Introduction

When you hear the words heavy metal, what do you think of? Deep gutteral growls preaching satanic messages to corrupt our youth into worshipping evil powers? If you do, you certainly aren’t alone. And I hate to break it to you, but you’re also wrong. To begin, yes, there are a plethora of heavy metal bands that incorporate satanic or evil lyrics into their music, but that does not automatically mean they worship the devil or are mass murderers. There are reasons for their incorporation of these themes which we will get further into later. Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s take a look at the origins of heavy metal, and why it has gained such a bad reputation. This genre of music really began to develop in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s in the United Kingdom. Like most music, it came about through other genres, starting off as blues rock, acid rock, psychedellic rock, and a few others, and eventually developing a sound more unique to the genre. The music style really began to take hold with bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple. It eventually came through another evolution, further developing it’s sound with the emergence of Judas Priest, Motörhead, Iron Maiden, and Def Leppard. It was in the 1980’s that sub-genres of metal began to sprout as well. With the rise of bands like Bon Jovi and Motley Crue, glam metal cemented itself as a new sub-genre of metal. Afterwards, more underground scences produced bands like Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth, bringing about the thrash metal sub-genre, and spurring many more sub-genres to emerge with much darker, heavier, more aggressive, and generally violent themes to them, which in turn caused more bands to introduce violent, aggressive, vulgar, and generally obscene themes to their music. It was around this time that the wrongful association of heavy metal and satanism was drawn. With the rise of Satanism in the previous years - being more of a way for teenagers to rebel against their parents and the authorities in their lives, rather than actually believing in Satanism - the entire country was in a state of dissarray over the topic. Eventually, 17 year old drug dealer, and self proclamed Satanist, Ricky Kasso, would murder his friend, Gary Lauwers, in a forest in Newport, New York, while high on mescaline. Ricky had supposedly stabbed Gary 36 times, as well as slit out his eyes, leading people to believe that it was a ritualistic murder. When Ricky Kasso was eventually arrested,  it just so happened that he had been wearing an AC/DC shirt, as he had been a fan of heavy metal. This finalized the association of heavy metal and satanism in the heads of media figures, religious figures, and concerned parents looking for a scapegoat. It was this one incident that became the catalyst for a figurative war against heavy metal in the United States that would eventually spiral into the misconceptions that are commonly had about heavy metal today.

Research Question

In this paper, we will be taking a look at how heavy metal is likely not what you think it is. If you believe that heavy metal is just a way for Satanists to spread their messages, then hopefully this paper will be able to tell you that that simply isn’t the case. We will be taking a look at why certain themes that are generally seen as evil or vulgar are incorporated into the genre, and then we will look at how these themes and parts of the genre are actually used to aid the listeners with releasing emotions.

Literature Review

As explained in the previous paragraph, the vulgar lyrics that are commonly found in heavy metal today were never about promoting the themes they incorporate. Rather, they are a way for the musicians and listeners alike to release anger and aggression. A study, conducted by a pair of Australian researchers in January of 2018, found that heavy metal as a whole can provide an sort of escape route for youth who have been discriminated against, or bullied, or picked on in some way shape or form. The researchers, Paula Rowe and Bernard Guerin, interviewed a sample 18-24 year old, self proclaimed metalheads (people who associate with the metal community). It was found that all participants had been discriminated against during the time that they began listening to metal, yet all participants described how important music was to them and how impactful it has been. All participants described not only their experiences with the pseudo-theraputic effects of heavy metal as helping them through these tough times, but they also all shared a sense of welcome and belonging by the metal community. All participants described their metal identities as bringing out a form of social protection. “Rowe and Guerin found that metal not only provides a form of escape and release to youth grappling with ostracism but also provides a kind of informal therapy” (Cathcart, 2018). It is clear that from the research conducted by Rowe and Guerin that metal has quite clearly had a very positive impact on these participants, not only giving them an outlet to responsibly release their anger and aggression, but it gave a home to those who needed one. Those who felt cast aside found others they could relate with, and were able to build relationships that they likely never would have had they never found heavy metal.

