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Music Analysis Essay- Why Metal Endured

Related Papers

Tamás Reinicke

An overview of the history of metal music and the development of its sub-genres, with a special interest in the Scandinavian scene. Written for the 'Histories and Cultures of the Nordic Region' course in 2015.

Helen Farley

Heavy Metal Music in Britain

Eugene Martone, his Fender Telecaster slung around his shoulder, walks tentatively onto the stage. He is here to play for the soul of his friend, bluesman Willie Brown, a harmonica player who in his youth made a deal with the Devil in return for musical virtuosity. To represent his interests, Old Scratch has chosen Jack Butler, the archetypal heavy-metal guitarist: brooding, long-haired with leather pants and a bad attitude. Butler carelessly lugs a heavy-metal axe onto the stage and the contest begins. Initially, it sounds as if Butler has the edge. His screaming, distorted guitar soars and crashes, transcending the blues as his fingers fly supernaturally up and down the fretboard. Strings are bent to breaking in this display of awesome virtuosity. It looks all over for Martone but from somewhere the unsure youth conjures complicated classical riffs and intoxicating rhythms in a dazzling display of speed and musical genius. He snatches Brown’s soul back from Scratch as Butler, unable to match the youngster’s prowess, throws his guitar to the ground and stalks darkly off through the crowd.

Lewis F Kennedy

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.

David Burke

This undergraduate dissertation argues that doom metal's aesthetic can be viewed through its use of horror, occult and psychedelic imagery, and analyses artworks from various bands to illustrate this.

deena weinstein

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.

Eric Smialek

Extreme metal music, a conglomeration of metal subgenres unified by a common interest in transgressive sounds and imagery, is now a global phenomenon with thriving scenes in every inhabited continent. Its individual subgenres represent a range of diverse aesthetics, some with histories spanning over thirty years. Scholarship on extreme metal now boasts a similar diversity as well as its own history spanning nearly two decades. With the rise of metal studies as an emerging field of scholarship, the scholarly literature on extreme metal has increased exponentially within the past seven years supported by annual conferences, the establishment of the International Society for Metal Music Studies (ISMMS), and a specialized journal (Metal Music Studies). Despite this growth, the field is still characterized by what sociologist Keith Kahn-Harris has called “undoubtedly the most critical weakness in metal studies as it stands: the relative paucity of detailed musicological analyses on metal” (Kahn-Harris 2011, 252). This blind spot in the literature is so pervasive that Sheila Whiteley began her preface to Andrew Cope’s Black Sabbath and the Rise of Heavy Metal Music with the exclamation, “At last! A book about heavy metal as music” (Cope 2010, xi). As the first book-length musicological study of extreme metal, this dissertation responds to this critical gap by outlining, in previously unattempted detail, a wide range of genre conventions and semiotic codes that form the basis of aesthetic expression in extreme metal. Using an interdisciplinary mixture of literary genre theory, semiotics, music theory and analysis, acoustics, and linguistics, this dissertation presents a broad overview of extreme metal’s musical, verbal, and visual-symbolic systems of meaning. Part I: Interconnected Contexts and Paratexts begins with a critical survey of genre taxonomies, showing how their implicit logic masks value judgments and overlooks aspects of genre that are counterintuitive. This leads to an investigation of boundary discourses that reveals how fans define extreme metal negatively according to those subgenres and categories of identity that they treat as abject Others: nu metal, screamo, and deathcore as well as their associations with blackness, femininity, and adolescence. Part I concludes with a thick description of death metal and black metal that shows how its lyrics, album reviews, album artwork, band logos, and font styles collectively provide messages about the semantics of genre, most notably by drawing upon archetypes of the sublime and, in the case of raw black metal, the dystopian imagery of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century woodcut engravings. Part II: Analyzing Musical Texts synthesizes large corpus studies of musical recordings with close readings of individual songs. This section begins with a demonstration of how technical death metal bands Cannibal Corpse, Demilich, and Spawn of Possession play with listener expectations towards meter, syntax, and musical complexity to create pleasurable forms of disorientation that reward active and repeated listenings. It proceeds to investigate musical accessibility and formal salience in melodic death metal, showing through examples by In Flames and Soilwork how the notion of melody pervades this music and contributes to its sense of rhetoric. Part II concludes with a study of musical expression in extreme metal vocals. Using discussions and recordings from a vocalist participant, a corpus study of eighty-five songs that begin with wordless screams, and close readings of excerpts by Morbid Angel, Zimmers Hole, and At the Gates, I demonstrate that the acoustical features of vowel formants are central to vocal expression in extreme metal, enabling vocalists to mimic large beasts in a way that fans find convincing and powerful.

Heavy metal and rap are the two most established popular music genres in the world. They are also the most studied and debated. Classified by social psychologists North and Hargreaves as ‘problem music’, heavy metal and rap have, for nearly forty years, been subjected to rigorous research surrounding accusations of causing deviant behaviour in individuals who listen to these types of music. This dissertation explores these ‘problem music’ genres within three contexts - musicological, subcultural and sociological - in order to ascertain whether there is sufficient evidence that heavy metal and rap cause deviant behaviour. During this process, it has become clear that correlation is all too often mistaken for cause. It is proposed that these subcultures do not cause deviance and that any relationship between the two is purely correlative. By researching the familial, environmental and social backgrounds of ‘problem music’ subcultures, this common denominator emerges. Forthwith, an unexpected outcome of this study becomes clear, as positive light is shed on heavy metal and hip-hop as beneficial contributors to society. It is suggested that, as prevalent as they are, heavy metal, initially a youth subculture, and hip-hop, conceived as the subculture of black expression, should be studied in terms of a chronology of society since, respectively, World War II and the Vietnam War. It is no coincidence that after WWII, teenagers enjoyed freedom of expression for the first time; and that, after the Vietnam War, the black population started moving towards more effective vehicles for their own expression. As both ‘problem music’ subcultures have evolved demographically over the past forty years, so too have society’s attitudes towards youth and race. Today, ‘problem music’ subcultures are feared less for their alleged effects on deviant behaviour, as their phenomenal presence within society’s contemporary structure has become clear and their roles as narrators of society have become more apparent in pyschological, educational, cultural, musical and sociological terms. Ask author before citation. (c) Pippa Lang 2015

Journal of Popular Music Studies

This essay illuminates the construction of a newer, blacker, and heavier recollection of metal’s aesthetic potential. By analyzing recordings and popular press articles, and reading these through the historical and theoretical observations of academic metal studies, I argue that the precondition of 1990s black metal was the exhaustion of death metal aesthetics coinciding with the emergence of a more international metal scene. In the 90s, death metal—once undisputedly the heaviest of all metals—had become unspectacular, too familiar, and as a result less heavy. Innovating a sound heavier than death entailed a subcultural reorientation towards recordings forgotten under death metal’s hegemonic moment. In retracing black metal’s sonic origins, one finds that one of the most remarkable things about its success was that black metal had previously been the sound of amateurism, incompetence, and failure. The following essay examines how such an aesthetic turn takes place.

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Heavy metal music may have a bad reputation, but it has numerous mental health benefits for fans

Summary: Heavy metal music may have a bad reputation, but a new study reveals the music has positive mental health benefits for its fans.

Source: The Conversation

Due to its extreme sound and aggressive lyrics, heavy metal music is often associated with controversy. Among the genre’s most contentious moments, there have been instances of blasphemous merchandise, accusations of promoting suicide and blame for mass school shootings. Why, then, if it’s so “bad”, do so many people enjoy it? And does this music genre really have a negative effect on them?

There are many reasons why people align themselves with genres of music. It may be to feel a sense of belonging, because they enjoy the sound, identify with the lyrical themes, or want to look and act a certain way. For me, as a quiet, introverted teenager, my love of heavy metal was probably a way to feel a little bit different to most people in my school who liked popular music and gain some internal confidence. Plus, I loved the sound of it.

I first began to listen to heavy metal when I was 14 or 15 years old when my uncle recorded a ZZ Top album for me and I heard singles by AC/DC and Bon Jovi. After that, I voraciously read music magazines Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Metal Forces, and RAW, and checked out as many back catalogs of artists as I could. I also grew my hair (yes, I had a mullet … twice), wore a denim jacket with patches (thanks mum), and attended numerous concerts by established artists like Metallica and The Wildhearts, as well as local Bristol bands like Frozen Food.

Over the years, there has been much research into the effects of heavy metal. I have used it as one of the conditions in my own studies exploring the impact of sound on performance. More specifically, I have used thrash metal (a fast and aggressive sub-genre of heavy metal) to compare music our participants liked and disliked (with metal being the music the did not enjoy). This research showed that listening to music you dislike, compared to music that you like, can impair spatial rotation (the ability to mentally rotate objects in your mind), and both liked and disliked music are equally damaging to short-term memory performance.

Other researchers have studied more specifically why people listen to heavy metal, and whether it influences subsequent behavior. For people who are not fans of heavy metal, listening to the music seems to have a negative impact on well-being. In one study , non-fans who listened to classical music, heavy metal, self-selected music, or sat in silence following a stressor, experienced greater anxiety after listening to heavy metal. Listening to the other music or sitting in silence, meanwhile, showed a decrease in anxiety. Interestingly heart rate and respiration decreased over time for all conditions.

Metalheads and headbangers

Looking further into the differences between heavy metal fans and non-fans, research has shown that fans tend to be more open to new experiences, which manifests itself in preferring music that is intense, complex, and unconventional, alongside a negative attitude towards institutional authority. Some do have lower levels of self-esteem, however, and a need for uniqueness.

One might conclude that this and other negative behaviors are the results of listening to heavy metal, but the same research suggests that it may be that listening to music is cathartic. Late adolescent/early adult fans also tend to have higher levels of depression and anxiety but it is not known whether the music attracts people with these characteristics or causes them.

Despite the often violent lyrical content in some heavy metal songs, recently published research has shown that fans do not become sensitized to violence , which casts doubt on the previously assumed negative effects of long-term exposure to such music. Indeed, studies have shown long-terms fans were happier in their youth and better adjusted in middle age compared to their non-fan counterparts. Another finding that fans who were made angry and then listened to heavy metal music did not increase their anger but increased their positive emotions suggests that listening to extreme music represents a healthy and functional way of processing anger.

Other investigations have made rather unusual findings on the effects of heavy metal. For example, you might not want to put someone in charge of adding hot sauce to your food after listening to the music, as a study showed that participants added more to a person’s cup of water after listening to heavy metal than when listening to nothing at all.

Finally, heavy metal can promote scientific thinking but alas not just by listening to it. Educators can promote scientific thinking by posing claims such as listening to certain genres of music is associated with violent thinking. By examining the aforementioned accusations of violence and offense – which involved world-famous artists like Cradle of Filth, Ozzy Osbourne, and Marilyn Manson – students can engage in scientific thinking, exploring logical fallacies, research design issues, and thinking biases.

So, you beautiful people, whether you’re heading out to the highway to hell or the stairway to heaven, walk this way. Metal can make you feel like nothing else matters. It’s so easy to blow your speakers and shout it out loud. Dig!

About this neuroscience research article

Source: The Conversation Media Contacts: Nick Perham – The Conversation Image Source: The image is adapted from The Conversation news release.

The reality is the relationship between metal and it’s fans can only be understood by said fans. Non-metal listeners will *never* understand what this music does for us, what it means to us, and the positive outlook it can breed. Such is the workings of the human ego.

Oh boy, making people listen to commercialized pop music and claiming that it’s metal… Why am I not surprised?

Bullshit. Heavy metal breeds pychos.

What the music lacks in harmonic diversity it makes up for in repetition.

I am 65 and from NZ. Love all sorts of live music and dancing. Belong to a ladies choir, do latin dancing, have done a mashall art and am in a long term relationship. Found Heavy Metal about 5 years ago. Love the live gigs, amazing……fast, loud and hard plus sweat.. The fans come for the music and the intense release of energy, but at all times respect each other. Gigs always start on time. And men there are there for the total expireance not to chat women up like at pop concerts. Best total body experience you can have and my last concert was in Warsaw, Poland…Alien Weaponry from NZ plus a Polish band….even if you don’t know the words you can sing full pellet. Everyone must try it

My opinion is that someone must be smoking pot, shooting smack, crack or any other mind blowing drug to think heavy metal promotes scientific thinking. HA! HA! HA!

I enjoy and learn from the articles published here. However I have a problem when I want to share some of them with family, friends, etc… Please, give me access to send information through email or gmail; it is better and faster… Thank you!

Comments are closed.

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The Culture of Heavy Metal Research Paper

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Introduction

Issues surrounding the culture of heavy metal culture.

Metal is a category of music that developed in the late 60s. It originated from the rock and blues music (Kahn-Harris, 2007). This music is identified by fast and powerful rhythms. It also uses electric and often distorted guitar, which is regarded as an important driving force. Many styles and sub genres of metal music have emerged over the last fifty years.

The metal music is still regarded as music. However, due to its bellicose sound and ‘darker’ themes such as black T-shirt and the fashion style adored by fans, head banging, the lyrical themes, and the general aloofness to popularity, the music has come to be largely considered as an evil culture. This is the case especially in conservative and authoritarian societies such as the Middle East and North Africa.

Most of the musicians when interviewed defend the Heavy Metal music by saying all music is a culture. Therefore, the debate has been on which between content or theme is more salient. It is necessary to note that Metal is quite broad as a style of music, with a variety of topics being addressed in the music.

Some bands are solely interested in fantasy. Other new bands that have emerged are now addressing national heritage or even religion. However, the majority of the Metal bands tend to show interest in historical aspects as a source of inspiration. The bigger question is whether people including fans view it as a message. Some scholars argue that the fans are mainly kids who just want to flow with the rhythm and do not care much about the message.

However, there has been a growing call asking Metal musicians to beware of what they sing about since music has some inadvertent influence on the listener and several teenage suicides has been attributed to the influence that Metal music has on the victims. Even metal fans would not contemplate the idea of Islamic metal. However, there is an underground movement of the metal culture in these countries that largely continues to remain discreet.

Unconventional music in the Middle East is mainly political (Levine, 2009). In the Middle East, this metal culture provides a prospective model for popular resistance.

Those who observe the metal culture in the Middle East, and who are mainly radicals, seeking to create a different system that forms up an open and democratic culture right from the ground to the top. This without a doubt puts these radicals against the interests of both the political, commercial, and religious elites in their countries. In the Arab world, metal is largely associated with Satanism.

Commentators in the media industry have claimed there is a connection between the rise of satanic ideas (Metal Culture) and the Zionist enemy. Supporters of metal culture in the Middle East, where regimes have been known to crackdown on dissidents, have little chance of overcoming the repression from key stakeholders in society. The only viable way that offers survival is hibernation or rather to remain to operate in secret (Phillipov, 2012).

In the western societies, the metal culture consoles those who feel alienated from society. It highlights rebellion, celebrates individual pride, it gives a sense of belonging to introverts and allows followers to vent anger and frustrations that might else be overwhelming.

Metal scenes cultural codes and symbols can be said to have certain proximity to the Christian symbols. This makes it unfamiliar to predominantly Muslim societies (Hecker, 2005). However, the culture has also challenged Christian beliefs. The culture employs some anti-Christian iconography symbols to represent a rebellion, perhaps against then moral chains that Christianity inflicts on the self-determined gratification of individual needs and thoughts.

This culture goes further to use ‘symbols of evil’ extensively in its culture. These symbols include: depiction of the devil; the inverted cross- which is borrowed from the execution of Saint Peter who was crucified with his head down as a sign of scorning Christianity; and the number 666 which signifies the impending apocalypse in the Book of Revelation.

Other symbols are elements of pagan customs such as the Pentagram, Thor’s Hammer, and overt sexual illustrations and a variety of human and animal skulls. In all societies, the metal culture has adopted different symbols. For example, in the west, anti Christian symbols have been used. If the symbols are transferred to a Muslim context, they are likely to lose meaning.

