Metal Music Studies

The purpose of this study is examination of the relation between “music” and “mythology” through a current example, which are kinds of ancient narratives. Within the context of this purpose, “music” is discussed in the first chapter of this study as a cultural value. The nature of music, its functions and the historical development of music are examined. Thus, the adventure of music which lasted from Ancient Greece to modern-day and the change that music has undergone within different periods are revealed. In the second chapter of the study, the “mythology” subject is discussed. In this context, researches are made on the content of mythology, its functions, origin theories and its types. Norse Mythology, which is one of the limitednesses of the study, are examined in terms of its sources and scope. Then, the relation between “music” and “mythology” is questioned, which is examined in detail in the previous chapter. As a result of this questioning, examples are given on the reproductions of Norse Mythology in today’s literature, cinema, television and music. In the third chapter of the study, in an attempt to reveal the relation between mythology and today’s music, reflections of Norse Mythology on metal music are examined. This examination contains Norse mythology, which forms the limitednesses of this study, and Amon Amarth, a contemporary metal band. In the application chapter, nine albums released by Swedish death metal band Amon Amarth are examined using semiological anaylsis technique. In the same chapter, sustentation of analysis is aimed through album titles, lyrics and examples of stage shows of Amon Amarth. Also, the conducted examinations are supported with an interview made in Istanbul, in 03.08.2014, with the vocalist Johan Hegg of Amon Amarth. As a result of the study, it is observed that there is a strong relation between music and mythology. Music and mythology maintain their existence with their changeable structures. Today, the genre which benefits most from mythology and uses it for its own music is metal music.

Key Words: Culture, Music, Mythology, Semiotics, Norse Mythology, Amon Amarth

Presented at IASPM-US 2018 Annual Meeting, Vanderbilt University (US), 8-11 March 2018.

Presented as part of the panel 'Searching for Viability: Dynamics in Three Metal Scenes around the World', alongside Dr Bryan Bardine (University of Dayton) and Ed Banchs (Independent Scholar).

This paper explores the metal/hardcore scene in Hull (UK) by analysing data collected via an online survey of and in-depth interviews with scene participants. Mixing quantitative and qualitative data, my research aims to situate the Hull metal/hardcore scene within a broad network of scenes of varying scope (in Yorkshire, in the north of England, in the UK, etc.). Studies of individual scenes are becoming more prevalent in academic metal/hardcore literature (Berger 1999; Baulch 2007; Milioto Matsue 2009), offering new perspectives on metal as a global culture (Wallach et al. 2011). A small city in the north east of England, Hull offers an interesting site for such research. Owing in part to its location relative to the larger cities of Leeds and Sheffield, Hull hosts relatively few national or international touring artists signed to music labels. How might these circumstances affect the Hull metal/hardcore scene?

This study mixes quantitative data on participant demographics with qualitative data on participants’ perspectives on the state of the Hull metal/hardcore scene, including its relationship to other scenes in the UK. The paper presents some initial findings of the study, paying specific attention to (1) contradictory perceptions of the scene, and (2) how the Hull scene is conceptualised in relation to neighbouring scenes. Like the other members of the panel, I consider connections between metal/hardcore scenes of different size, structure, and location, to uncover points of confluence and departure.

Resumen Este estudio estuvo orientado a identificar las bondades que tiene el método cualitativo de la teoría fundamentada en los diferentes aspectos del sentir y pensar de los Metaleros de la ciudad de Lima con la finalidad de analizar sus relaciones gregarias ante la sociedad. En tal sentido se planteó los siguientes objetivos: Comprender porque se reproduce la individualización de la vida social, la mercantilización cultural y la fetichización de la música, en el sentir y pensar de los Metaleros de Lima. Se hizo uso de la entrevista a profundidad los que se aplicaron a una muestra no probabilística de 23 jóvenes y adultos metaleros (de 14 a 48 años, como rangos de edad o límites). Se identificó dos categorías conceptuales: La Rockandad y la Metaldad, que sirven para dar la interpretación a la problemática planteada. Y por último se elaboró un instrumento teórico conceptual llamado dialéctica piramidal, para dar paso a la explicación de la investigación realizada. Abstract This study was aimed at identifying the benefits that have the qualitative method of grounded theory on the different aspects of feeling and thinking of the metalheads of Lima in order to analyze their gregarious relations in society. In this regard the following objectives: Understand that reproduces the individualization of social life, cultural commodification and fetishization of music, the feelings and thoughts of the metalheads of Lima. Use of depth interview which was applied to a nonrandom sample of 23 youth and adults metalheads (14 to 48 years as age ranges or limits). The Rockandad and Metaldad, which serve to give the interpretation to the issues raised: two conceptual categories identified. And finally a conceptual theoretical instrument called pyramidal dialectic was prepared to give way to explaining the research.

