That is, as mediums that not only possess the ability to temporarily wrest our intellects/imaginations from their present cares, but which, through the various bounded forms of vicarious experience they provide, can also serve to help us master a myriad of unsatisfactory conditions/situations and issues at a step’s remove. The second is the ultimate triumph of good over evil generally depicted in such mediums. Or rather, their routine exhibition of what can only accurately be described as the “good guys always win” motif, which effectively serves to couple their escapist functions with the underlying consolatory hope that we too can overcome our own seemingly insurmountable problems. Nevertheless, there are exceptions to every rule, and the foci of the present study, Black Metal and Death Metal Music, are two such exceptions. For, as our analysis will show, they are complimentary forms of commodified evil whose respective natures and essences effectively situate them in diametrical opposition to the “good guys always win” motif; and hence to the overly optimistic form of consolation it engenders. In fact, as we shall see, by contrast they suggest to us that the ability to overcome our problems, and cope with the world’s atrocities, lies not in the vain hope that justice will prevail, but rather, in embracing evil; and thereby in actively cultivating what will be termed a desensitizing ethos of utter indifference to the plight and suffering of others. Consequently, both Black Metal and Death Metal can justly be construed as purveyors of an alternative form of modern escapism. Yet this is not the only way in which they are exceptional. They are also exceptional in that they have both generated their own distinct sub-cultures, effectively making them forms of commodified evil produced both by and for their respective members. Perhaps more importantly, though, these are not sub-cultures that exhibit a 3 socially diverse membership. Rather, they are sub-cultures that are predominantly populated by marginalized youths, which begs a question that is central to this thesis: What is it that motivates them to produce and/or endorse forms of music, and thereby become members of sub-cultures, which ostensibly promote such a negative world view? Accordingly, in the course of demonstrating that Black Metal and Death Metal are purveyors of an alternative form of modern escapism, not only will we take time to delineate their divergent (albeit complimentary) ideological bases, we will also demonstrate some of the important ways in which they can serve to help their proponents regain a sense of power and control over their lives. Finally, because the real significance of any analysis hinges on its social implications, we will conclude by looking at Black Metal and Death Metal’s (potential) social effects – both negative and positive. Or rather, by showing that despite the fact their (potential) social effects are overwhelmingly negative, there are nevertheless several important ways in which they are ultimately implicated in the maintenance and reproduction of the good. 4 Chapter One Black Metal and Death Metal Music Audible Distinctions and Definitions: both of and between Black Metal and Death Metal Music If only for the benefit of those who have never had the pleasure/displeasure of being subjected to the aural assaults that Black Metal and Death Metal music constitute, it will be helpful to begin by attempting to delineate audible definitions of, and distinctions between, both Black Metal and Death Metal. That is, definitions and distinctions based on the perceptible differences exhibited between their respective sounds. However, before doing so, we must pause to stress that no such attempt can ever pretend to amount to anything more than a rough approximation. For any attempt to delineate what might be considered definitive or immutable audible definitions of, or distinctions between, these two sub-genres is invariably problematised by at least three general facts. The first of these,