Therefore, the metal followers in the Middle East have attempted to pick symbols that are anti Islam, even though they have been quite unsuccessful (Wageningen, 2007). The symbols are supposed to have defiance connotations. Metal followers in Israel wanted to use the Star of David, but given it is not easy to distort, they picked the inverted cross.

The Black Metal movement is mainly dominated by Scandinavian bands. It is very disdainful of Christianity and uses symbols that allude to pre-Christian pagan codes. In the Scandinavia, these symbols are usually symbols of deities from ancient Scandinavian mythology.

These symbols have been accepted by Islamic followers of Heavy Metal culture. Perhaps this explains the rise in popularity of Scandinavian Bands in some Muslim countries such as Turkey. It is interesting to note that these symbols have had a lot of confusion and misunderstandings with them arising from the politicization. In some Middle Eastern countries, social analysts often confuse the Hexagram and the Pentagram (LeVine, 2008).

In North Africa’s Morocco, the pentagram is recognized national emblem and appears on the national flag. For Muslims in Morocco, the Pentagram is seen to represent the five pillars of Islam. Further, the public media in Morocco inaccurately associate the Star of David with the Heavy Metal culture.

Band members in Acrassicauda, which is the Iraqi’s only heavy-metal band, has had to put up a spirited fight to survive. The group was formed in 2001. Its formation was influenced by Metallica and Slayer among others. After its formation, there were immediate threats from conservatives who regarded their music satanic- the band could not play in public and the mere practices became very risky (Jonze, 2008).

They had to run away and would later seek asylum in Syria- a more tolerant society. In Iraq, the first Heavy Metal female musician is largely known, but her identity still remains a secret. In all her photos, she is always smeared with layers of paint thus rendering her anonymous.

Although raised in a Muslim home which she says was not strict, her parents were later killed by a Muslim suicide bomber during the war. This motivated her to rebel against her Muslim colleagues, producing such controversial albums as one titled “Burn the Fucking Koran”.

Despite their apparent popularity, most Heavy Metal Bands do not perform in public places. They operate underground mainly using Facebook and the internet to communicate with their fans (Kelly, 2012). Even fans sometimes find it hard to express their support. Simple acts such as the tattoo will lead to an arrest for satanic acts. Support for metal in some of these countries is punishable by law.

However, not all Muslim countries detest the Heavy Metal culture. Morocco allows artists to use Heavy Metal music. Muslim countries in the Middle East that are more tolerant to Heavy Metal culture include Turkey, UAE, Syria, and Jordan. Other countries such as Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia have been very hostile towards this culture. Israel, although not a Muslim state, has allowed some freedom to heavy metal musicians.

Israel is also home to Orphaned Land, and the Heavy Metal band credited as the pioneer of Middle Eastern Metal. The Orphaned Band is an interesting reference to some of the advantages that come with The Heavy Metal culture. The band is particularly known not to be overtly political. It has used music to turn perceived foes into friends and have consistently collaborated with Arab and Muslim musicians.

Their fame transcended political rivalry as was seen when an Iranian magazine featured the band on the front cover. Their music is also done in English, Arabic, and Hebrew are thus appealing to a large audience in the Middle East. On their Facebook page, fans are from all over the Middle East including more than ten thousand fans from Turkey.

From the discussion, it is clear that Heavy Metal music and culture have gained some popularity. However, they are yet to be fully accepted into the society. It is only prudent for supporters of this culture operate with caution given the dangers they face from these societies. However, it is also important that the Middle-Eastern societies begin to be more tolerant towards supporters of Heavy Music since it is clear the music has some advantages such as creating harmony between Jews and Muslims.

Hecker, P. (2005). Heavy Metal in a Muslim context . Web.

Jonze, S (Executive Producer). (2008). Heavy Metal Baghdad [DVD]. Vice Films.

Kahn-Harris, K. (2007). Extreme metal: Music and culture on the edge . Oxford [u.a.: Berg.

Kelly, K. (2012). When Black Metal’s Anti-Religious Message Gets Turned on Islam . Web.

LeVine, M. (2008). Heavy metal Islam: Rock, resistance, and the struggle for the soul of Islam . New York: Three Rivers Press.

Levine, M. (2009). Heavy Metal Muslims: the Rise of a Post-Islamist Public Sphere . Web.

Phillipov, M. (2012). Death metal and music criticism: Analysis at the limits . Lanham, Md: Lexington Books.

Wageningen, M. (2007). Cultural Heritage and History in the Metal Scene . Web.

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — Music Industry — Metallica’s Enduring Influence on Music

Metallica's Enduring Influence on Music

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Metal Music Composition: Evolution of Structure, Expression, and Production

Edited by Ciro Scotto and Lori Burns

With this collection of essays, we aim to examine metal music composition as a practice that comprises a complex gathering of formal musical, expressive, and technological parameters. Designed to address each of the building blocks of metal composition in the context of the evolution of metal subgenres over decades of development, we invite expert metal analysts to contribute a chapter on one of the specific elements: structures (including form, riff, harmony, rhythm, and meter); instruments (examining the role of the guitar, bass, kit, keyboards, additional instrumentation); voices (featuring a range of vocal techniques and styles); and productions (demonstrating the role of gear, capturing, processing, andmixing technologies). All of these elements are meant to be examined with the aim of building an understanding of metal music composition.

The editors will introduce the volume with a reflection on the aesthetics of metal music composition, establishing some fundamental principles that we understand to ground the meta-genre of metal music: heaviness and distortion; subgenre distinctions; liveness and staging practices; gendered expression; and lyrical messages and meanings. It is expected that these five guiding principles will emerge throughout the volume, in the context of the discussions of individual compositional elements.

Through the curation of this volume of essays, the editors hope to illuminate the story of metal history through its compositional elements. The experience of appreciating metal and understanding metal will guide the writing of these chapters. Authors will focus on a technique or topic and demonstrate with a few key examples how the technique or topic contributed to the evolution of metal composition. Authors are encouraged to adopt the following aims: to draw from a range of bands in order to represent the diversity of musicians and vocalists at a global level; to avoid a case study approach; to offer a reflection on metal composition across the meta-genre; and to demystify some of the conventional thinking that does not do justice to modern metal.

No existing studies of metal focus on musical composition in this complex meta-genre. While many monographs and collected editions on metal music are in circulation, they typically focus on sociological and cultural factors, leading to a refined understanding of the socio-cultural messages and meanings of metal subgenres and specific bands. While these issues are fundamental to metal music expression and the growing diversity of metal musicians, the field is missing a comprehensive music-analytic exploration of the “compositional” parameters of this significant music meta-genre.

In using the term “composition” we are referring to a range of musical content that emerges in metal music. Arising from collaborative, performative, and improvisational approaches to song-writing, metal songs are organized musical compositions that feature highly technical and specific formal designs, harmonic/melodic structures, rhythmic/metric structures, gestures/patterns, and instrumentation, and vocal techniques and effects. Since processing technologies and production values are significant elements in metal music composition, articles in this section will demonstrate how production techniques expand the metal compositional space beyond pitch and rhythm.

We encourage contributions from a diverse set of authors, representing diversity of perspective as well as experience within their academic careers (from emergent to senior scholars). Contributions will be approximately 6500 words.

Proposal length : 200-300 words, with 1-2 sentences included on how the proposal fits with this project.

*Deadline extended to 31st March 2022*

Address for submissions : [email protected] or [email protected]

Organization of the Volume:

Aesthetics (to be written by Burns and Scotto)

Structures (Riffs, heavy chord structures, harmonic design, rhythmic and metric structures, song forms)

Instruments (guitar as compositional generator, kit as compositional foundation, the role of the bass, expanding instrumentation)

Voices (vocal techniques, vocal heaviness, harshness, and the extremes of vocal range, operatic vocals, extreme oppositions)

Productions (gear, capture, production, mixing, producing)

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The Enduring Metal Genius of Metallica

The members of Metallica Photographed by Ian Allen.

The merch preceded them. Forty-eight hours before Metallica performed in Las Vegas, restaurants and bars along the Strip were crammed full of pilgrims dressed in branded gear: T-shirts, jerseys, sweatshirts, sneakers, tank tops, hats, beanies, socks, wristwatches. The most grizzled devotees wore fraying denim vests decorated with several decades’ worth of patches. Metallica’s licensing team estimates that about a hundred and twenty million Metallica T-shirts have been sold since 1995. The motifs are iconic. There’s the one where a hand clutching a dagger emerges from a toilet, alongside the phrase “Metal Up Your Ass.” There’s the one where a skull is wearing scrubs and performing brain surgery with a fork, a knife, and its fangs. There’s the one where the skull has a fistful of stumpy straws and is announcing, “This shortest straw has been pulled for you!” You get the idea.

Metallica is now in its forty-first year. The band was a progenitor, along with Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth, of thrash, a subgenre of heavy metal marked by thick, suffocating riffs, played with astonishing speed. Lyrical themes include death, despair, power, grief, and wrath. Though metal is often dismissed as underground music—frantic, savage, niche—Metallica has sold some hundred and twenty-five million records to date, putting the band on par, commercially, with Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z. It is the only musical group to have performed on all seven continents in a single calendar year. (In 2013, Metallica played a ten-song set in Antarctica for a group of research scientists and contest winners; because of the fragile ice formations, the band’s amplifiers were placed in isolation cabinets, and the concert was broadcast through headphones.) Since 1990, every Metallica album has débuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

In 2009, Metallica was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. A speech was given by Flea, the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who described the band’s music as “this beautiful, violent thing that was unlike anything I’d ever heard before in my life,” and called its motivation pure. “This is outsider music, and for it to do what it has done is truly mind-blowing,” he said. Metallica is the only metal group to have had its music added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. Kim Kardashian has been photographed in a Metallica shirt on at least two occasions. Beavis sported one for the entire nine-season run of “Beavis and Butt-Head.” Though the band has made adjustments to its sound through the years—some minor, some seismic, all irritating to certain subsets of its fan base—it’s hard to think of another act that has outlasted the whims of the culture with such vigor. The band recently finished writing and recording its eleventh record, which will be released next year. “Metallica are the Marines of metal,” Scott Ian, a founder of Anthrax, told me recently. “First one in, last one out.”

Metallica’s current lineup includes the singer and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield and the drummer Lars Ulrich, both of whom co-founded the band; the lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, who joined in 1983; and the bassist Robert Trujillo, a member since 2003. Hetfield—fifty-nine, tall, graying at the temples—moves with the confident saunter of a well-armed cowboy. Ulrich, fifty-eight, radiates so much kinetic energy that it’s hard to imagine him yawning. Hammett, fifty-nine, and Trujillo, fifty-eight, are the band’s gentle, long-haired surfers, jazz enthusiasts disinclined to dramatics. If Hetfield is Metallica’s heart—its musical center and primary lyricist—Ulrich is its brain, a visionary who instinctively understands cultural terrain.

The night before the Vegas show, the band gathered at Allegiant Stadium for sound check. A scrum of about a dozen people, mostly from Metallica’s touring crew, stood on the floor to watch. (The band’s full road team has at least a hundred members.) Derek Carr, the quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders, appeared, looking as though he were resisting an intense urge to play air guitar. Some clients of the private-plane company NetJets sat in the stands, enjoying specialty cocktails and cheering. The band periodically gathered around Ulrich’s drum kit. “Is there anything anyone wants to run?” Ulrich asked. But everyone knew what to do. At one point, Trujillo glanced out at the vacant seats and dad-joked, “I thought we were playing a sold-out show.” Even in a mostly empty stadium, the band sounded powerful, lucid, heavy.

A photograph of the band Metallica in 1984.

The next afternoon, a pre-show event was scheduled for the House of Blues, somewhere in the belly of the Mandalay Bay casino. I sent a series of increasingly disoriented texts to a friend—“I’m in the casino, where are you?” “I’m in the casino?”—before we found each other. We were both wearing vintage T-shirts featuring the cemetery-themed art from “Master of Puppets,” the band’s third album.

At the bar, we lined up for plastic cups of the band’s own Blackened whiskey, a bourbon-rye blend that’s finished in brandy casks while Metallica songs blare from large speakers. A product description credits the music with enhancing the spirit’s flavor: “The whiskey is pummeled by low-hertz soundwaves which force the whiskey deeper into the wood of the barrel, where it picks up additional wood flavor characteristics.” It tasted nice. You could feel an anticipatory flutter in the air. COVID -19 had grounded Metallica for long stretches of 2020 and 2021. (My backstage pass featured a skull with a wispy Mohawk self-administering a COVID test—the results, of course, were positive.) Fans were slapping one another on the back, hooting about how much they had missed this. The feeling was: Let’s pop off. People were ready to have a good-ass time—to drink too many beers, to forget their earplugs, to buy a new Metallica T-shirt with demons on it and wiggle it on over an old Metallica T-shirt with demons on it, to headbang, to contort their fingers into devil’s horns and thrust them upward, to go “Ahhh!” when the pyro shot off, to shriek “Searching . . . seek and destroy!” along with fifty thousand other wild-eyed people, to turn to a friend and mouth “Yo!” when someone was soloing. Greta Van Fleet, a young rock band from Michigan, was opening for Metallica throughout the year. “Metallica has curated their own culture, and you can see the impact that’s had when you look out into the audience,” Greta Van Fleet’s singer, Josh Kiszka, told me. “Driving to the venue, it’s Metallica everywhere. That’s part of how the band has changed the world a little bit.”

From afar, it is easy to see Metallica as an instigating force—an accelerant, turning unruly hooligans more unruly. But that idea alone can’t sustain a devoted following for decades. As we sipped our whiskey, my companion, August Thompson, a Metallica fan since his boyhood in rural New Hampshire, told me his favorite lyric, from “Escape,” a thick and charging song from “Ride the Lightning” (1984): “Life’s for my own, to live my own way.” Hetfield repeats the sentiment, with slightly different phrasing, on “Nothing Else Matters,” a song from “Metallica” (1991): “Life is ours, we live it our way.” “For people like me, who always felt out of place in a hyper-violent world, and the hyper-violence that is masculinity, there’s a lot of solace in that,” Thompson said. Metallica’s music is rooted in feelings of marginalization, and the band, despite its achievements, has found a way to maintain that point of view for more than forty years. It makes sense that people are drawn to Metallica’s music, because they’re ill at ease in a culture that relentlessly valorizes things (money, love, straight teeth) that are very easy to be born without.

That night, Metallica opened its set with “Whiplash,” from “Kill ’Em All,” its début album. On the floor, mosh pits formed; from the stands, they resembled tiny riptides, bodies circling one another, sometimes submitting to a menacing current but mostly just orbiting. If you squinted, it almost looked like an ancient folk dance—something that might happen at a Greek wedding, late, after people had been drinking. “I think the best seat in the arena is the second tier up, where you get to see the band but you also get to see all the fans,” Hetfield told me later. “Forget the band—look at the audience.”

These days, the set list is mostly old songs, and the vibe is largely benevolent. Hetfield’s voice is low and scratchy, and can shift from contemplative to feral in a single note. He is prone to ending his phrases with a tight, curled snarl. He can still transform a “Yeah!” into a vast and terrifying invocation. He can also be tender and earnest, which has recently led fans to call him Papa Het. “This song goes out to all who struggle,” Hetfield said before “Fade to Black,” a ballad about suicide. “If you think you’re the only one, it’s a lie. You can talk to your friends, talk to somebody, because you are not alone.”

The band closed its encore with “Enter Sandman,” another single from “Metallica.” Even if metal is not your bag, it’s hard to deny the menacing perfection of the song’s opening riff: an E-minor chord, a wah-wah pedal, a sense that something dark and creepy is about to happen. During the chorus, I looked over at Thompson, who had the dazed and exuberant look of someone who had been cured of a disease by an itinerant preacher. All around us, people were rapt, ecstatic, and free. “I get up there and sing, and I watch people change,” Hetfield told me.