“Psychological Well-Being” is not just the feeling of joy and happiness but also the overall
feeling of contentment in one’s life, work satisfaction and absence of stress and tension.
Music has been accepted universally as a therapeutic tool in many cases, but at the same time
there are certain genres of music that are said to have a negative impact on the mind. One
such genre based on previous studies is the genre of Metal. The present study explored the
possibility that there exists a relationship between a person’s preference to the genre of Metal
music and the psychological well-being of the subject. The sample size of heterogeneous 70
(58 males and 12 females) were considered through purposive sampling techniques ranging
from 16-40 age groups, who frequently listening to metal preferably over other genres for at
least 2 years of time. Psychological Well Being Scale (Mehrotra, Tripathi, Banu, 2013) and
self – prepared questionnaires were administered to the subjects after obtaining their consent.
Results were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and Karl Pearson’s
correlation method was used to assess the relationship between preference to metal music and
Psychological Well-Being. Result indicated that there is no relationship between a person’s
preference to the genre of Metal Music and Psychological Well-Being.
Keywords – Metal Music, Psychological Well-Being and relationship.

The point of departure for the article discussed was the dramaturgical theory of the American sociologist Erving Goffman. In the context of the theatrical metaphors, Iggy Pop, Wendy O. Williams and Till Lindemann’s performing rites had been analyzed. Special attention has been paid to the phenomenon of ceremonial profanation and aspects of „losing face” and „going out of character” during live performances by musicians. The analyzed issues were considered in the perspective of the phenomenon of exhibitionism and intentional mythological activities of rock artists.

Viking gemileri 9. yüzyılda o zamanki adıyla Konstantinopolis’e demir atmış, şehri istila etmek için dört bir taraftan saldırı gerçekleştirmişti. Viking askerleri, o dönem bu şehri almayı başaramadı ama günümüzde Viking kültürü dünyanın her yerinde olduğu gibi ülkemizde de hiç olmadığı kadar popüler. Thor gibi çizgi roman uyarlaması filmler ve Vikings gibi televizyon dizileriyle İskandinav mitolojisine ve Vikinglere duyulan ilgi her geçen gün büyüyor. Viking kültürünün müzik sahnesindeki elçiliğini ise Amon Amarth yapıyor. İsveçli grup şarkı sözlerinden sahne şovlarına kadar attıkları her adımda Viking kültürünü yaşatıyor.

Uğur Kılınç “Mitolojinin Müziği” ana başlıklı bu kapsamlı araştırmasında heavy metal ve İskandinav Mitolojisinin tuhaf evliliğinden doğan melodilerin peşinden gidiyor. Şarkıların hikayelerini, mitolojiyle bağlantılarını inceliyor, satırların altındaki gizli anlamların izini bir dedektif gibi sürüyor. Yeri geliyor, Amon Amarth’ın vokalisti Johan Hegg’e kayıt cihazını uzatıyor, şarkı sözlerindeki mitolojik altyapıyı bizzat bu Viking cüsseli müzisyenden dinliyor, yeri geliyor, göstergebilimsel çözümleme yöntemiyle grubun diskografisini masaya yatırıyor. Mitolojinin Müziği kadar müziğin mitolojisini de ele alıyor yazar. Ses ve müziğin hikâyesini kabilelerin büyülerinden başlatıyor, notaların yolculuğunu dönemleştirerek irdeliyor ve günümüze uzanmasını hiçbir nüansı atlamadan başarıyla anlatıyor.

Ve tabii konu Amon Amarth’a ve heavy metal’e gelince distortion pedalına basılıyor, elektro gitarlardan çığlıklar yükseliyor, davulun temposu artıyor. Hayatında ağır metal dinlemeyenlere Amon Amarth’ın müziğini son ses dinletebilecek bir araştırma metni bu. Vikinglerin İstanbul işgalini anlatan Varyags of Miklagaard şarkısı eşliğinde okursanız okyanusu ve denizleri aşarak boğaza demir atmış ejderha kafalı Viking gemilerini görebilirsiniz. Odin aşkına, merak etmeyin. Bu defa baltaları ve kalkanlarıyla değil, gitarları, davulları ve nefis hikâyeleriyle gelmiş olmalılar!