Literature Review

There also happens to be scientific evidence that heavy metal music aids in the release of anger and aggression in it’s listeners. The amplitude of heavy metal music is also commonly attributed as being very high. This is without a doubt true; Heavy metal is often very loud and noisy, just as the listeners and bands prefer it to be (NoiseAddicts, 2009). The amplitude of heavy metal is another factor that aids in releasing listeners aggression. When one thinks of aggressive music, they think loud and heavy, which in turn means a high quantity of powerful sound waves, which in reality are just vibrations. According to Siebert Mariën (2019), the sacculus, which is a part of the inner ear, is directly connected to the pleasure centers of the brain. The sacculus is vibrated when sound waves enter the ear and interact with it. As the sound gets louder, its vibrations also become larger and stronger. This in turn vibrates the sacculus more than quieter music, which stimulates it further. This extra stimulation releases more endorphins. The sacculus becomes especially stimulated with lower frequencies, such as those made by bass guitars and the lower strings on distorted electric guitars, thus making heavy metal music a perfect genre for those seeking this sensation. An even more perfect subgenre is one called djent. This subgenre incorporates many deep, low frequency sounds. The name djent is actually onomatopoeia for the high-gain, distorted, palm muted, low-pitch sounds that are very common in this type of music. All of these sounds that are very commonly used in this sub-genre come together to create the perfect music for releasing aggression. There is much more to it than, it sounds good or, it has aggressive lyrics. While those are most definitely factors in heavy metal’s ability to release anger and aggression, there are much more prominent reasons that are based on science.

Literature Review

The overall sound of a certain band can most definitely be attributed to their ability to achieve the general goal of heavy metal. There exists a sub-genre of heavy metal known as Math Metal, or Mathcore. This type of metal introduces a very complex and somewhat choppy sound, that creates a chaotic, yet structured sound. One band that associates with said subgenre is Tandjent (a play on words with the mathematical term, tangent, and the new wave of heavy metal referred to as djent), that was formed in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, in 2002. This subgenre is very much accredited to helping it’s listeners achieve a similar goal to bands in different subgenres. Some listeners would even say Tandjent and other Mathcore bands such as Meshuggah, Mudvayne, The Algorithm, and a plethora of other bands and artists, make their music in a way that helps their listeners release their aggression even more efficiently (Sharman & Dingle, 2015). Because of the inherent chaos and choppy sound of Mathcore, many listeners find it easier to release aggression when listening to this subgenre. For example, guitarist Benji Bennick says, “I love how chaotic and technical Mathcore is. It’s really enjoyable to listen to because, not only does it just sound great in my opinion, but I find it really interesting to listen to because, as a guitar player, I can hear and understand the complexity of the guitar, and I think that’s really cool. And yeah, if I ever am having an off day, I’ll just put on some Meshuggah or someone similar and listen for a while, and I’ll always feel better.”(Bennick, 2019). This makes it blatantly obvious that the general aggresive and chaotic sound of heavy metal plays a part in it’s ability to relase anger and aggression. If a song sounds aggressive and angry, then you will likely feel that way while listening to said song, in turn releasing those emotions.

Conclusion

When you hear the words heavy metal, what do you think of? Do you still think of heavy metal bands encouraging your children to worship Satan? Or do you think of a highly aggressive and vulgar style of music that is designed to release anger and aggression in it’s listeners? Hopefully the latter, otherwise this paper was a waste. I can confidently say that heavy metal isn’t what most people believe it to be. It’s simlpy a genre of music that people use to release feelings of aggression and anger. I can say so for myself. Heavy metal is always a go to when I need to relax and get all of the negativity out. Along with this, it’s just enjoyable to listen to. I, along with so many others, simply enjoy the sound of it. All in all, heavy metal isn’t a way for Satanists to promote their evil cults. It isn’t a way for sadists to encourage kids to kill each other. It isn’t a way to brainwash it’s listeners into joining evil satanic cults using sulbiminal messages, or whatever fantastical nonesense people can come up with these days. It’s just a genre of music that incorporates unconventional themes to give it’s listeners a way to release their pent up emotions. If you ask me, that seems like a pretty good thing.