Hetfield was born in Downey, California, in 1963. His mother, Cynthia, had two sons from a previous marriage. His father, Virgil, had fought in the Second World War and started a trucking company when he returned to California. “He did not have a great childhood,” Hetfield said of his father. “My grandfather was some crazy musician who came through town, and then off he went—imagine that,” he added, laughing. His parents were devout Christian Scientists, and had met in church, where Virgil helped lead a weekly service. But Hetfield never connected with the religion. “It felt lonely,” he said. “When my dad was up there reading from the Scriptures, he was getting tears in his eyes. It moved him. I didn’t get it. I thought something was wrong with me.” Hetfield recalled being embarrassed when he wasn’t allowed to attend health class, or receive a physical to play football. “I still carry shame about that,” he said. “How different we were to people.”

When Hetfield was thirteen, his father left. “I went off to church camp, and I came back and he was gone,” he recalled. Two years later, his mother developed cancer, but refused medical treatment on religious grounds. “We watched her wither to nothing,” he said. “She had religion around her, inside her. She had practitioners coming over. But the cancer was stronger.” Hetfield is still not entirely sure what type of cancer she had. “Probably something really curable,” he said. For a long time, Hetfield was angry that his mother had rebuffed doctors. “I thought she cared more about religion than she did her kids,” he said. “It wasn’t talked about, either—if you’re talking about it, you’re giving it power, and you want to take power away from it. So admitting that you’re sick, that’s a no-no. We just saw it happening.” Cynthia died when Hetfield was sixteen. “There was nothing solid to stand on,” he said. “I felt extremely lost.” On “The God That Failed,” an angry, punishing cut from “Metallica,” Hetfield sings about the experience: “Broken is the promise, betrayal / The healing hand held back by the deepened nail.”

Ulrich had a very different sort of childhood. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark, in 1963. His father, Torben, was both a professional tennis player and a jazz critic (the saxophonist Dexter Gordon was Ulrich’s godfather), and his family was worldly and cultured. (“We ate McDonald’s, he ate herring,” Hetfield once said of the cultural divide.) Ulrich came to the U.S. in 1979, when he was fifteen, to attend tennis camp. He ended up at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, in Bradenton, Florida. He had been a promising youth player in Denmark, but he found the strictures of American athletic training stifling. “Curfew at 9 P . M ., ten o’clock lights out, four to a bunk room, and then wake up and eat cornflakes and start hitting forehands down the line for four hours, and then backhands crosscourt for the next four hours,” he said. “That was just too stringent and disciplined for me.” When Ulrich was sixteen, his family relocated to Newport Beach, California. “In Denmark, I was at the very top end of my age group in the whole country,” he said. “When I went to qualify for the tennis team at Corona del Mar High School, I wasn’t one of the seven best tennis players at Corona del Mar High School. I don’t think I was one of the seven best tennis players on the street that I lived on.” Ulrich switched his focus to music. He was captivated by what was then called the New Wave of British Heavy Metal—bands that mixed the fury and speed of punk rock with the density and danger of metal. “When people would go, ‘Heavy metal? You mean like Kansas and Van Halen and Styx and Journey?,’ I’d go, ‘No, like Angel Witch or Saxon or Diamond Head or the Tygers of Pan Tang,’ ” he said.

Guard outside castle holding a giant toothbrush.

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In 1981, Ulrich, seeking musicians interested in starting a band, placed a classified ad in the back of The Recycler , a free periodical that was originally known as E-Z Buy E-Z Sell . A friend of Hetfield’s answered the ad, and Hetfield tagged along. “He was painfully shy,” Ulrich said. “We instantly bonded over the fact that we were loners and outsiders, and open to a best-friend relationship. Neither of us had really found who we were yet.” Though their approaches to songwriting were different—“He looks at music as a math equation, I look at it as a flowing river,” Hetfield said—they complemented each other. “Both of us were dreamers. At our best, our relationship was completely free of competitive energy or one-up-ness,” Ulrich said. “But then when there were other people in the room it became ‘Who is leading?’ ”

Hetfield and Ulrich recruited a second guitarist, Dave Mustaine, by placing another ad in The Recycler . In 1982, Hetfield and Ulrich saw a group called Trauma perform at the Whisky a Go Go, a club on the Sunset Strip. They were awed by Cliff Burton, Trauma’s twenty-year-old bass player, and began trying to persuade him to join Metallica. Scott Ian, of Anthrax, said, “There was Cliff in his flares and his Lynyrd Skynyrd pin”—an affront to the punk-indebted aesthetics of the thrash scene, which included leather jackets, hefty boots, and studded belts. Unlike the members of Metallica, Burton had some musical training. He played fingerpicked bass with the boldness and harmonic sophistication of a guitarist. “He was always doing tricky stuff that would make me think, Fuck, man, where is this guy getting this from?” Kirk Hammett said. “He was just so . . . musical.”

In order to get Burton, who was based in El Cerrito, a small city across the bay from San Francisco, Hetfield and Ulrich agreed to move there, renting an unassuming house on Carlson Boulevard and rehearsing in the garage. Mustaine moved into a unit on Burton’s grandmother’s property. Times were lean. “We’d find a tomato and some mayonnaise and make tomato sandwiches and think we were highbrow metalheads,” Mustaine recalled. Ulrich described the band’s early days as feeling immediate, uncomplicated: “There was only that moment, and ‘Where’s the beer?’ ”

In early 1983, Metallica was signed by Jonny Zazula—better known as Jonny Z.—a part-time concert promoter who sold heavy-metal records at an indoor flea market on Route 18 in East Brunswick, New Jersey. It was still difficult to buy imported metal albums at mainstream record shops, and a scene of sorts had sprung up around Zazula’s booth. One weekend, Zazula asked Scott Ian if he wanted to hear “No Life ’Til Leather,” a seven-song demo that Metallica recorded before Burton joined. The songs were raw and deranged, distinguished by the band’s adolescent mania and Hetfield’s tendency to down-pick, which resulted in a thicker, heavier feel. “Holy fuck,” Ian said. “Nothing sounded like that before Metallica. Straight up. It was like electricity was coming out of the tape player. Jonny Z. said, ‘I’m bringing them to New York. We’re gonna make an album.’ I’m, like, ‘You know how to do that?’ And he goes, ‘No!’ ”

Zazula and his wife, Marsha, founded Megaforce Records after shopping the Metallica demo around and failing to get an offer. When the Zazulas started Megaforce, Jonny Z. was serving a six-month sentence in a halfway house, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. (He’d been employed by a company that passed off scrap metal as tantalum, a rare element used in the manufacture of capacitors.) He spent his weekdays feeding quarters into a pay phone, attempting to book shows. “I just got caught in this passion, like there’s this little Led Zeppelin hanging out in El Cerrito, you know?” Zazula, who died earlier this year, told Mick Wall, the author of “Enter Night: A Biography of Metallica.” Zazula sent the band members fifteen hundred dollars so they could drive east in a U-Haul with their gear. In “Mustaine,” a 2010 autobiography, Mustaine remembers rolling out of bed, “bleary eyed, hungover, and smelling like bad cottage cheese,” and noticing the truck parked out front. “We stopped for beer less than a mile after pulling out of the driveway and remained in a drunken stupor for most of the trip,” he wrote.

Although Mustaine was integral to Metallica’s early sound and songwriting, Hetfield and Ulrich felt that his ferocious drinking made him a liability—no small feat in a group that would later embrace the nickname Alcoholica. Not long after Metallica arrived on the East Coast, Mustaine was handed a bus ticket back to California. “I went to the only place that I could go to—my mom’s—and started over,” Mustaine said. That year, he formed Megadeth, which has sold fifty million records to date, and which recently released its sixteenth album, “The Sick, the Dying . . . and the Dead!”

Mark Whitaker, who managed Exodus, another Bay Area metal band, suggested Kirk Hammett, Exodus’s twenty-year-old lead guitarist, to replace Mustaine. Hammett was born in San Francisco in 1962. He liked comic books and horror movies, and his mother, who was Filipino, turned him on to Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Hammett wasn’t close with his father, a merchant marine. “When he drank, he was violent. When he wasn’t drunk, he was verbally abusive,” Hammett said. “I was a compulsive reader, and he would say things like ‘Kirk, he’s a bookworm, he’s not good at football,’ or whatever. I saw a lot of brutal behavior when I was a kid. Who’s the toughest? Who’s the meanest? Who’s the most dominant? Some of that rubbed off on me.”

That spring, Metallica invited Hammett to come east to audition. It was his first time outside California. “I might as well have landed on Mars,” Hammett told me. He had first encountered the band at a metal showcase in San Francisco. “James was quiet, and probably the skinniest person I’d ever seen. Lars . . . I’d never seen someone so European-looking. I was from the hood, you know? I grew up around a bunch of Mexicans, Filipinos, Chinese, and African Americans. I didn’t see Europeans. I didn’t even see full-on white people.” The meeting was brief, and blurred by alcohol. “When I came out to New York, I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure they remembered me or what I looked like,” Hammett said. The first song he played with the band was “Seek and Destroy.” He got the job. At the time, Metallica was living in a run-down practice space in Jamaica, Queens. There was no heat, hot water, showers, or beds. “I would wrap my leather jacket into a pillow,” Hammett said.

“Kill ’Em All” was released on July 25, 1983, on Zazula’s Megaforce Records. Hetfield describes the record’s themes as “headbanging, death, and blood.” “Ride the Lightning” followed a year later. From the start, Metallica refused to capitulate, stylistically or otherwise, to anything happening around it. “They have, more than any other major modern band, consistently ignored what other groups were trying to do,” the critic Chuck Klosterman told me. The band members dressed as though they spent most of their days loitering outside a gas station. Their music was harsh, fast, and difficult. “We were always coming up against people who were telling us, ‘We can’t play you on the radio,’ or ‘You guys are too ugly,’ ” Hammett said.

For Metallica, the idea was never to seduce an audience, but to push it away. The fans who stuck around—who perhaps understood this as a kind of love—became devoted, and received devotion in return.

In 1984, Metallica left Megaforce, signed to Elektra Records, and agreed to a management deal with Q-Prime, a new firm specializing in heavy metal. Cliff Burnstein, an owner of Q-Prime, found that promoting Metallica to a general audience was nearly impossible. America was in the grip of a bizarre moral frenzy—the Satanic Panic, which linked heavy metal with demonic rituals—and the band had cultivated a reputation as dangerous. “When we had a tour, I would get in touch with radio stations along the way and try to get them to play Metallica,” Burnstein recalled. “The typical response I’d get was ‘No, you will never hear Metallica on our station.’ So then my response would be ‘I’d like to give you tickets to give away.’ And the typical response to that was ‘We will not even say the name Metallica on our station.’ ”

To some degree, trepidation was warranted. Burnstein recalled a show at the Felt Forum, a smaller theatre within Madison Square Garden. “During the first song, one person ripped a chair cushion off and flung it onstage. By the end of the song, there was not a cushion left on a chair,” he said. “Instead of getting paid, we paid Madison Square Garden for the damages.” At a particularly calamitous show at the Long Beach Arena, in California, “people were ripping fixtures out of the bathroom, people were hanging from the balcony,” Burnstein said. Hetfield and Ulrich later appeared on the radio to ask fans to stop trashing the venues.

But the Metallica experience was not designed to be friendly. Hetfield would sometimes antagonize the audience, growling, “Hey, any time this stuff gets too heavy for you . . . tough shit!” Offstage, the members of Metallica provoked one another, particularly Ulrich and Hetfield. Their complex, brotherly dynamic—Hetfield was possessive; Ulrich was demanding—sometimes threatened to overwhelm the band. “We would get drunk, and just start in,” Hammett said. “I remember once James got up and pushed Lars, and Lars literally flew across the room. We would see each other and start wrestling. We could be in a room of twenty people and we’d fixate on each other. No one else mattered.” To an extent, Metallica thrived on conflict. “Toxic masculinity has fuelled this band,” Hammett said. “I’m still sitting around saying, ‘O.K., I’m gonna write a really, really tough, kick-ass riff.’ Just look at my rhetoric there: tough , kick-ass riff. It’s an aggression that everyone feels, but it was ratcheted up in us—this weird masculine macho bullshit thing.”

In September, 1985, the band flew to Copenhagen to make its next album, “Master of Puppets.” The record spent seventy-two weeks on the Billboard 200, and became the band’s first album to go gold. Rolling Stone called it “pure apocalyptic dread.” Many still consider it the greatest thrash record of all time. “Master of Puppets” closes with “Damage, Inc.,” a sharp, flogging song that feels like being locked in a batting cage with a malfunctioning pitching machine. Lyrically, it offers both affirmation and absolution. “Fuck it all and fucking no regrets,” Hetfield screams.

In 1986, the band secured a slot opening for Ozzy Osbourne, the former vocalist for Black Sabbath, on the American leg of a solo tour. “I’ve had a special place in my heart for Metallica ever since they went on tour with me in the eighties,” Osbourne told me. “In my opinion, they took over where Sabbath left off, and they deserve everything they’ve achieved.” The run was a success. “Ninety per cent of the people in those sold-out arenas didn’t know who Metallica were, and they blew people’s brains out,” Scott Ian said.

Members of the band Metallica in their rehearsal space.

That fall, Metallica headlined a European tour. On September 27th, the band was travelling overnight through Sweden when its bus skidded off the road. Cliff Burton, the bassist, was tossed through a window. Hetfield, Ulrich, and Hammett stood outside in their underwear, in the stark and frigid dawn, staring at Burton’s legs while they waited for a crane to lift the bus off the rest of his body. Burton was twenty-four. His death was sudden and gruesome. Anthrax had been opening for Metallica. “We sat in a room together and just drank and drank,” Ian told me. “It was really hard for them in the late eighties, going into the nineties, never really taking the time to properly grieve or process it.” He paused. “Who knew how to do that?”

Less than a month after Burton’s death, the band hired the bassist Jason Newsted, and soon it began recording its fourth album, “. . . And Justice for All,” which is famous for the single “One,” and for containing almost no audible bass. Whether that was the result of Newsted’s hewing too close to Hetfield’s rhythm guitar, or of hazing born from fresh grief, remains unclear. “When I joined the band, everybody was full alcoholic,” Newsted said. “They had lost their guide. Cliff was their teacher.”

For its fifth album, “Metallica,” in 1991—known as the Black Album because of its “Spinal Tap”-esque monochromatic cover art, which features only a coiled snake and the band’s name—the band hired the Canadian producer Bob Rock, who had previously worked on blockbuster releases by Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, and Mötley Crüe. The record’s themes are bleak (the single “Enter Sandman” was written about sudden infant death syndrome), but the songs are limber, catchy, and dynamic. Hammett recalled a conversation with Rock about how the band might achieve even greater fame. “The work doesn’t stop after you finish recording. Every single interview, every single appearance, every single everything—you need to do it all,” Hammett said. “That’s what Jon Bon Jovi did.”

The Black Album ultimately spent six hundred and twenty-five weeks on the Billboard charts and sold almost thirty-five million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. Five singles—“Enter Sandman,” “The Unforgiven,” “Nothing Else Matters,” “Wherever I May Roam,” and “Sad but True”—entered the Hot 100, and the band became a mainstay on MTV and modern-rock radio. “A lot of people talk down about it, or say that Metallica sold out,” Kerry King, of Slayer, told me. “Would I have wanted another ‘Damage, Inc.’? Fuck yeah. But it wasn’t on that record. And that record made them fucking superstars.”