- Doğu Yücel

The article focuses on the issue of turning stage space into theatre-like environment, which takes place during stage performances of the German band Rammstein. The band’s stage performance uses techniques of artistic expression that can be found in theatre performances. From lighting, through costumes, decorations to details, the band takes a lot of care with the elements of their stage performance. The band members also repeatedly use video clips transferring their parts into stage space. The unusual, festive character of Rammstein’s concerts creates particular spaces that can be called sacrum. In the article, an analysis of music performances is carried out according to the theories of Johan Huizinga, Beata Hoffmann, Marek Siwak as well as Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer.

W artykule zwrócono uwagę na problem teatralizacji przestrzeni podczas występów scenicznych grupy Rammstein. Twórczość sceniczna zespołu wykorzystuje środki wyrazu artystycznego, jakie można znaleźć podczas przedstawień teatralnych. Począwszy od oświetlenia, poprzez kostiumy, dekoracje aż do detali, grupa wykazuje dbałość o szczegóły ich występów. Niejednokrotnie muzycy sięgają do klipów wideo, przenosząc ich elementy do przestrzeni scenicznej. Niecodzienny, świąteczny charakter wydarzenia, jakim jest koncert zespołu Rammstein, stwarza swoiste przestrzenie, które można określić jako sacrum. W artykule dokonano analizy spektakli muzycznych w świetle teorii Johana Huizingi, Beaty Hoffmann, Marka Siwaka oraz Theodora Adorno i Maxa Horkheimera.

As the song ‘Havfruens Kvad’ by Svartsot (2010) confirms, medieval metal gave a new voice to mermaid mythology. The song has thematically little in common with the fairy tale Den lille havfrue, but does resonate with the Norse mythology about sea goddess Rán, and Ancient Greek stories about the sirens. Their songs are powerfully altered lullabies, which unmistakably include elements of black metal aesthetics and ancient tribalism. By combining aspects of history with mythology and fantasy, the bands create an imagined past upon which they wish to model their ideal future, thus forming ethnic myths, ethnics and nations, mostly online. Within the participatory convergence culture, digital storytelling becomes transmedial.

In the Christian and Victorian traditions, the little mermaid by Andersen
is pacified, she does not pose any danger. But the revived ancient mermaid mythology by Svartsot contains subversive feminist potential. The stories are then transposed into new media, disseminating the artists’ concept of an idealized Viking past, with powerful mermaids. Build on many ancient stories from a variety of traditional sources, within her transmedial narrative, the Danish mermaid became very powerful, through the remediation within the musical genre of medieval metal.

This paper explores embodied experiences of “metrical constructedness” (Bowman 2003), using a new theoretical tool called “motional conceptual models” to analyze the motion experienced in progressive rock’s riffs. Prog rock/metal is often associated with “mathematical” complexity of odd time signatures and polyrhythms. But this complexity rhetoric leaves some mysteries, including: the use of such rhythms by non-prog bands; or Meshuggah’s claim that “there is no mathematical approach” in their music; or online arguments about whether Metallica’s …And Justice For All (AJFA, 1988) is “prog-influenced,” when the album is mostly in duple meter and contains few polyrhythms.
Riffs are not just sequences of notes, but motions experienced by performers and listeners (Fast 2001). My “motional conceptual models” represent one experience of a riff’s motion, framing that shape as a prototype category to explain how it can be recognized despite variations (see “conceptual models,” Zbikowski 2002). These “motional conceptual models” show how manipulations of riffs can lead to manipulated perceived motion—providing a unified theory for “ABAC Additive Metrical Process” in Dream Theater (McCandless 2013), truncated riffs by Meshuggah (Pieslak 2007), Meshuggah riffs that begin “in media res” (Lucas 2018), and riff fragmentations I observe in Metallica’s AJFA. Changes in riff shape can thus be perceived as interrupting the normal looping of meter, and this impression of artificial intervention is one possible explanation for Bowman's “constructedness.” This embodied cognition approach to riffs also demonstrates how it is possible to write rhythmically “progressive” rock and metal rhythms by feel, with no math required.