The following year, the band co-headlined a stadium tour with Guns N’ Roses. At a show in Montreal, there was a miscommunication about pyrotechnic cues during “Fade to Black,” and Hetfield stepped directly into a twelve-foot plume of flame, suffering second- and third-degree burns on his hand and arm. After he was taken to the hospital, Guns N’ Roses waited more than two hours to go on; Axl Rose, Guns N’ Roses’ mercurial front man, then left the stage early. Riots broke out. Cars were turned over, bonfires were started, merch cases were smashed with rocks. In retrospect, Montreal was the end of something. Grunge, a righteous new subset of hard rock, made a point of rejecting the excess and dumbness of the eighties: no more women writhing across the hoods of cars, no more peacocking in skintight leather trousers. Metallica had always repudiated such extravagance—the members wore jeans and black T-shirts and worked hard—but the band was nonetheless at risk of becoming stuck on the wrong side of the cultural divide.

One potential solution was for Metallica to position itself as antithetical to Guns N’ Roses and other bands of that ilk. The 1992 documentary “A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica” features a scene in which Hetfield mocks Rose’s personal backstage rider, which included a cup of cubed ham, a rib-eye-steak dinner, a gourmet cheese tray, a fresh pepperoni pizza, Pringles, and a bottle of what Hetfield calls “Dom Perig-non.” In the video for “Nothing Else Matters,” Ulrich is briefly shown pulling darts out of a photo of Kip Winger, the suave and flashy vocalist for the metal band Winger. In 1996, Metallica released “Load,” its sixth album, which was followed, in 1997, by a companion piece, “Reload.” Both records are loose and bluesy by Metallica standards. Before the release of “Load,” all four members cut their hair short, which made certain fans apoplectic.

Hetfield now believes that “Load” and “Reload” were shaped too acutely by a desire for reinvention. “We’ve always been very organic. ‘Load’ and ‘Reload’ felt different to me,” he said. “Felt forced.” It was an unsteady time for Metallica. In 2000, the band, led by a seething Ulrich, filed a lawsuit against the file-sharing network Napster, after an unreleased version of “I Disappear,” a song recorded for the “Mission: Impossible 2” soundtrack, was leaked on the network. Ulrich insists that the lawsuit was not about money but about control. He was right to be outraged, but the technology was new, he was rich, and most of the people using Napster were college students in pajama pants. Ulrich was demonized. He was also prescient. “I take no solace in that at all,” he told me. “It was a street fight. It was ‘You’re fucking with us, we’re gonna fuck with you.’ And then it just ran amok. In retrospect, could we have done a better job of seeing that coming? Probably.”

In 2001, Newsted left the band, citing physical damage to his body and a dispute with Hetfield about a solo project. “When you’re one of the four that make the thing go round, the sacrifices that you have to make . . . it’s not for everyone, man,” Newsted said. “That’s why there’s only one band like this.” Bob Rock agreed to temporarily fill in on bass as Metallica began work on “St. Anger,” its eighth album. Three months into the sessions, Hetfield abruptly entered an intensive rehabilitation program, mostly for alcoholism, and then he dedicated himself to aftercare and family therapy. In total, Hetfield took eleven months off from Metallica. For a while, it seemed unlikely that the band would survive the hiatus. “There were six months where they were done, no question,” Rock said.

Owner announces that they are home and dog leaps toward them.

When Hetfield finally returned, there were boundaries. He would work only from noon to 4 P . M ., so that he could attend meetings and spend time with his children. His bandmates chafed against the new restrictions. With some nudging from Q-Prime, Metallica had been working with Phil Towle, a performance coach who functioned more like a therapist, and kept him on the payroll until it started to seem as though he wanted to join the band. Ulrich’s father arrived from Denmark to listen to some early songs. His reaction? “I would delete that.”

Metallica also still needed to find a permanent bassist. Robert Trujillo, a former member of the thrash-punk band Suicidal Tendencies, was invited to audition. Trujillo, who was born in Santa Monica in 1964, to a Mexican mother and a Native American and Spanish father, is thoughtful and serene. He wears his bass low and his long black hair in braids. When he performs with Metallica, he often creeps across the stage, seesawing from one leg to the other, a move that fans have dubbed the “crab walk.” His bass audition took place over two days. “The first day, I was just a fly on the wall. And then at about eleven o’clock at night Lars goes, ‘Hey, do you want to go get a drink?’ We end up drinking until five in the morning,” Trujillo told me. “People ask me, ‘Was there any hazing? Were you tested in any kind of way?’ I think that might have been part of it for him. At 9 A . M . he’s on the treadmill, and I’m there with this massive hangover.” That evening, Metallica offered Trujillo a place in the band. He was still wearing one of Ulrich’s Armani T-shirts from the night before. (Early the next year, they gave him a million-dollar signing bonus.)

In what might be the most fortuitous timing in the history of documentary film, the directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky had been in place to shoot the making of “St. Anger” for a goofy promotional gimmick—a series of late-night infomercials advertising the new record. Instead, they created a full-length film, “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” which was released in 2004. These days, big-budget music documentaries tend to be produced or even directed by the artists themselves, and to unfold in predictable ways: a little tension, a lot of comeback. But “Some Kind of Monster” shows Metallica, a band famous for being seemingly impervious even to the death of one of its members, at its clumsiest and most vulnerable. When I first saw the movie, I was twenty-four and found the incongruity of it—some guy in a sweater asking Metallica to talk about feelings—funny; now, at forty-two, I find it unbelievably poignant.

In the end, Metallica made a record with all the defeated energy of a sinking stone. “St. Anger” is airless, and lacks magic. (It also lacks guitar solos.) “Eh, it’s honest,” Hetfield told me, shrugging. “You might not identify with it, or you don’t like the sound. But that’s where we were, and that’s what we put out. It’ll have its time, maybe.” He laughed. “Maybe not!”

Somehow, Metallica managed to survive. “It was the four of us in a room with our instruments, looking at each other and going, ‘O.K., it starts again, right now, in this moment,’ ” Hammett said. The idea of moving on, and never looking back, has long been central to the band’s ethos. Though it would be strange to talk about Metallica’s music as hopeful or optimistic—it is not—the band has been propelled, in a nearly pathological way, by a kind of anti-nostalgia, a frenetic faith in whatever comes next. “The past just fucks things up—always,” Hetfield said to Rolling Stone in 1993. Ulrich told me that he contemplates the band’s history only when he’s being interviewed, and that even then it tends to assume an uncanny, almost mythic quality.

In 2007, the band hired Rick Rubin to produce its ninth studio album, “Death Magnetic,” and Rubin proposed a thought experiment to the members: What kind of record would they make if Metallica didn’t exist? “The weight of the title ‘Metallica’ is a heavy one,” Rubin told me. “What is the music you write if nobody has heard of you before?” To an extent, every Metallica record is a concept album about death—wanting it, fearing it—but none embraces dying quite as explicitly as “Death Magnetic.” The songs are fast, complex, ornery, and surprising. There are elaborate, harmonized guitar solos, rhythm changes, and lyrics that consider the delicate membrane separating the still living from the gone forever. “Just a Bullet Away,” an outtake, sees Hetfield again imagining, in a close and intimate way, what it might feel like to kill oneself. “All reflections look the same / In the shine of the midnight revolver,” he sings, his voice shuddering. If Hetfield saw his mother’s unwillingness to receive medical treatment as an inadvertent embrace of death, rather than as an expression of faith, it would make sense for his life’s work to interrogate that impulse. “There are times when I’m so afraid of dying,” Hetfield told me. “Other times, it’s, like, I’m good,” he said. “I feel cleaned up inside.”

In September, 2019, Hetfield returned to rehab, and the band cancelled a tour of Australia and New Zealand; five months later, Metallica pulled out of two American festivals, because, as Hetfield explained in a message to fans, “I have critical recovery events on those weekends that cannot be moved.” “It wasn’t a tune-up, that’s for sure,” Hetfield said of that stint in rehab. “It was me dropping the toolbox and saying, ‘I don’t need this. I’m tired of this.’ It was too much work being on the road and trying to stay connected with home. I was not caring for myself. I know that’s kind of the theme here—me not knowing how to take care of myself.”

The hammering title track of Metallica’s tenth album, “Hardwired . . . to Self-Destruct” (2016), grapples with whether it’s possible to thwart our most damaging tendencies. “On the way to paranoia / On the crooked borderline / On the way to great destroyer / Doom design,” Hetfield barks. His response to help is sometimes aggression. “I don’t like being told what to do,” he said. “I can identify what the problem is, easy. But what’s the solution?” He paused. “I don’t know if I want to hear the solution. I kind of want to still be stuck in my shit.” Earlier this year, Hetfield filed for divorce from Francesca Tomasi, his wife of twenty-five years. Hetfield continues to cite Tomasi as crucial to his early sobriety. “She was the one that threw me out of the house to go find help. I don’t want to call it tough love, because that’s cheapening it,” he said. “It couldn’t have been easy for her to say, ‘Get out.’ That affects her life, too.”

Passenger on train listening to end of conductors announcement.

I asked Hetfield if, in the absence of drugs and alcohol, music might also offer a useful kind of oblivion. I’ve felt it, as a fan—the edges of my consciousness get a little blurry, maybe I forget where I am. He nodded. “There are many names for it. I call it getting in the zone,” he said. “You’re not feeling shameful about past stuff, you’re not future-tripping in fear about what’s coming up next. You’re right there, and you’re doing exactly what you need to do.” He went on, “I think everyone searches for that sense of presence. I searched for it in the wrong medicines for a long time. I just wanted to turn my head off. That worked until it didn’t work. Finding a new god that isn’t alcohol . . . yeah, that’s what I’m still workin’ on.”

This past spring, the San Francisco Giants hosted Metallica Night at Oracle Park. Hetfield and Hammett were scheduled to perform an instrumental version of the national anthem on their guitars, and Hetfield would throw out the first pitch. The day before, they convened at what Metallica calls HQ—an inconspicuous, semi-industrial complex in San Rafael. It contains the band’s administrative offices, a studio, conference rooms, and a cavernous practice space decorated with hand-painted flags from around the world and other fan-made ephemera. Hetfield and Hammett ran through the anthem a few times. There was some messing around. There were some big riffs. In their hands, the anthem became burly, lawless, and tough.

The following afternoon, Hetfield warmed up outside the park with one of the band’s physical therapists. He was throwing hard. “Better to go too far than to have it bloop-bloop-bloop to the plate,” Hetfield said. Earlier, in the greenroom, he had watched a video of Mariah Carey’s infamous first pitch at the Tokyo Dome, in 2008, in which she spectacularly whiffed it wearing four-inch platform heels, big sunglasses, and short shorts. “This seems much harder to do in hot pants,” he said.

I asked Hetfield if he was more nervous about the pitch than about the anthem. “Oh, yeah,” he said. Football is more his game. Hetfield grew up rooting for the Oakland Raiders, before the team moved to Las Vegas, and he said that playing the Raiders’ new stadium in Vegas had been “a big deal.” He met the quarterback Derek Carr that night after sound check. “He’s a super-spiritual guy, and I connected right away with that,” he said. “I was a total dork, like, ‘Derek, this is gonna be weird, but can I get your phone number?’ I never ask anyone for that. We text back and forth.”

Lars Ulrich's drum set photographed by Ian Allen.

When it was time to run through the anthem, which would take place near the pitcher’s mound, a security guard—older, testy—stopped Hetfield. “I gotta scan ya,” he barked, reaching for Hetfield’s credential. “You gotta scan me?” Hetfield laughed, with the incredulity of someone who has not been stopped by a security guard in several decades. “I gotta scan ya,” the guy repeated, unmoved. On the field, players—including the outfielders Mike Yastrzemski and Joc Pederson—lined up to pay their respects. Alex Wood, a pitcher, appeared holding a Sharpie and a bottle of Blackened whiskey that he keeps in his locker.

After sound check, Hammett and I sat high in the empty stands, overlooking the bay. The sky was wide and cloudless. “This area here used to be filled with run-down warehouses and factories from the forties,” Hammett said, pointing across the water. “After school, me and my friends, still in our Catholic-school uniforms, used to prowl around down here and throw rocks. All the windows were already broken out, but we’d try to get the last shards of glass.”

Since joining Metallica, Hammett has had to find a way to survive in a band led by two alpha males. “If you’re a lead guitarist of that kind of talent, the idea that you’d be third when people are listing band members—most people could not live with that,” Burnstein, of Q-Prime, told me. “But Kirk is a pure player. He lives to play.” Hammett, who is Buddhist, will talk at length about consciousness, God, enlightenment, resonance, Nirvana. He believes that the work he does with Metallica is an extension of some sublime and omnipotent creative force. “I put myself in this space where I take in all the creativity around me and I channel it to create more,” he said. His hope is that Metallica facilitates a healing sort of fellowship. “We are so nondenominational,” he said, laughing. “Come to the Church of Metallica. You’ll become a member and rejoice! You don’t have to direct anything at us. You can direct it at the experience that you’re having.”

That evening, Hetfield and Hammett shredded their way through the anthem. Afterward, Hetfield handed off his guitar and strode toward the pitcher’s mound. The throw was good. Strong, assured, unwavering. Straight across the plate.

In July, the Netflix series “Stranger Things”—which follows a group of rangy, anxious teens as they attempt to save their home town from a spooky alternative dimension known as the Upside Down—débuted the second part of its fourth season. The show is the platform’s most watched original series. The main protagonists are devotees of Dungeons & Dragons and members of something called the Hellfire Club, which is led by a sweet metalhead named Eddie Munson. In the season finale, Munson, who preaches nonconformity as a kind of sanctifying practice, volunteers—spoiler alert!—to sacrifice himself, and does so while standing on the roof of a trailer in the Upside Down, playing the guitar solo from the song “Master of Puppets.” (The season is set in 1986.) Two weeks after the episode was released, “Master of Puppets,” which is more than eight minutes long, appeared on the Hot 100 for the first time, at No. 40. (The show gave a similar boost to Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God),” which came out in 1985.) “Master of Puppets” entered the Top Ten on Spotify’s U.S. chart, and the Top Fifty on its global chart; soon, it had been streamed more than half a billion times.

Unsurprisingly, older Metallica fans found the attention annoying. It’s easy to forget that, in the mid-eighties, publicly identifying as a Metallica fan often meant being labelled a druggie, a weirdo, a creep; back then, a person suffered socially for an allegiance to thrash. The idea that true metal fandom requires weathering such stigma is foundational and long-standing. Yet the band was quick to embrace its new acolytes. Metallica’s members even filmed themselves wearing Hellfire Club T-shirts and jamming along to footage of Munson’s solo. In a pinned comment on its official TikTok, the band clarified its open-door policy: “FYI—EVERYONE is welcome in the Metallica Family. Whether you’ve been a fan for 40 hours or 40 years.” Well, fine. The solo was recorded for the show by Tye Trujillo, Robert Trujillo’s eighteen-year-old son. The hope was that it would sound raw and frenetic, as though a teen-ager were playing it. “I don’t think Tye fully understood how this thing was gonna blossom,” Trujillo told me. “I liked that. At our house, we don’t have a whole lot of TV going all the time. We live in Topanga Canyon, and there’s a lot of time to play music and make art and go hiking and surfing. In some ways, he’s sheltered from the energy around these kinds of things. There’s a purity there, which I love.”

In late July, Metallica headlined Lollapalooza, in Chicago—its first U.S. date since the “Stranger Things” finale aired. When the band first played the festival, in 1996, the booking angered Perry Farrell, Lollapalooza’s co-founder and the front man of the alt-rock band Jane’s Addiction. “A lot of people were pissed,” Burnstein told me. “I understand how Perry felt—like his alternative thing was being co-opted.” He added, “Of course, there was Perry last night backstage, saying hi to the guys.” These days, Lollapalooza is mostly indistinguishable from any other major American music festival. The weekend’s other headliners included the pop star Dua Lipa, the rapper J. Cole, and the pop-punk band Green Day. In the wake of “Stranger Things,” Metallica was now the most newsworthy act on the bill.