This article will present the results of a research project that aimed to examine the meanings and mechanisms behind the formation of a metal identity. This report is based on 38 interviews that were conducted at four festivals during the summer of 2014. The article will investigate the ways in which the individual meets the social and the cultural meets the psychological in the context of metal identity forming.

For over 50 years, the abrasive and confrontational genre of heavy metal has persisted as a series of global crises have emerged and deepened. I claim that the culture has a deeply existentialist tendency, which has driven a scathing criticism of postmodernity and its inaction regarding economic, ecological and social crises. The culture offers a solution to these crises by means of re-centring mortality and finitude, contra to hegemonic biases toward unlimited economic growth and ever-extended human life. By reckoning with our own limitations, metal culture advocates a cautious approach and (ironically) more harmonious social and ecological relationships.

Available to watch here: https://youtu.be/lxPUmjP4x5s

Draft paper to be published eventually as Till, Rupert (2012) Metal and the Beast: The adoption of apocalyptic imagery in heavy metal music. In: Anthems of Apocalypse: Popular Music and Apocalyptic Thought. Bible in the Modern World (42). Sheffield Phoenix Press, Sheffield. ISBN 978-1-907534-34-8

Popular music is no stranger to apocalyptic discourse. Whether focusing on biblical or secular apocalypses, musicians often want to tell us things about the end of the world we may not have wanted to know in ways we may not have thought about before. This volume seeks to introduce readers to some of these messengers and their anthems of apocalypse.

Roland Boer’s discussion of Nick Cave indicates that references to the portents and monsters of the apocalypse have been used to refer, not to an age to come, but to the authorities and demons of the present world. Likewise, Kennet Granholm’s chapter on the vegan straight edge band Earth Crisis shows that biblical apocalyptic provides a lens through which to examine environmental politics. This is also true of the work of Rage against the Machine’s Tom Morello, who, as Michael Gilmour discusses, provides a powerful socialist critique of capitalism, American imperialism, new left-activism and identity politics.

Along with these ‘secular’ uses of biblical apocalyptic are, of course, the more conspicuously Christian theological treatments: Mark Sweetnam discusses dispensationalism in Johnny Cash’s music; Marcus Moberg explores eschatological themes in Christian heavy metal; and Steve Knowles looks at the uses of apocalyptic imagery in the music of Extreme. Alongside these are the perennially popular esoteric interpretations of biblical apocalyptic thought. These are explored in Rupert Till’s analysis of heavy metal and Sérgio Fava’s discussion of apocalyptic folk.

Contents
Christopher Partridge, Introduction: Popular Music and Apocalyptic Discourse
1. Roland Boer, Some Routine Atrocity, or, Letting the Curse of God Roar: Nick Cave and Apocalyptic
2. Mark S. Sweetnam, Evangelical Millennialism in the Lyrics of Johnny Cash
3. Kennet Granholm, Metal, the End of the World, and Radical Environmentalism: Ecological Apocalypse in the Lyrics of Earth Crisis
4. Michael J. Gilmour, Raging against the Machine: Tom Morello’s Nightwatchman Persona and the Sound of Apocalypse-Inspired Schadenfreude
5. Marcus Moberg, Portrayals of the End Times, the Apocalypse, and the Last Judgment in Christian Metal Music
6. Sérgio Fava, ‘When Rome Falls, Falls the World’: Current 93 and Apocalyptic Folk
7. Rupert Till, The Number of the Beast: The Adoption of Apocalyptic Imagery in Heavy Metal
8. Steven Knowles, Who Cares? Apocalyptic Thought in Extreme’s III Sides to Every Story

El presente texto presenta los resultados de investigación de Jóvenes Investigadores galardonados por Colciencias y vinculados al Semillero Temático de Investigación en Juventudes. En el texto se abordan temáticas relacionadas a culturas juveniles, participación política y mecanismos de comunicación, entre otras.

In metal music studies, ‘heaviness’ has been acknowledged as an essential element of the genre. Commonly associated with the distorted guitar, most work on heaviness has concentrated on the instrument’s sound. If respective research considered structural aspects of the guitar riff, it did so with a special focus on tempo, rhythm, tonality and form. This article analyses the interaction between distortion and harmonic structures on the electric guitar. Operationalizing heaviness with a psychoacoustic model of sensory consonance, an acoustic experiment explores how guitar distortion affects acoustic features of harmonic structures. Since acoustic studies are limited in predicting perception, a listening test investigates distortion’s influence on listener perception. The findings indicate that both increasing distortion level and harmonic complexity reduce sensory consonance, especially when acting together. Acoustically, distortion has a slightly stronger effect than structure; perceptually, the ratio is dependent on person-specific characteristics. Metalheads seem to be only marginally affected by sensory dissonance.