The night before the show, the band met in Grant Park to film a short skit with Joseph Quinn, the twenty-nine-year-old British actor who plays Munson. “You’re taller than on the TV,” Hetfield joked, shaking Quinn’s hand. The band took Quinn into its tuning trailer to jam. “I’ll give you a four count,” Ulrich said, drumsticks aloft. Quinn left with a signed guitar; the video was posted to the band’s social-media accounts. Afterward, the band went onstage to rehearse. It had rained earlier in the day, and the ground was slick with mud. I stood on a piece of plywood in a mostly empty field and watched Metallica warm up.

Hetfield has evolved into a magnetic front man. Early on, he said, his stage persona—cocky, aggressive, hard—was mostly aspirational. “Being up onstage is a fantasy world,” he said. “Everyone is out there sprinkling you with wonderful dust. You start to believe it, and then you get home and you go, ‘Where’s my dust?’ ” he said. “Not so wonderful now, sitting here alone with two cats, taking the garbage out.” On tour, he said, the days off are harder than the days on. There’s nowhere to funnel the energy; time turns into a strange, liminal expanse. “My body is tired, but my mind is still going. What do I do with that?” he said. “I just ask people in the crew, or friends, or my assistant, ‘Hey, can you just sit down and watch TV with me?’ ” “Moth Into Flame,” a song from “Hardwired . . . to Self Destruct,” is about the intoxication of celebrity. “I believe the addiction to fame is a real thing,” Hetfield said. “I’ve got my little recovery posse on the road to help me out. We’ll say a prayer before going onstage: ‘James, you’re a human being. You’re going to die. You’re here doing service. You’re doing the best you can.’ That is helpful for me.”

The following afternoon, the park filled with thousands of Metallica shirts, many of which looked conspicuously new. The atmosphere backstage was relaxed. I sat on a wicker couch with Robert Trujillo and drank a brand of canned water called Liquid Death. One of the group’s trailers was labelled “Yoga.” Shortly before Metallica’s set, I climbed a riser on the edge of the stage so that I could see both the band and the crowd. Festival sets can be hard—much of the audience had been bobbing in the late-July sun for nine hours by the time Metallica took the stage—but the energy was high. “Master of Puppets” has been a fixture on the band’s set list for decades, but now it’s been granted extra prominence as the final song of the encore. As Hammett began to play the solo, footage of Eddie Munson appeared on huge screens flanking the stage. The crowd went nuts. I clung to the edge of the riser. For a moment, it felt as though all of Chicago were shaking.

After Metallica’s set, Ulrich rushed off to the Metro, a rock club near Wrigley Field. His two oldest sons—Myles and Layne—play in an excellent bass-and-drums duo called Taipei Houston, and had a gig opening for the British band Idles. “That was the past, this is the future!” Ulrich joked, sprinting toward a waiting S.U.V. wearing a navy-blue bathrobe with the hood up. At the Metro, he stood in the V.I.P. balcony, glowing with pride. After the set, as Myles and Layne dutifully broke down their gear, Ulrich chatted with the club’s owner, Joe Shanahan, about the first time Metallica played the Metro, in August of 1983, opening for the metal band Raven. Ulrich was nineteen.

Later, over tea at his hotel, I asked Ulrich about the “Stranger Things” phenomenon. He leaned back, sanguine: “If you and I were sitting here twenty years ago, thirty years ago, back then it was really only about the music. Partaking in these sorts of opportunities would have been considered selling out. But the culture is so much more forgiving of these types of things now.” He continued, “When you’ve been around as long as we have, you have to kind of ebb and flow. I don’t think there were any writeups about Lollapalooza this morning that didn’t mention Eddie, didn’t mention ‘Stranger Things.’ And it’s not like ‘Eh, what the fuck, is the music not good enough?’ It’s like . . . it’s cool.”

In 2021, the band released “The Metallica Blacklist,” a collection of fifty-three covers of songs from the Black Album, in honor of the record’s thirtieth anniversary. Twelve of the fifty-three artists chose to cover “Nothing Else Matters,” which Hetfield wrote when the band was on tour in support of “. . . And Justice for All.” Elton John once compared “Nothing Else Matters” (favorably) to “Greensleeves.” It is, by my accounting, Metallica’s first song about romantic love. Hetfield can be coy about its origins—he missed his girlfriend; he found that feeling embarrassing—but it is also true that, since its initial release, “Nothing Else Matters” has come to sound less specifically romantic and more like an ode to any kind of life-sustaining devotion. It’s technically a waltz, but it feels like the last of the great power ballads: momentous, tortured, cathartic, triumphant. The Metallica community often talks about the track as a fan anthem of sorts. In moments of deep communion with the band and its music, nothing else matters. It’s an emotional song, but a terrifying one, too. “What’s heavier than love?” Scott Ian said.

This sort of vulnerability was once anathema to Metallica—“What I’ve felt, what I’ve known / Never shined through in what I’ve shown,” Hetfield sings on “The Unforgiven”—but it now feels central to the band’s mission. The singer and songwriter Kris Kristofferson, a longtime supporter, praised Metallica’s humanity and good will. “I’m a huge fan of their music, but even more so of the remarkable human beings they are,” he told me. “All heart.” In conversation, I found Hetfield warm and disarmingly open. He often inquired after my baby daughter. When I mentioned that I was having a hard time sleeping in my hotel room, he reminded me that it was important to have something from home. “My daughter gave me these stones—what are they called? Crystals,” he said. “You’ve gotta bring something. A pillowcase, some lavender oil.”

One afternoon, I asked Hetfield if he felt as though he’d finally found the life and community he’d always wanted: he lives in Colorado, hunting, beekeeping, spending time outdoors; he sees friends; he tours with Metallica. He paused to consider the question. “Will I ever admit that I found it? Will I ever allow myself to be happy enough to say I found it? Maybe that’s a lifelong quest, the search for family,” he said. “When my family disintegrated, early on in life, I found it in music, I found it in the band. I remember Lars being the first one to buy a house and have friends over, and I was, like, ‘Who are these people? You didn’t invite me! You’re cheating on me with another family!’ Obviously, our fans have become a kind of worldwide family. But at the end of the day they say they love you and you kind of go, ‘O.K. . . . what does that really mean?’ ”

But they do at least love a version of you, I ventured—the version of you that exists in the work.

“Yeah, and what version is that?” Hetfield countered.

It was a naïve thought, presuming that he could cloister or delineate a self in the context of a band he has led his entire adult life. “Metallica is bigger than the individual members,” Burnstein told me. “And to some extent, in their lives, they are subservient to the idea of Metallica.” That feeling of obligation has kept the band going, by giving shape to what its members have sacrificed. “The fifth member of Metallica is the collective,” Ulrich said. “People say, ‘What does Metallica mean to you?’ It’s just a fuckin’ . . . it’s a state of mind.” He paused. “Metallica is the whole energy of the universe. We just steer it along.” ♦

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Psychosocial risks and benefits of exposure to heavy metal music with aggressive themes: Current theory and evidence

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Published: 25 May 2022
Volume 42 , pages 21133–21150, ( 2023 )

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Kirk N. Olsen 1 , 2 ,
Josephine Terry 1 &
William Forde Thompson 1 , 2 , 3

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A Correction to this article was published on 11 June 2022

This article has been updated

Concerns have been raised that prolonged exposure to heavy metal music with aggressive themes can increase the risk of aggression, anger, antisocial behaviour, substance use, suicidal ideation, anxiety and depression in community and psychiatric populations. Although research often relies on correlational evidence for which causal inferences are not possible, it is often claimed that music with aggressive themes can cause psychological and behavioural problems. This narrative review of theory and evidence suggests the issues are more complicated, and that fans typically derive a range of emotional and social benefits from listening to heavy metal music, including improved mood, identity formation, and peer affiliation. In contrast, non-fans of heavy metal music — who are often used as participants in experimental research on this topic — invariably report negative psychological experiences. Our review considers a comprehensive set of empirical findings that inform clinical strategies designed to identify fans for whom heavy metal music may confer psychological and behavioural risks, and those for whom this music may confer psychosocial benefits.

Heroic music stimulates empowering thoughts during mind-wandering

The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Child and Adolescent Aggression: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Music plays an important role across all stages of human development (Thompson and Olsen, 2021 ). Mental health practitioners (e.g., music therapists, psychologists) and researchers recognise that music listening preferences and behaviours are important to social and emotional wellbeing for adolescents and young adults (F. Baker & Bor, 2008 ; McFerran, 2016 ; McFerran et al., 2016) and can support neurological functions (Brancatisano et al., 2020 ). A body of research spanning more than 30 years has aimed to elucidate the nature of these relationships. However, with the emergence of music genres that contain aggressive lyrical themes such as rap and heavy metal music, researchers have considered the possibility that some forms of music engagement may have negative consequences (e.g., St. Lawrence & Joyner, 1991 ; Warburton, 2012 ). Such genres often explore aggressive and violent antisocial themes, leading to media reports of moral panic by community groups, parents, and politicians (Walser, 2013 ). At the heart of such concerns is the possibility that music with aggressive themes might negatively impact upon the behaviour and mental health of adolescents and young adults.

Heavy metal music with aggressive themes has been identified as a potential risk factor for externalising behaviours (characterised by aggression and antisocial behaviour), internalising behaviours (characterised by depression and anxiety), and unhealthy behaviours such as substance use and self-harm (Bodner & Bensimon, 2015 ; McFerran et al., 2016 ; Miranda, 2013 ). Such concerns are also evident within other domains of media violence, such as violent video games (e.g., APA, 2015 ; Anderson et al., 2010 ; Greitemeyer and Mügge, 2014 ). However, despite numerous claims that engagement with violent media can lead to negative outcomes, meta-analyses (and especially those focused on preregistered studies) suggest that such risks are modest at best (e.g., Drummond et al., 2020 ; Ferguson, 2015 ; Ferguson et al., 2020 ; Hilgard et al., 2019 ; Przybylski & Weinstein, 2019 ).

There is also limited evidence to justify serious concerns about the negative impact of prolonged exposure to heavy metal, yet such concerns persist and have influenced social attitudes and policy decision-making at political and institutional levels. In some cases, there have been calls for certain music groups to be banned entirely (for discussions of music censorship, see Chastagner, 1999 ; Cooper, 2011 ; Hines & McFerran, 2014 ; Peters, 2019 ; Savage, 2018 ; Wright, 2000 ; for the perspectives of fans, see Hines & McFerran, 2014 ). Despite these public concerns, many adolescents and young adults report that music enhances their social and emotional wellbeing, including music with aggressive themes (McFerran & Saarikallio, 2014 ; McFerran et al., 2015 ; North et al., 2000 ; Olsen & Thompson, 2021 ; Thompson et al., 2019 ). The need for increased understanding of how listeners use music in their daily lives is particularly important, as music-use can have both detrimental and enhancing effects on wellbeing and mental health (Loxton et al., 2016 ; Lozon & Bensimon, 2014 ; McFerran et al., 2016 ; Miranda, 2013 ; Olsen et al., 2022 ). The present narrative literature review evaluates and synthesises existing research findings on the risks and benefits of engaging with heavy metal music with aggressive themes. The review is grounded within the field of music psychology and aims to ensure that clinical decision-making (e.g., discouraging or encouraging listening) is informed by empirical evidence.

Defining Heavy Metal Music

Heavy metal developed as a genre in the late 1960s and 1970s, with bands including Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin fundamental to its emergence (Walser, 2013 ). Heavy metal music, and later offshoots such as thrash metal, grindcore, and death metal, is often characterised by energetic high intensity sounds, distorted electric guitars and bass, screamed or growled vocals and powerful drums (Brown et al., 2016 ; Olsen et al., 2018 ; Walser, 2013 ). It has been observed that many sounds featured in this music are acoustically similar to biological threat signals such as screams, growls, and other attributes observed in animal calls designed to communicate fear and aggression, including looming or high intensity sounds, high event density, extreme spectral centroids (low or high), and non-linearities (for relevant discussions, see Blumstein et al., 2010 ; Huron, 2015 ; Ma & Thompson, 2015; Ollivier, et al., 2019 ; Schäfer et al., 2015 ). In extreme subgenres of heavy metal such as death metal and black metal, lyrical themes often focus on violence, death, suicide, alienation, fear, misogyny, dystopian futures, the occult, mysticism and the supernatural.

Not all heavy metal music features aggressive or violent lyrics. Indeed, many heavy metal songs address pro-social issues of politics, religion, the environment, global inequality and imbalances of power (Brown et al., 2016 ; Walser, 2013 ). The diversity of themes in heavy metal makes it impossible to generalise findings from specific songs to the entire genre. With this in mind, our review critically evaluates investigations of the psychosocial outcomes of engaging with heavy metal music, but with specific focus on the impact of heavy metal music that features explicitly aggressive themes.

The potential for heavy metal music to influence mental health and problem-behaviours is taken seriously by policy makers, mental health professionals and researchers (C. Baker & Brown, 2016 ). Correlational links between heavy metal music and suicide have driven policy decisions, and some mental health and correctional institutions have restricted access to such music (see Hines & McFerran, 2014 ; Rosenbaum & Prinsky, 1991 for discussions). Acts of violence within the heavy metal community (e.g., assault, rape, murder) have also shaped attitudes towards this music (e.g., see Phillipov, 2011 , for a discussion about violence within the Norwegian Black Metal community). Such policy responses and concerns may be misguided, however, given that causation cannot be inferred from correlational evidence. Yet negative attitudes towards heavy metal music persist and have even been shown to influence diagnostic decisions about hypothetical patients who listen to this music. Rosenbaum and Prinsky ( 1991 ) reported that 83% of representatives from mental health facilities recommended a young male be hospitalised based on a vignette describing him as an affiliate of heavy metal music culture with an unconventional appearance, despite assurances that he did not consume alcohol or drugs, was not suicidal, depressed or violent, and showed no neglect of schoolwork. Negative attitudes towards heavy metal music have implications for the treatment of fans in social, institutional, and mental health settings, so it is imperative that empirical evidence informs clinical practice. Before our review of the empirical evidence is presented, relevant theoretical models will first be discussed.

Theoretical Perspectives

Several theoretical models are relevant to research on the impact of engaging with aggressive or violent media, with some emphasizing neurological and psychosocial benefits, and others focused on risks. Theoretical models of motivation such as Self Determination Theory (SDT; Przybylski et al, 2010 ) and Mood Management Theory (MMT; Zillman, 1988 ) provide insight into the mechanisms underlying responses to violent media. Applied to music engagement, SDT and MMT both contend that consumers actively select and respond to music to satisfy psychological needs and motivational goals. These goals include adaptive outcomes such as managing one’s moods (MMT) and feelings of pleasure (hedonic concerns), along with deeper (eudaimonic) levels of processing that include grappling with questions such as self-actualization, self-efficacy, and life's purpose (SDT) (Oliver & Raney, 2011 ). For these models, the psychological impact of media is not passively predetermined by the mere presence of aggressive content; instead, an active decision to engage with certain media must be understood as an adaptation to individual circumstances that can provide a pathway to psychological health and wellbeing (Kneer, 2016 ; Warburton & Braunstein, 2012 ). The theories also explain why fans of heavy metal music with aggressive themes rarely experience anger or display aggression towards others after listening to this music, but instead often report positive experiences of empowerment, joy, peacefulness, wonder, and social connectedness (e.g., Thompson et al., 2019 ; Olsen et al., 2022 ; see also, Thompson & Olsen, 2018 ). Conversely, when non-fans are required to listen to music they dislike, the experience is unlikely to satisfy their psychological needs and motivational goals.

Models of the therapeutic potential of music, such as the Therapeutic Music Capacities Model (TMCM; Brancatisano et al., 2020 ), explain how music engagement can yield positive outcomes that may be exploited in music-based therapies. The TMCM identifies numerous design features of music that trigger key processes relevant to mental and physical health, including those associated with attention, movement, emotion, sense of self, timing, and social connection. Models that focus on music and the self (e.g., Baird & Thompson, 2018 ; Thompson, et al., in press ) or on the social benefits of music (Elvers, 2016 ; Schäfer & Eerola, 2020) further clarify why fans experience benefits when listening to their preferred music, whereas non-fans experience no such benefits when listening to the same music. When non-fans are obliged to listen to music they did not choose and do not like, it may conflict with their sense of identity and fail to convey a sense of community, resulting in unpleasant emotional responses such as tension, anger and fear (Olsen et al., 2022 ).