During the first few years of the new millennium, several young metal bands from across the United States of America began releasing records that steadily grew in popularity, first emerging into widespread metal consciousness before encroaching upon the pop mainstream (ca. 2000-2005). Whilst most of these bands (or members thereof) had been composing, recording, and performing within the metal/hardcore underground for several years without much fanfare, once they began to gain wider recognition the metal media grouped them together under a banner loaded with symbolism: the New Wave of American Heavy Metal (NWOAHM).

This chapter investigates the NWOAHM period of the early 21st century as a site of complex intersections of genre, heritage, and place within metal/hardcore. At its most basic, NWOAHM simply refers to a group of artists from the same country producing ‘new’ music during a finite, if somewhat non-specific, period of time. However, a more nuanced reading must recognise NWOAHM as a multifaceted construction emblematic and symptomatic of metal/hardcore’s fixation on its own historiography.

System of a Down is an Armenian-American heavy metal band who participated in a
counterculture around the turn of the millennium, both through its music and through its
members’ participation in activism. I situate both the band’s sound and identity portrayal
through analysis of the music and the socio-historical context which made them popular.
System of a Down was labelled a “Nümetal” band primarily due to the touring
circuit participated it in. I investigate the sonic signifiers of this subgenre of heavy metal
through examples from the band’s first album. I then compare contemporary Nümetal to
songs from the band’s eponymous album and am able to identify what makes the band
unique among its peers in terms of musical conventions used.
System of a Down’s music participates in a culture opposed to global warfare and injustice. This thesis opens the door to further in-depth study of this band’s important music.

The development of technology and the resulting influence on a specific genre of recorded music provide the central motivation for this thesis. Record production has become an increasingly important part of contemporary musicology, with the recorded artefact being so easily accessible via digital archives. Seminal texts such as: The Art of Music Production (Burgess, 2013); The Cambridge Companion to Recorded Music (Cook, Clarke, Leech-Wilkinson and Rink, 2009); and, The Art of Record Production (Frith and Zagorski-Thomas, 2012), have contributed to the growing research surrounding the Art of record production, complimenting the publications that document the practise and technicalities of record production (Hosken, 2011; Katz, 2007; and Rumsey and McCormick, 2006, for example).
This study focuses on the relationship between technology and recorded Heavy Metal (HM) music between 1969 and 2015. Using a semi-structured interview technique, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis has been used to develop an acute and informed understanding of how recording technology developments have influenced HM music production, through a series of interviews with renowned record producers. These experts were chosen because of their position held within the HM community and the key albums they have produced. Overall, their careers can be delineated between 1969 and 2015 to provide a view of, what could be considered, both a revolutionary and transitory stage for HM music.
The anticipated and potential uses of technology were identified as super-ordinate themes through an analysis of the interview data. These larger themes can be sub-divided into subordinate themes, which are (respectively): the impact of expectations, industry and external influences; and the presence of technological dichotomies, affordances and aspirations. The tensions caused by these themes highlighted issues of fragmentation within HM record production. The development of technology has changed the ways in which record producers experience record production, as technological affordances and commercial influences change the recording process. This fragmentation led to the discovery of a possible conceptual shift within record production: performance events are perhaps submissive to performance enhancement.
This research provides an understanding of how technology has influenced recorded HM music. This insight is drawn from the experience of those directly involved in its creation. A method for approaching the place of technology in music production is set-out and this could be utilised, or adapted, for further research within music production; it could also be applied more generally to explore technologically influenced creative production in the arts. For example, the use of digital processes in photography has had a similar impact on both the retail and creative industries in the sector; a similar pattern can be seen in the music industry due to relatively inexpensive editing methods compared to earlier analogue procedures. Therefore, a similar study could investigate the working practices of photographers, both within the capture and editing of photographic work. In addition to the transfer or application of this method, a data set has been created that captures the experience of HM music production from a phenomenological perspective, highlighting wider implications for recorded music production more generally.