Models of aggression can also help to identify conditions under which negative consequences of music engagement might occur, and hence can inform strategies for minimizing negative outcomes. However, such models are less informative about the positive psychosocial outcomes that have been observed for fans of violently-themed music. Anderson and Bushman’s ( 2002 , 2018 ) General Aggression Model (GAM) was developed to explain the relationship between exposure to an aggressive-related stimulus (such as media violence) and subsequent aggressive behaviour (see also, Barlett & Anderson, 2013 ). The model proposes that individual variables (e.g., genetic predisposition, prior learning, beliefs, attitudes, gender, mood, trait aggression) and situational variables (e.g., violent media exposure) combine to influence an individual’s internal state (physiological arousal, affect, cognition) and behaviour (Anderson & Bushman, 2002 ; Barlett & Anderson, 2013 ; Greitemeyer, 2009 ). The GAM has been used as a framework to explain how exposure to music with violent themes might lead to increased aggression (e.g., Anderson et al., 2003 ; Brummert-Lennings & Warburton, 2011 ; Fischer & Greitemeyer, 2006 ; Mast & McAndrew, 2011 ). However, the model’s assumptions and validity have been questioned, and it provides little detail on the complex interactions between environmental factors and genetic, neurobiological, neuroendocrine, and other biological underpinnings of aggressive behaviour (Devilly et al., 2021 ; Ferguson & Dyck, 2012 ). More critically, because the GAM is exclusively focused on aggressive outcomes, it is not equipped to account for the way individuals actively engage with music to confer a range of beneficial or otherwise non-aggressive outcomes. Unlike non-fans, fans actively seek out their favourite music to fulfil psychosocial goals, and they typically report positive experiences from this music engagement (Thompson et al., 2019 ). Aggression may also occur following exposure to music with aggressive themes, but the evidence reviewed here suggests that such an outcome is rare.

Methodological Approach

The narrative literature review drew upon protocols for search strategies outlined in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocols (PRISMA-P; Moher et al., 2015 ; Shamseer et al., 2015 ). PsycINFO, Scopus and Google Scholar databases were used to identify research investigating the associations between heavy metal music listening and externalising, internalising and unhealthy behaviours including aggression, anger, substance use, anxiety, depression and suicide. Inclusion criteria also incorporated individual factors such as personality, gender Footnote 1 and emotion regulation styles that potentially moderate the relationships between heavy metal music and wellbeing. Finally, the review considered evidence of the ways in which young people use music to improve their wellbeing, and how heavy metal fans may benefit from listening to their preferred genre.

Literature searches in all databases identified relevant articles by scanning titles, abstracts and keywords. For example, one search strategy in SCOPUS that was limited to peer-reviewed articles is as follows: TITLE-ABS-KEY ("heavy metal music") AND ("aggression" OR "anger" OR "antisocial" OR "substance use" OR "drugs" OR "anxiety" OR "depression" OR "suicide" OR "personality" OR "gender" OR "sex" OR "emotion regulation" OR "wellbeing" OR "well-being") AND (LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, "ar")). Publication year was not restricted and included articles available up until August, 2021. Once search strategies were implemented, we assessed titles and abstracts to gauge suitability to the overarching research synthesis aim and excluded articles that did not meet the criteria. In addition to articles deemed relevant from such search strategies, we also assessed relevant articles from reference lists of published work and authors’ personal reference databases. In total, 101 empirical studies were incorporated into the narrative literature review.

Anger and Aggression: From Affect to Cognition and Behaviour

The lyrical themes of heavy metal music sometimes depict acts of aggression, violence and misogyny, so researchers have investigated whether exposure to such music might lead to increases in anger, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive/antisocial behaviours. Anger and aggression are distinct outcomes. Anger is a feeling or emotion, whereas aggression refers to a behaviour or action that is hostile or violent, such as physical assault, verbal threats, or self-harm. Violent media may sometimes induce anger without inducing behaviour that is aggressive.

The relationship between listening to heavy metal music and levels of anger is likely influenced by (1) music listening preferences, that is, if the listener is a fan or non-fan of the music, and (2) stereotypes/implicit biases. Labbé et al. ( 2007 ) administered a stress-induction procedure to participants who then listened to self-selected music, classical music, heavy metal music, or sat in silence. Listening to self-selected or classical music resulted in increased relaxation, whereas listening to heavy metal music resulted in increased anger with no benefit to relaxation. Without knowing listeners’ musical inclinations or their level of enjoyment while listening to the music, it is unclear whether these outcomes occurred because heavy metal music is inherently harmful, or because most participants in the study did not like these music selections.

Negative sterotypes are also likely to influence anger experienced after listening to music. For instance, a cohort of primarily Caucasian students reported lower levels of anger after listening to experimenter-selected heavy metal music than after listening to rap music (Ballard & Coates, 1995 ). The authors surmised that listeners may have been more familiar with rock music more generally, and that higher ratings of anger following rap music might reflect an implicit bias against the predominantly African American rap culture of the time. This interpretation suggests that the elicitation of stereotypes associated with any music genre can sometimes account for affective experiences during music listening (Susino & Schubert, 2019a , 2019b ). Negative stereotypes may also account for higher levels of anger after listening to heavy metal music than after listening to other genres, given that non-fans may hold negative attitudes about this genre.

When recruiting fans of heavy metal music, researchers have not observed a consistent relationship between listening and increased anger. In one of the earliest qualitative studies of young male listeners of heavy metal music aged 14–20 years (Arnett, 1991a ), two-thirds who reported listening to their preferred music when feeling angry indicated that the music helped them release anger and feel calmer. Only 6% of fans self-reported that listening to heavy metal music increased their anger and aggressive behaviours. Other research suggests that young- and older-adult heavy metal fans report similar levels of trait anger to fans of other genres (i.e., alternative, adult contemporary, dance/soul, country, rap) (Rubin et al., 2001 ; Shafron & Karno, 2013 ). Furthermore, heavy metal fans do not report experiencing more state negative affect (e.g., anger, sadness, stress) than non-fans after listening to their preferred genres (McFerran et al., 2015 ).

The importance of considering fan-status is further highlighted in a study by Gowensmith and Bloom ( 1997 ), who found that when heavy metal and country music fans listened to their preferred genre, self-reported levels of anger did not differ from one another. However, fans who listened to their non-preferred genre reported higher levels of anger than those who listened to their preferred genre. Given that heavy metal fans are the cohort most likely to self-select music from this genre, research on this group of listeners is most relevant to any assessment of the risks and benefits of this music. Sharman and Dingle ( 2015 ) recruited fans of extreme metal music to examine the effects of listening to self-selected music on affect and physiological arousal (e.g., heart rate). After an anger induction, fans reported increased hostility, irritability and stress, but following a subsequent period of music listening or silence, these states decreased. Fans who listened to music (versus silence) following the anger induction reported increased positive affect (e.g., feelings of being active and inspired). Given the experimental design, however, it is difficult to disentangle the relative contributions of music listening in general, listening to familiar and preferred music, and listening to heavy metal music specifically. However, the findings confirm that listening to metal music does not make angry fans angrier, which is consistent with qualitative reports from fans (Saarikallio, 2011 ; Saarikallio & Erkkilä, 2007 ; Thompson et al., 2019 ).

Aggressive Cognitions

Research has also explored the relationship between listening to heavy metal music with violent lyrics on aggressive cognitions. For instance, exposure to misogynistic and misandrist lyrics (vs. neutral lyrics) across a range of genres including heavy metal resulted in an increase in aggressive cognitions towards the opposite sex (Fischer & Greitemeyer, 2006 ). Furthermore, a group of undergraduate participants who were not screened for fandom reported increased state hostility and greater access to aggressive thoughts after listening to a heavy metal song with violent lyrics, compared to participants who listened to a heavy metal song with non-violent lyrics (Anderson et al., 2003 ). A powerful feature of this investigation is that it controlled music genre, used multiple exemplars of violent and nonviolent songs across multiple experiments, and examined the moderating effects of trait hostility.

Anderson et al. ( 2003 ) measured participants’ access to aggressive thoughts by using linguistic tasks such as participant ratings of similarity between aggressive and ambiguous word pairs (Exp 2), reading response times when presented with aggressive or non-aggressive words (Exp 3), and a commonly used word completion task (Exps 4–5). Word completion tasks, for example, require participants to ‘fill in the blank’ for words that could be completed to yield either an aggressive or neutral word (e.g., explode vs explore). A higher frequency of aggressive word completions after exposure to violent media suggests increased access to aggressive thoughts caused by the preceding stimulus. Although such priming effects are predictable, it is difficult to generalize these measures to the incidence of aggressive cognitions by music listeners outside of laboratory conditions. Indeed, in the renowned legal case of Brown versus Entertainment Merchants Association ( 2011 ), the Supreme Court (USA) concluded that measures of aggressive cognitions in laboratory settings are unlikely to reflect real-world aggressive cognitions that predict aggressive behaviour, such as planning to enact harm towards others (Ferguson, 2013 ).

It also remains to be determined whether increased state hostility and aggressive cognitions would occur (even in laboratory conditions) for participants who regularly and enthusiastically listen to music with violent lyrical themes (i.e., fans of music with violent themes), or whether such findings were driven by participants who find the presence of violent lyrics aversive to begin with. Indeed, research suggests that when non-fans listen to heavy metal sub-genres with extremely violent themes (e.g., death metal), they experience negative outcomes, whereas fans listening to that same music experience positive outcomes (Thompson et al., 2019 ), especially in cases where fans’ passion for death metal is harmoniously intertwined into their day-to-day lives (Olsen et al, 2022 ).

Aggressive and Antisocial Behaviour

Although fans of heavy metal do not always report greater feelings of anger than fans of other genres of music, their propensity to act aggressively may still be elevated. Rubin et al. ( 2001 ) found that heavy metal fans reported more aggression and disregard for women than fans of other genres (except for rap music), even when self-esteem and anger were controlled. Studies of adolescents aged 12–16 years also showed a trend towards increased aggressive behaviour in fans of rock music including heavy metal than in fans of other genres (e.g., pop, dance, hip-hop, jazz, classical) (Mulder et al., 2007 ; ter Bogt et al., 2013 ). Collapsing genres (e.g., heavy metal, punk) into a broad “rock” category may have obscured differences between fans of those genres. Nonetheless, the self-report data warrant corroboration using experimental methods that evaluate causal links between heavy metal music listening and acts of aggression.

Bodner and Bensimon ( 2015 ) reported higher levels of delinquency among adult fans of so-called ‘problem music’ (i.e., heavy metal, alternative rock, hip-hop, rap, punk, house and trance) than fans of ‘non-problem music’ (i.e., other genres). Similarly, Schwartz and Fouts ( 2003 ) reported that adolescent listeners of ‘heavy’ music (defined as tough, wild, loud, protesting, violent, fast and guitar-based) were more tough-minded and assertive in their relationships, less concerned about the feelings and reactions of others, and were less confident in their ability to succeed academically than listeners of ‘light’ music (i.e., quiet, romantic, sad, peaceful, tender, good-natured and serious). In addition, listeners of heavy music were more pessimistic, moody, sensitive and dissatisfied, and had greater difficulties in their family relationships compared to listeners of both light and ‘eclectic’ music (i.e., both heavy and light). They were also more likely to be impulsive, to disrespect individuals and societal norms, to disregard others’ rights and to be concerned about peer acceptance. Examining heavy metal fans specifically, Took and Weiss ( 1994 ) found that fans had poorer school grades and more school-based problems than non-fans. These studies suggest a relationship between music listening preferences and problematic behaviours. However, the nature of these relationships remains unclear, with little known about whether music listening has a direct or indirect effect on behaviour (i.e., via mediating variables), or whether predisposing factors (e.g., poor family relationships) drive listeners towards particular genres.

In an effort to explore the emerging relationship between music and externalising behaviours such as aggression and delinquency over time, Selfhout et al. ( 2008 ) collected self-report data from adolescents aged 11–18 years at two intervals, twelve months apart. Adolescent males with a preference for heavy metal music exhibited more externalising behaviours at the second measurement time-point relative to the first time-point, whereas preferences for heavy metal did not predict externalising behaviours reported at the first time-point. The authors adopted a psychosocial model to argue that the lyrical content of these genres activates antisocial schemas that then promote externalising behaviours. They further argued that these behaviours are modelled by peer groups affiliated with these genres, and that adolescents adopt these behaviours to conform to group norms. In another longitudinal study, adolescents who listened to heavy metal music with aggressive themes demonstrated increases in aggressive behaviour and decreases in prosocial behaviour over a 12-month period when controlling for initial levels of these variables (Coyne & Padilla-Walker, 2015 ). Together, these studies provide evidence that listening to heavy metal music with aggressive themes plays a role in the development of subsequent externalising behaviours, perhaps through psychosocial mechanisms.

The studies reported thus far have relied on correlational designs, and therefore are unable to address the question of whether listening to heavy metal music with aggressive themes plays a causal role in increasing aggression and antisocial behaviours. However, there have been a number of studies that have examined the causal relationship between exposure to music with violent lyrics and aggressive behaviour. For instance, male participants who listened to heavy metal music with violent lyrics demonstrated increased aggressive behaviour in a ‘hot sauce’ paradigm (i.e., placing more hot sauce in a cup of water expected to be given to another student) than those who listened to heavy metal without violent lyrics or no music at all (Mast & McAndrew, 2011 ). This effect remains regardless of whether or not the music is accompanied by violent imagery (Brummert-Lennings & Warburton, 2011 ). While not exclusive to heavy metal music but also applicable to rock and rap music, sexually aggressive and misogynistic song lyrics, relative to neutral lyrics, have also been shown to increase men’s aggressive behaviours towards women using the ‘hot sauce’ paradigm (Fischer & Greitemeyer, 2006 ). These studies make an important contribution as they explore the role that lyrics play in eliciting aggressive behaviours, and they begin to highlight potential mechanisms through which music exposure increases aggression. However, as participants were not specifically screened for their liking of the musical genres, it is difficult to draw strong conclusions about whether exposure to heavy metal music as a genre elicits aggressive behaviours in listeners who consider themselves heavy metal fans.

In sum, correlational research suggests that aggression, delinquency, and disrespect toward societal norms and women are broadly associated with heavy metal music, although causal inferences are difficult to infer from such data. Aggressive behaviour has nevertheless been causally linked to heavy metal with aggressive themes when musical preferences are not controlled (i.e., separating the experience of fans versus non-fans) (Brummert-Lennings & Warburton, 2011 ; Mast & McAndrew, 2011 ). Thus, it is difficult to draw strong conclusions about the psychological risks of this music for those people who enjoy it. Ideally, such findings should be replicated for a sample of participants who explicitly self-identify as fans of this music. Indeed, fans of heavy metal music are not angrier than other fan-groups, and preference for intense music genres such as heavy metal does not contribute to the prediction of aggressive tendencies beyond factors such as age, gender, and psychiatric symptoms (Merz et al., 2021 ). It is possible that some fans of heavy metal may use this music to help regulate the anger they do experience (Arnett, 1991a ; Sharman & Dingle, 2015 ; Thompson et al., 2019 ; Thompson & Olsen, 2018) – a possibility that will be discussed later.

More generally, existing evidence of negative outcomes following engagement with heavy metal music should be interpreted cautiously given: (a) research on the topic is in its infancy; (b) existing research has rarely restricted observations to fans of the music; and (c) challenges of interpretation. These challenges include interpreting correlational data, identifying valid dependent measures, generalising beyond experimental settings, interpreting small effect sizes, the presence of publication bias, and p -hacking (Ferguson, 2013 , 2018 , 2020 ).