La música de cada época es producto de un proceso de influencias entre músicos y de cambios de técnicas musicales. Además el entorno social geográfico y político determina los sentimientos e ideas que la música de la época va a transmitir. De esta misma manera el Heavy Metal va a tomar su forma a partir de una evolución de técnicas e influencias que serán complementadas por los nuevos sentimientos derivados de la situación vital de la época.
El Heavy Metal así como ningún género de calidad se detiene en un solo punto. Cada grupo aportará nuevo material de análisis. Sin embargo se puede definir un punto clímax en donde hay ciertas características en común que engloba el significado de Heavy Metal.  A continuación se analizará el proceso de construcción del Heavy metal como género. Para ello se explicarán las principales características que identifican el género. Además se mencionan los datos más importantes sobre los diferentes grupos influyentes en la consolidación del género y de los grupos pioneros. A modo de ejemplo se analizarán una pieza de cada grupo mencionado aplicando los conceptos característicos del género y su proceso evolutivo. Eventualmente se mencionará el significado de las letras según su contexto pero este aspecto quedará en segundo plano.
El metal llegó a ser un fenómeno mundial que se introduce en todo tipo de culturas. Incluso en costa rica el metal llegó a ser un movimiento liderado por varios grupos demostrativos y con una infinidad de bandas de Garage que no se dan a conocer por falta de promoción, medios económicos y tecnológicos, pero no por falta de talento. Este trabajo también abarcará una descripción un análisis de los principales grupos de Heavy Metal.

This article argues that far from being a marginal Black Metal subgenre, Industrial Black Metal is central in bringing out Black Metal’s often disavowed appropriation of machinic noise and its critique of machine society. Through its engagement with “becoming machine” logic and robot apocalypse, cybernetic, and cosmic science fictions, Industrial Black Metal reconfigures Black Metal’s drive toward the inorganic inhuman as vehement critique of capitalist modernity and the industrial death state.

(no abstract printed) While it may be tempting to some listeners to hear the album Metallica (1991) as watered-down metal and excise it from the genre, this album is not peripheral to metal music studies. Metallica’s ‘Black Album’ played a key role in creating a new archetype of American rock/metal music and masculinity. It may have had the most impact outside of the truest, most conservative, underground styles, but metal-influenced rock is just as important to the legacy and status of metal. Perhaps even more so given that some of these rock-oriented bands have larger audiences than any metal group. The album influenced the American alternative metal scene and metal bands now linked to the alt-right; both are part of the history and legacy of metal. Even if we as individual scholars or fans would not embrace either of these developments, we must devote more effort to examining them if we wish to understand metal’s evolving shape and place and influence in society.

This article examines the shift in aesthetics and sound that occurred during the development of what came to be called Melodic Death Metal, a sub-genre of Metal that developed in the 1990s in Gothenburg, Sweden. I consider the musical aesthetic dimensions of the music such as instrumentation, production style, and timbre alongside extra-musical aesthetics such as lyrics, cover art and band logos. Thus, I demonstrate how Melodic Death Metal develops its aesthetics and sound in order to differentiate itself from its main influences of Swedish Death Metal and the New Wave of European Heavy Metal. This article aims to contribute to a growing body of works that is focused on analyzing the music at the core of popular music, in particular Metal, and develop methods of analysis that deal with musical aesthetics on an equal ground with extra-musical aesthetics. Furthermore, this article aims to discuss in detail specific features of Melodic Death Metal and establish a basis for further examination of the developments of the genre

This doctoral thesis examines discourses of authenticity in popular music cultures. As a multiple case study in disciplines of cultural studies and ethnomusicology, it utilizes discourse analysis and investigates the three cases of Lady Gaga, Nickelback and Finnish metal, arguing for the continuing importance of authenticity in cultural debates. Constructions of authenticity hold significant power, especially in value judgments: with these, some artists are deemed valuable, others outcasts.

The music of the Swedish metal band, Meshuggah, reveals a distinct rhythmic and metric structure
based on large-scale odd time signatures, mixed meter, and metric superimposition. Their
2004 EP “I,” however, pushes the boundaries of surface-level meter through the absence of smallscale
recurring units of pitch and rhythm. This article uses models for rhythmic analysis developed
by Harald Krebs, Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff, William Rothstein, and Maury Yeston in pursuing
an architectonic examination of hierarchical layers in this music. Additionally, I introduce
the important relationship that exists between fans and structural analysis based on a socio-cultural
profile of the subgenre.

Association for Cultural Studies
Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference
14-17th December, 2016

For the first time in its history, Crossroads in Cultural Studies has come to the southern hemisphere. The 11th Association for Cultural Studies “Crossroads in Cultural Studies” conference is being hosted by the University of Sydney and Western Sydney University. Crossroads 2016 will bring scholars together in the beautiful summertime setting of Sydney University to engage with the past, present and future of cultural studies scholarship. The Crossroads conference has played an important role in the creation of a global discussion of Cultural Studies. It has become a major international conference where scholars from all five continents gather regularly to exchange research, views, and insights. Organized by the Association for Cultural Studies (ACS), the Crossroads conference is held every other year in different parts of the world. Previous conferences have taken place in Birmingham (United Kingdom), Urbana-Champaign (USA), Istanbul (Turkey), Kingston (Jamaica), Hong Kong (China), Paris (France), and Tampere (Finland).

Niniejszy artykuł dotyczy zagadnień związanych z zespołem Mgła takich jak fenomenologia maski, zakrycia twarzy i¡wycofania artysty, co jest szczególnie widoczne w¡ scenicznej anonimowości artystów, którzy odmawiają uczestnictwa w głównym nurcie kultury. Etymologiczna analiza kluczowych pojęć: mgła, maska, osoba, pozwoliła rzucić światło na pochodzenie nazwy grupy. Z kolei odniesienie do Barthesowskiej koncepcji „Śmierci autora” oraz teologicznej koncepcji Deus Absconditus pozwoliło na zrozumienie fenomenu oddalenia oraz znacząco wpłynęło na interpretacje tekstów utworów w ujęciu poetyki negatywnej. Interpretacja tych ostatnich uwypukliła motywy twórczości Mgły obracające się wokół nihilizmu.

Kultura metalowa stanowi w rodzimych badaniach naukowych ciągle jeszcze obszar w niewielkim stopniu rozpoznany. Równocześnie jednak obserwujemy nieustające zainteresowanie redakcji mediów muzycznych oraz samych słuchaczy, fanów muzyki metalowej nowościami wydawniczymi i trasami koncertowymi zespołów wykonujących tak zwaną ciężką muzykę – warto wspomnieć choćby ostatnie, tegoroczne, głośne występy w Polsce takich grup jak Tool, Rammstein czy Metallica. Żywię nadzieję, że niniejszy tom wypełni w pewnym stopniu niszę w rodzimych metal studies, a także iż oferowany numer stanowić będzie dla Czytelnika inspirujący zestaw tekstów na temat współczesnej kultury i sztuki muzycznej, strategii komunikacyjnych w przestrzeni medialnej oraz przede wszystkim wolności artystycznej.
(Ze wstępu)

Historical narratives come not only from real-world events but from psychological processes, with Israeli and Palestinian narratives undergoing constant radical changes along with the physical territory. In the Middle East, femininity and the female form are considered intrinsic to national identity, and female musicians from the region have long addressed the Israeli/Palestinian divide. This article uses original interviews conducted with modern-day Israeli and Palestinian female vocalists to investigate national narratives since the mid-twentieth century and their relationship to the political situation. Analysis of the data gathered demonstrates a shift in attitudes and narrative type from one promoting staunch patriotism and national solidarity in the 1960s to a development towards liberalism and a modern-day mindset of coexistence for both nations in the twenty-first century. These variations indicate changing feelings towards nationalism and humanitarianism, towards creating borders and destroying them, whilst also showing how political revolution will only come through a revolution of the self.

Thesis accepted without corrections for the degree of PhD in Music at University of Hull (UK), January 2018.

This thesis addresses various functions of genre in metal/hardcore music as a lens through which to study popular music in the twenty-first century. The thesis proposes that issues of genre are fundamental to understandings of popular music for all participants.

Predominant in metal/hardcore discourse, genre serves as an organising principle in historiographies that exert significant influence upon contemporary perceptions of metal and hardcore. I propose generic symbiosis as a new way to conceptualise the relationship between metal and hardcore, addressing issues of consequentiality arising from extant frameworks. Exploring intra- and intergeneric connections, I observe the relationship between small- and large-scale phenomena that allows a relatively specific group of performance techniques and compositional devices to connote numerous metal/hardcore genres (and vice versa). Within this interconnected model of genre, subgenres provide a middle ground of generic adaptation by providing a focus on specific small-scale phenomena.