Anxiety and Depression

Internalising disorders characterised by anxiety and depression have also been the subject of research, and the findings are somewhat inconsistent. A survey of young adults in Australia revealed that heavy metal fans reported higher levels of overall psychological distress than non-fans, as measured by the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, K10 (McFerran et al., 2015 ). After controlling for age and gender, adult heavy metal/hard rock fans have also reported higher levels of anxiety and depression than non-fans (Shafron & Karno, 2013 ). Liking of rock music more broadly (e.g., heavy metal, alternative, punk, hard rock and gothic) has also been associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and problem behaviour, more incidences of self-harm, and lower levels of positive emotion (Mulder et al., 2007 ; Stratton & Zalanowski, 1997 ; ter Bogt et al., 2017 ).

Conversely, there is some evidence that preferences for heavy metal music among college students are not associated with depression (Lester & Whipple, 1996 ). Indeed, fans report using this music to buffer against the fear of death and death-related thoughts (Kneer & Rieger, 2016 ). Recours et al. ( 2009 ) drew conclusions about the levels of anxiety and depression among a group of heavy metal fans aged 13–44 years based on cut-off scores indicating clinical levels of mental disorder. They concluded that the percentage of fans with scores above the cut-off for anxiety (15.58%) and depression (3.43%) were comparable or lower than rates evident in the general population. However, this conclusion was based on a descriptive comparison with no statistical inferences. Another study comparing 145 young-adult fans of heavy metal, rap, or classical music reported no significant differences in depressive symptoms between fan groups. However, the magnitude of depressive symptoms experienced in each fan group was a significant predictor of negative emotional responses to their preferred music (e.g., sadness, tension, anger, and fear) (Powell et al., 2021 ). There is also some evidence that at least among non-fans, listening to unfamiliar heavy metal (versus rap music) in a single exposure session does not lead to elevated levels of suicidal ideation or anxiety (Ballard & Coates, 1995 ). However, it is difficult to conceive that relatively brief exposure to an unfamiliar song is likely to drive any measurable changes, particularly in a non-clinical cohort.

Although there is some inconsistency within the literature, there is certainly evidence that heavy metal fans show a vulnerability to anxiety and depression (see F. Baker & Bor, 2008 for a further review) that extends across cultures (e.g., Ekinci et al., 2012 ). However, the mechanisms that underlie the relationship are unclear because the research relies on cross-sectional and self-report approaches (Hughes et al., 2018 ). While it is possible that listeners experiencing distress are drawn to genres that match and potentially validate their emotions (e.g. C. Baker & Brown, 2016 ; McFerran et al., 2015 ; Schwartz & Fouts, 2003 ; Stratton & Zalanowski, 1997 ), there is to date no experimental evidence that examines the long-term effects on fans of listening to heavy metal music.

Some sub-genres of heavy metal music such as depressive suicidal black metal contain overt descriptions of violence against the self, and perhaps not surprisingly have been characterised and investigated as risk-factors for suicide and self-harm (Coggins, 2019 ; Hughes et al., 2018 ; Martin et al., 1993). An early and politically influential study used an indirect approach to assess the relationship between heavy metal music listening and suicide. Stack et al. ( 1994 ) accessed subscription rates to Metal Edge magazine and correlated these with suicide rates across the United States. When controlling for possible confounds (e.g., marital status of parents, financial strain, migration status and race), rates of subscription to the heavy metal magazine across 50 states made a small but unique contribution to the prediction of suicide rates among 15 to 24-year-olds (but not 25 to 34-year-olds). Stack and colleagues argued that the aggressive themes in some heavy metal music may cultivate suicidal tendencies among at-risk adolescents. However, as magazine subscriptions acted as a proxy for heavy metal listening preferences, it is not clear whether similar results would have emerged using direct measures. Nonetheless, Stack ( 1998 ) adopted another indirect approach and analysed data taken from a large-scale social survey that obtained information about music preferences and levels of suicide acceptability, measured by rates of approval and disapproval of suicide. While there was a significant positive relationship between heavy metal fandom and acceptability of suicide, this relationship disappeared when church attendance was controlled. It was concluded that heavy metal fans have greater levels of suicide acceptability as a consequence of low religiosity.

Adopting a more direct approach, high school students who identified as fans of heavy metal reported more thoughts of suicide and provided fewer reasons for living when compared to non-fans (Scheel & Westefeld, 1999 ). Conversely, Lester and Whipple ( 1996 ) found that while college students’ preferences for heavy metal music were associated with past suicidal ideation, they were not associated with current suicidal ideation or past suicidal threats or attempts. Therefore, it may be that current suicidal ideation among fans is characteristic of a younger cohort. Despite this proposition, Lacourse et al. (2001) found no association between preferences for heavy metal music and suicidal behaviours in a cohort of high school students when controlling for common risk factors of suicide such as age, powerlessness, isolation, meaninglessness, and substance use. Furthermore, an online survey of over 900 adult participants revealed that suicidal ideation was not associated with liking of heavy metal music (Till et al., 2016 ). Similarly, a retrospective study of middle-aged adults who were heavy metal fans and/or musicians in the 1980s revealed that while heavy metal fans and musicians had experienced a greater number of aversive childhood experiences and used more alcohol in early adulthood than did age-matched non-fans, the groups did not differ in suicide attempt rates (Howe et al., 2015 ). In addition, heavy metal fans and musicians reported higher levels of happiness during their youth and lower levels of regret than the non-fan comparisons. They also reported lower rates of work absenteeism due to physical and mental health problems and underwent lower rates of psychological treatment. Of course, retrospective studies are vulnerable to biases driven by inaccurate recall and misreporting, and the findings may represent a cohort effect. However, they do highlight that the longer-term outlook for fans is not necessarily one of concern. Overall, there does not appear to be a consistent relationship between listening to heavy metal music and suicidal behaviour, but more research within both non-clinical and clinical populations is needed to determine whether mental health may act as a moderating factor (see C. Baker & Brown, 2016 for further discussion).

Substance Use

There is some evidence that heavy metal musicians consume alcohol more frequently than classical musicians (Butkovic & Dopudj, 2017 ), but the relationship between substance use and listening to heavy metal music is unclear. Some reports have indicated a positive association between substance use and liking of heavy metal music (Arnett, 1991b ; Lacourse et al., 2001 ), although this has been shown to be moderated by trait levels of sensation seeking (Arnett, 1991b ). Conversely, in studies of adolescents and university students, fans of genres such as punk/hardcore, techno/hardhouse, reggae and Turkish folk music were shown to have a stronger link to substance use than fans of heavy metal (Altun et al., 2018 ; Mulder et al., 2009 ). Such relationships are often moderated by perceived peer substance use (Mulder et al., 2009 , 2010 ).

In Australia, rates of illicit drug use have also been associated with genre preferences (Lim et al., 2008 ). A cross-sectional questionnaire of 939 young people 16 to 29 years-of-age attending a day-long music festival revealed that nearly half of all respondents had used an illicit drug within the previous month. Rates of drug use were highest among those liking rap and dance/house with 70% and 55% of respondents having used illicit drugs within the previous month, respectively. Fifty-one percent of heavy metal fans reported using illicit drugs within the same period. The lowest rates were among those who liked alternative music (42%) and pop music (29%). Together, these findings suggest that although other genres (e.g., techno, dance, punk, reggae, rap) may predict greater levels of substance use than heavy metal, a relatively large proportion of these heavy metal fans did report using illicit drugs. Indeed, these reported numbers are higher than societal norms. For example, in a study of more than 20,000 Australian teenagers, only a small percentage used illegal drugs (Guerin & White, 2020 ). In the 2019 Australian National Drug Strategy survey ( N = 22,000 +), only 16% of Australians had used any illegal drug in the past 12 months (Australian Institute of Health Welfare, 2020 ). Thus, drug use reported by heavy metal fans is roughly three times the Australian national average.

Psychiatric Populations

Despite concerns about the effects of heavy metal music on externalising, internalising and unhealthy behaviours, there has been little research examining these variables within inpatient psychiatric populations. In an early study conducted in an inpatient psychiatric unit, adolescent males admitted for substance use, conduct disorder and/or depression reported their music-listening preferences (Weidinger & Demi, 1991 ). Of particular interest was the association between exposure to negative lyrical themes, problem behaviours and mental health (e.g., aggression, defiance, drug use, depression, suicide attempts). A greater number of problem behaviours were evident in those who listened to music with negative lyrics, and in those who primarily listened to heavy metal music over other genres. Consequently, the authors recommended that the practice at the time of restricting music listening in psychiatric units be retained.

Similarly, adolescents aged between 14–17 years old who were admitted to an inpatient substance abuse treatment program demonstrated particular profiles of music listening, mental health diagnoses and drug use preferences (Doak, 2003 ). While there was no relationship between music and drug use preferences, there were significant correlations between preferred genres and diagnosis, with rap, heavy metal and techno associated with depression, and rap and techno associated with oppositional defiant disorder. Interestingly, adolescents gave similar reasons for using music and drugs; namely, to relax, improve mood, escape reality and to focus. However, the role of music in promoting adaptive self-regulation or maintaining a maladaptive distress-addiction cycle was unclear.

In an experimental study, a female inpatient cohort experiencing severe depression was presented with 45-min of experimenter-selected hard rock or pop music over 14 sessions (Esfandiari & Mansouri, 2014 ). Although they were not necessarily fans of these genres (music preferences were not reported), patients in both listening groups reported significantly decreased levels of depression, whereas those in the non-intervention control group demonstrated no decrease in symptoms. Thus, listening to the hard rock music (albeit not exclusively heavy metal) certainly did not worsen symptoms; rather, it seemed to exert some benefit. As no details about the control group were provided, it is not possible to assess the fairness of the comparison. However, it is highly likely that the experimental groups benefited from a shared listening experience, irrespective of the genre. Nonetheless, the study provides an experimental method that could potentially inform future research, particularly with at-risk fans.

Heavy metal music continues to provide a framework for new programs such as the online peer support ‘Heavy Metal Therapy’ project (Quinn, 2019 ), which through its accompanying website ( https://heavymetaltherapy.co.uk/ ) has published numerous anecdotes describing how heavy metal music has helped fans overcome difficult life challenges such as bullying, bereavement, anxiety, and lack of confidence (Blott, 2021 ). Unfortunately, the effects of heavy metal music on mental health in psychiatric populations is highly under-researched within the field of clinical psychology, and given that this genre of music has been banned in some settings (Weidinger & Demi, 1991 ), empirical evidence is required in order to inform both clinical and policy-based decisions.

Gender Differences

Gender differences are an understudied but important area to investigate in the context of heavy metal music, especially research employing experimental designs. A self-report study conducted with Australian high school students revealed that compared to the liking of pop music, liking of rock and heavy metal music was associated with suicidal ideation, self-harm, depression, drug use, delinquency and poor family functioning (Martin et al., 1993 ). Importantly, there were substantial gender differences among these findings. Both male and female school students who liked rock/heavy metal reported lower perceived family closeness and higher rates of delinquency, risk taking and drug-use, compared to those who liked pop. However, relative to female students who liked pop, only female students who liked rock/heavy metal reported greater rates of family separation, lower levels of parental involvement, and higher levels of suicidal ideation, self-harm, and depression. These results suggest that females who listen to rock/heavy metal music represent a particularly vulnerable cohort, and their fandom may be considered a risk factor for poor mental health, self-harm, and suicidal behaviours. Conversely, as the authors suggested, males may benefit from the desirability of rock/heavy metal group membership, thus protecting them from suicide risk.

A study of high school students aged 14–18 years demonstrated a positive relationship between liking of heavy metal music and suicide risk in the female sample only, with higher levels of liking associated with increased risk (Lacourse et al., 2001 ). Female high school students also demonstrated increased levels of powerlessness, normlessness, and meaninglessness as a function of increased liking of heavy metal music. However, when a number of variables were controlled, including age, powerlessness, parental negligence, normlessness, and substance use, the relationship between liking of heavy metal music and suicide risk disappeared. Thus, it is apparent that other social and familial factors play a greater role in suicide risk. Indeed, one study reported that the relationship between heavy metal fandom and depression in adolescent females was only observed if female fans affiliated with peers who were also depressed (Miranda & Claes, 2009 ). As the authors argued, it may be that adolescent females’ affiliation with depressed peers leads to co-rumination that is maintained through the negative lyrical content of heavy metal music.

These studies highlight the possibility that research collapsing across gender may obscure important findings. Furthermore, a greater understanding of the experience of male and female fans of different subgenres of heavy metal is needed to help avoid unwittingly stereotyping gendered experiences for fans across the umbrella of heavy metal sub-genres. For example, the experience of male and female fans of different genres of heavy metal are not likely to be the same when fans of the relatively ‘dark’ and violent death metal or black metal sub-genres are compared with fans of symphonic metal or post-metal sub-genres. Such a nuanced approach to understanding gender differences across the plethora of heavy metal sub-genres awaits systematic empirical investigation.

Personality Traits

Sensation seeking.

In addition to gender, personality traits have also been considered as possible moderating factors in the relationship between heavy metal music listening and externalising behaviours (characterised by aggression and delinquency, for example) and internalising behaviours (characterised by depression and anxiety). In an early study investigating personality and externalising behaviours among adolescents, self-report measures revealed that males and females who were fans of heavy metal music had higher levels of trait sensation seeking and engaged in more reckless behaviour than non-fans (Arnett, 1991b ). Male fans reported more incidents of speeding, drink driving, casual sex and substance use than male non-fans, whereas female fans reported more shoplifting, vandalism, and unsafe sex than female non-fans. While male fans and non-fans were not different in terms of levels of self-esteem, female fans exhibited significantly lower self-esteem than non-fans. However, many of the behavioural differences between the fan and non-fan groups were moderated by levels of sensation seeking; it was not necessarily the heavy metal music that drove these behaviours.

Correlational analyses have also revealed relationships between music preferences, substance use and sensation seeking in adulthood (ages 18–44 years) (Oberle & Garcia, 2015 ). Participants were categorised according to the frequency with which they listened to various genres of music (e.g., pop, rap, country, classical, heavy metal) and these categories correlated with profiles of substance use. Specifically, rap/hip-hop, electronica/dance, and heavy metal categories were positively correlated with alcohol and marijuana use. However, when sensation seeking was controlled, neither heavy metal or electronica/dance retained an association with alcohol or marijuana use. Thus, sensation seeking was a better predictor of substance use than music-listening preferences.

The Big Five Personality Traits

Adult fans of heavy metal, alternative rock, hip-hop, rap, punk, house, and trance (so called ‘problem music’) have been found to be no different from fans of other genres (‘non-problem music’) in terms of extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and agreeableness (Bodner & Bensimon, 2015 ). Similarly, Butkovic and Dopudj ( 2017 ) explored personality traits among male heavy metal musicians and classical musicians and found no differences across the Big Five personality domains. Rather than seeking retrospective reports about listening practices, Swami et al. ( 2013 ) presented contemporary heavy metal songs to participants who were not necessarily fans of the genre. The relationships between ratings of liking for the songs, personality traits and a number of other variables were examined (e.g., need for uniqueness, attitudes towards authority, self-esteem and religiosity). In terms of personality traits, greater overall liking for the songs was only associated with higher levels of Openness to Experience. However, greater liking indicated, albeit weakly, more negative attitudes towards authority, lower self-esteem, lower religiosity, and a greater need for uniqueness. The authors suggested that those with anti-authority attitudes that included religious authority are drawn to heavy metal because its lyrical content depicts these attitudes. However, these finding cannot definitively inform knowledge about personality traits of self-identified fans, and again, drawing conclusions should be tempered.