Genre may be understood as a general, amorphous concept in flux, while style affords specificity, and their relationship is analogous to that between type and token (where style tokens the genre type). Structured rhizomatically, scenes provide the literal and metaphorical space for such tokening, connecting physical instantiations to abstract notions. The internal rhetorical tensions of mainstream versus underground, and progression versus tradition, are demonstrated to function as a creative apparatus for participants. A manifestation of generic symbiosis, this apparatus provides the mechanism for generic adaptation as participants negotiate these tensions. Through a case study of twenty-first century metalcore, I observe the process of generic codification, outlining how a combination of specific elements of style, emerging from particular scenes, came to demarcate a genre. I show how adaptations within a single genre engender change in numerous other areas of metal/hardcore music culture, underscoring the interconnectivity of genre in popular music.

This Master's dissertation aims to uncover the capacity for political expression within doom metal and willingness to make such expression amongst its proponents, and to identify trends within the genre that support social critique across the political spectrum. The body of the work is comprised of readings of various bands' lyrics, artworks and interviews.
The main focus rests upon the pursuit of individual liberty, comparable to ‘negative’ liberty as described by Berlin in Two Concepts of Liberty, which has featured in doom metal throughout its history and arguably represents a strong tendency toward libertarianism amongst its musicians and fans alike. Critiques of economic and social inequality and exclusion form another theme. A third section focuses on environmental concern, which has manifested in both overt and subtle critiques from doom metal groups, often in utopian terms, contrasted by a nihilistic vision of apocalypse and environmental destruction imagined by some of doom's heaviest and darkest bands. The final section explores the role of women and female empowerment within the genre.
The study then turns to examining the surrounding contexts of doom metal musicians and question the extent to which these contexts have been acknowledged or critiqued by the musicians and their works. After contextualising doom metal and its varied political expressions, the study attempts to find common ideological ground between doom metal artists overall and investigates whether the genre acts as an arena for social comment, or whether the opposite is true; that the escapist aesthetic promulgated within doom metal acts as a safe haven for its listeners, wishing to avoid political discourses in music.

Black Metal is an underground musical genre, descended from Heavy Metal and born in the late 80s in Scandinavia. In this dissertation, we are aiming to reconstruct its genesis before showing how it builds its aesthetics alongside the concepts of transgression and transcendence. Taking a fundamentally multidisciplinary perspective, we aim to maximise the genre’s characteristic parameters by addressing a large number of bands, mostly from Europe. The analysis addresses both the lyrics and the accompanying music, including the harmonic, melodic and rhythmical elements of the speech and the various instrumental techniques. Black Metal’s stage attitudes and iconography are also important contributions to the overall modes of expression. They have all been analysed in the context of the musicians’ personal ideologies, ethics, and beliefs, including their literary, philosophical and spiritual aspects, to provide a holistic understanding of this thirty-year-old genre.

Né à la fin des années 1980 en Scandinavie, le Black Metal est un genre musical underground, descendant du Heavy Metal. Nous avons tenté, dans cette thèse, de reconstituer tout d’abord sa genèse, avant de montrer comment il a construit son esthétique, au travers des concepts de la transgression et de la transcendance. Grâce à une analyse fondamentalement pluridisciplinaire, nous avons observé un grand nombre de paramètres caractéristiques du genre en convoquant un panel conséquent de groupes, majoritairement européens. Il est ici question des aspects musicaux, détaillés grâce à des analyses du langage harmonique, mélodique et rythmique, ainsi que des techniques de jeux instrumentales. Une place importante est aussi accordée à l’observation minutieuse des textes. Les attitudes scéniques et l’iconographie du Black Metal sont aussi des facettes auxquelles nous avons consacré de nombreux paragraphes au sein de cette recherche doctorale. Emaillées des références littéraires, philosophiques et spirituelles des musiciens, l’éthique, les idéologies, les croyances représentent également d’incontournables clefs de lecture en vue de la compréhension de ce genre déjà trentenaire et encore insuffisamment traité au niveau universitaire en France.

In this project, the main focus will be on Manhattan Project regarding the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings and these incidents impact on metal music genre will be explained with examples. Firstly, general information on Second World War and the history between America and Japan and the atomic bombs' effects on health along with its ethical discussion will be interpreted in order to reinforce the structure of this project. Later, the Manhattan Project and the creator of the nuclear weapons, Robert Oppenheimer, will be depicted. Then, the analyses of the songs that I have found on this subject will be analysed.