In a study more applicable to heavy metal fans, Thompson et al. ( 2019 ) found that fans of death metal, a sub-genre of heavy metal characterised by extremely violent lyrical themes, had slightly lower levels of conscientiousness and agreeableness than non-fans. Two possible explanations for this finding were proposed: (1) the violent themes depicted in the music are incompatible with high levels of these traits, and these listeners are repelled by the music, and (2) exposure to violent lyrics desensitises listeners, causing subtle personality changes. However, the authors caution that the large overlap in levels of these traits across fan and non-fan groups suggests subtle trends, rather than clear distinctions between groups. Interestingly, despite the violent nature of the lyrics, the study revealed no differences between fans and non-fans in terms of state empathic capacity (cf. Slade et al., 2021 ). There is also now evidence that fans and non-fans do not show differences in sensitivity to acts of violence viewed in pictures (Sun et al., 2019 ). As Thompson et al. ( 2019 ) explain, fans may distance themselves from the violence depicted in the music as they draw a boundary between aesthetics and non-artistic experiences. As a result, long-term exposure to violent themes in music may not lead to desensitisation to violence, and thus, fans’ empathic response to viewing violence is similar to non-fans of violent music.

While there is evidence to suggest that sensation seeking partially explains the problem behaviours associated with heavy metal music fandom, further research is required to establish the presence of distinct personality profiles among fans of heavy metal. Indeed, this endeavour will allow researchers to examine the moderating role that personality profiles play in the relationship between heavy metal music listening and wellbeing, and will support the establishment of developmental models using longitudinal approaches.

Social and Emotional Goals

Typically, research has focused on negative outcomes, including psychopathology, antisocial behaviour, substance use and suicide risk, but there have been a number of studies designed to investigate the positive or protective aspects of listening to heavy metal music (C. Baker & Brown, 2016 ). In fact, adolescents and young adults are not passive consumers of music. Rather, they choose music in order to achieve a range of goals (McFerran & Saarikallio, 2014 ; McFerran et al., 2015 ; Papinczak et al., 2015 ). Broadly, these goals can be conceived as socially or emotionally driven (Laiho, 2004 ; Miranda, 2013 ; Schäfer and Eerola, 2020 ).

Sense of Belonging and Identity Through Heavy Metal Music

Generally, music appears to influence social development by shaping identity and facilitating autonomy from the family (Lozon & Bensimon, 2014 ), fostering peer affiliation (Lozon & Bensimon, 2014 ; North et al., 2000 ), developing community (e.g. Chadborn et al., 2018 ), managing group dynamics, and allowing for the rehearsal of social roles (Hines & McFerran, 2014 ; Miranda, 2013 ; North & Hargreaves, 1999 ; North et al., 2000 ). Young adults have also reported using their fan-status to communicate information about their demographics, social status and personal characteristics (North & Hargreaves, 1999 ). While liking of heavy metal is associated with low levels of conformity to mainstream culture (Bonneville-Roussy & Rust, 2018 ), an interview-based study of young male listeners of heavy metal music aged 14–20 years revealed that fans have a strong affiliation with their music-based culture (Arnett, 1991a ). Nearly 60% of fans considered music as a means of fostering social connections, highlighting the role that heavy metal plays in solidifying social and cultural identity. Moreover, adult fans have reported using heavy metal to explore themes of religion, death and politics, and to provide insight into their social identity and individuality (Hines & McFerran, 2014 ). Others have suggested that identification with heavy metal music and solidarity with other fans can facilitate emotional strength and survival in the face of adversity (C. Baker & Brown, 2016 ). A retrospective study offers support for this proposition, revealing that identifying with a non-mainstream subculture may act to protect vulnerable youths against mental health concerns by supporting identity development and autonomy (Howe et al., 2015 ). Furthermore, young Australian heavy metal fans provided qualitative reports that revealed how a sense of belonging and identification with metal culture can act as a protective factor against marginalisation and difficult social environments (e.g., ostracism, bullying) (Rowe & Guerin, 2018 ).

Interestingly, other research has indicated that fans of rock music, which included heavy metal among other genres such as rock, alternative, gothic and punk, feel consoled via lyrics and the music itself, rather than through connections with fans and artists (ter Bogt et al., 2017 ). In fact, others have argued that the lyrical themes in heavy metal music provide fans with a sense that they are not alone in their emotional experience, and that this provides feelings of increased comradery and connectedness, and reduced levels of shame (C. Baker & Brown, 2016 ; Schwartz & Fouts, 2003 ). Thus, a sense of connectedness appears to emerge from heavy metal music listening through affiliating with other fans or artists, and/or connecting to the messages communicated in the lyrical content. Of course, the circumstances or individual factors that give rise to the positive or negative associations within this particular sub-culture are unclear. Nevertheless, social goals are worthy of consideration, especially when working with young people in clinical settings.

Regulating Mood and Emotion with Heavy Metal Music

Music’s influence on wellbeing is realised through emotion regulation (McFerran et al., 2015 ; Randall et al., 2014 ; Saarikallio & Erkkilä, 2007 ), coping styles (Miranda & Claes, 2009 ; Semenza, 2018 ), and personality and motivation factors (Miranda, 2013 ; Thompson et al., 2019 ). Broadly, ‘music-in-mood regulation strategies’ involve the use of music to distract, reinforce, express or simply explore and work through emotions or mood states (Saarikallio, 2008 , 2011 , 2012 ). Consequently, adolescents have reported that music listening helps them feel happier, more relaxed, less bored, more connected and understood, and more confident (e.g. McFerran et al., 2015 ; Miranda, 2013 ). Music also provides solace, with two-thirds of listeners reporting that they use music to experience comfort and consolation, to reduce stress and increase emotional and psychological wellbeing, particularly when experiencing depression and/or anxiety (ter Bogt et al., 2017 ).

Qualitative reports provided by fans of heavy metal clearly demonstrate that listeners use music to vent their emotions to improve a negative mood (Arnett, 1991a ; Hines & McFerran, 2014 ; Saarikallio & Erkkilä, 2007 ; Thompson et al., 2019 ) or to enhance an existing positive mood (Scheel & Westefeld, 1999 ). Moreover, male fans have reported that listening to heavy metal music validates their emotions, particularly sadness and anger, and that the music helps them engage with and regulate these feelings, while increasing energy, motivation, and feelings of power and self-confidence (Hines & McFerran, 2014 ). Indeed, the more adolescent males listen to heavy metal music to release anger, the better their family relationships and the lower their drug use (Lacourse et al., 2001 ).

Fans have also reported using heavy metal music to fully experience and release anger and sadness, calm down, increase happiness, and to immerse themselves in the feelings of being in love (Sharman & Dingle, 2015 ). These findings are consistent with a study in which fans and non-fans listened to 60-s excerpts of death metal and reported their emotional responses to the music using quantitative and qualitative measures (Thompson et al., 2019 ). After listening to the excerpts, fans reported: 1) a decrease in negative affect, including tension; and 2) an increase in positive affect, including energy, enjoyment, engagement, empowerment, joy, wonder, nostalgia, peace and transcendence. This pattern was the converse for non-fans who reported decreased positive affect and increased negative affect (e.g., tension, fear, anger). These findings have now been replicated in a different sample of death metal fans and extended to fans of violent rap music (Olsen et al., 2022 ). Fans have also reported that violent heavy metal music serves cathartic and motivational functions, and has helped promote engagement with physical, creative, work/study and domestic based activities. Interestingly, an equal proportion of fans and non-fans (~ 10% within each group) reported that the emotions experienced during listening were conducive to antisocial behaviour (e.g., aggression, violence, reckless driving, excessive drinking). Thus, the majority of heavy metal fans report using music in adaptive ways aimed at enhancing wellbeing.

However, the outcomes of using heavy metal music to regulate mood and emotion are not always positive. For instance, although similar proportions of pop and rock/heavy metal fans report listening to their preferred music when in sad or happy moods, rock/heavy metal fans who felt sadder after listening had higher levels of depression, delinquency, suicidal ideation, and higher rates of self-harm and drug-use (Martin et al., 1993 ). Relatedly, in a non-clinical sample of 145 young adult fans of heavy metal, rap, or classical music, those who reported a greater magnitude of depressive symptoms were more likely to experience negative emotions (sadness, tension, anger, and fear) in response to their preferred music, and more likely to attempt to regulate depressive symptoms via the discharge mood regulation strategy, rather than diversion (Powell et al., 2021 ). Notably, both mood regulation strategies did not alleviate (or exacerbate) the experience of negative emotions in those reporting depressive symptoms.

There are also associations between adolescent females’ use of music for release of aggression and poor family relationships, greater feelings of powerless, normlessness and meaninglessness, and increased drug use (Lacourse et al., 2001 ). It appears that music-based coping styles interact with gender. Namely, adolescent females who use music as an avoidant coping strategy report higher levels of depression than adolescent females who use music as a problem-oriented coping strategy (i.e., to resolve or reduce stress) (Miranda & Claes, 2009). However, increased levels of depression in adolescent males are more closely linked to an emotion-oriented music-based coping style than avoidant or problem-oriented coping styles . Together, the evidence is consistent with research indicating that: 1) listeners experiencing anxiety and depression, and those who tend to ruminate may feel worse after listening to mood-congruent sad music (Garrido & Schubert, 2015 ; Garrido et al., 2016 ; McFerran et al., 2015 ; Peltola & Eerola, 2016 ); and 2) using music to suppress unwanted emotions can have negative impacts on psychological, emotional, and social wellbeing (Chin & Rickard, 2014 ).

Studies using a validated measure of music-based mood regulation such as the Music in Mood Regulation Scale (MMR; Saarikallio, 2008 , 2012 ) have also highlighted strategies that may be maladaptive. These studies further bring into question the reports provided by fans; namely that music helps them release, vent or discharge negative emotion (e.g., anger). Without considering specific genres, discharging anger via listening has been associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress, and using music as a distraction or diversion from negative emotions is associated with elevated levels of anxiety and stress. Conversely, those who use music for entertainment – to maintain a happy mood – show low levels of depression (Thomson et al., 2014 ). Carlson et al. ( 2015 ) also reported that the use of the discharge strategy in males was associated with higher levels of anxiety and neuroticism.

However, it has been suggested that particular strategies may elicit different outcomes as a function of preferred music genre (Carlson et al., 2015 ; Karreman et al., 2017 ; Thoma, et al., 2012a , 2012b ; Thoma, et al., 2012a , 2012b ). For example, Bodner and Bensimon ( 2015 ) examined preferred mood regulation strategies against preferences for so-called ‘problem music’ (heavy metal, alternative rock, hip-hop, rap, punk, house and trance) or ‘non-problem music’ (other genres). The two fan-groups did not differ in the degree to which they used music for entertainment or to induce strong sensation. However, fans of ‘problem-music’ used music for solace, revival, diversion, to facilitate mental work and to discharge emotion more so than ‘non-problem music’ fans. With a particular focus on fans of death metal, a self-report study revealed that fans used music for revival, discharging emotions and facilitating mental work more so than non-fans (Thompson et al., 2019 ). Unlike Bodner and Bensimon ( 2015 ), fans reported using music for entertainment more so than non-fans, but did not report using music any more than non-fans for solace or diversion. These differences are likely because Thompson and colleagues examined mood regulation strategies of a specific sub-genre of heavy metal music, and it is indeed possible that fans of heavy metal demonstrate different profiles than fans of other genres classified as ‘problem music’ (e.g., rap, hip-hop, dance) by Bodner and Bensimon ( 2015 ).

Following the emerging interest in the relationships between genre preferences and music-based emotion regulation strategies, there is now a need to explore how the use of these strategies may be adaptive or maladaptive for heavy metal fans, with consideration given to gender (e.g. Miranda & Claes, 2009 ) and personality (e.g. Karreman et al., 2017 ). For instance, there is evidence that listeners with high levels of neuroticism show greater reductions in negative affect when instructed to consciously enhance their emotional state during music listening (Karreman et al., 2017 ). More research in the domain of music in mood regulation is needed to understand the emotional and psychological outcomes for heavy metal fans who use particular emotion regulation strategies, and with systematic consideration given to other individual factors (e.g., gender, personality). This endeavour is critical for highlighting the implications of adopting emotion regulation strategies for longer-term mental health (Blais-Rochette & Miranda, 2016 ; Carlson et al., 2015 ; McFerran & Saarikallio, 2014 ; Randall et al., 2014 ; van den Tol, 2016 ) and for recommending specific strategies in therapeutic settings (e.g., Dingle et al., 2016 ). For instance, advising a heavy metal music fan to listen to calming music to reduce distress may be detrimental when their preference is to listen to their preferred genre to discharge negative emotions.

Conclusions

The aim of this narrative review was to synthesise research findings grounded primarily within the field of music psychology and with particular focus on risks and benefits of heavy metal music with aggressive themes. With respect to risks, correlational evidence suggests that listening to heavy metal music is associated with psychological and behavioural problems that include aggression, delinquency, disrespect toward societal norms and women, and a vulnerability to mood disturbances such as anxiety and depression. However, there is little empirical reason to conclude that heavy metal music actually causes such problems. Fans of heavy metal also report relatively lower rates of substance use than fans of other genres (e.g., punk, techno), but substance use in this population is still considerably higher than societal norms.

Not unexpectedly, such risks are moderated by individual difference variables including personality and gender. For instance, sensation seeking may partially account for substance use and antisocial behaviour among fans of heavy metal music. Importantly, evidence suggests that female fans are more likely to experience poor mental health than male fans (Lacourse et al., 2001 ; Martin et al., 1993 ; Miranda & Claes, 2009 ). Three factors may account for this gender difference. First, relative to males, it is typically less acceptable for females to be heavy metal fans and their fan status may be viewed as a more extreme form of non-conformity, isolating them from mainstream culture (Phillipov, 2012 ). Second, females are frequently represented as victims of violence in lyrical and visual content of heavy metal music with aggressive themes (e.g., album covers, music videos), whereas males are often portrayed as having agency and power (Walser, 2013 ). Third, females are underrepresented among musicians and fan communities, giving female fans fewer opportunities for feelings of connectedness and belonging (Donze, 2010 ). These propositions require empirical investigation, and exploring the relationships between wellbeing, gender and sensation seeking among fans will provide greater insight.

With respect to benefits, there is an emerging body of evidence showing that heavy metal music can confer a range of benefits to its fans, especially those who approach fandom with harmonious rather than obsessive passion (Olsen et al., 2022 ). Primarily, this research has focused on the role of music in regulating mood and emotion (Dingle et al., 2016 ; McFerran & Saarikallio, 2014 ; Saarikallio & Erkkilä, 2007 ; Thompson et al., 2019 ), forming individual and cultural identity (North & Hargreaves, 1999 ; North et al., 2000 ), facilitating autonomy from the family, and fostering peer affiliation (C. Baker & Brown, 2016 ; Hines & McFerran, 2014 ; Lozon & Bensimon, 2014 ).

A critical observation from this narrative review is that there are inherent challenges in examining the short- and long-term impact of heavy metal music that constrain the kinds of conclusions that can be drawn. First, statistics on the psychological and behavioural profile of fans are necessarily correlational, making it difficult to draw causal inferences (C. Baker & Brown, 2016 ; F. Baker & Bor, 2008 ; McFerran, 2016 ). Does heavy metal music cause or reinforce psychological problems for certain individuals, or do people with pre-existing psychological challenges gravitate towards this music, perhaps because it is consistent with their experience and provides a sense of belonging and consolation (McFerran et al., 2016 )? Second, experimental studies that report short-term negative outcomes from listening to this music frequently fail to restrict their sampling strategies to self-declared fans of the music when it is known that fans and non-fans react in contrasting ways. Those who enthusiastically embrace extreme metal music tend to feel empowered and joyful after engaging with this music; those who do not like this music rarely report positive outcomes and are typically left feeling tense, irritated, and angry (Thompson et al., 2019 ). Of course, non-fans are unlikely to listen to heavy metal music in their day-to-day lives, and yet there is a risk that social attitudes, policy decisions and therapeutic recommendations might be made on the basis of studies that reflect the experiences of non-fans, rather than fans who actually engage with this music.

Future research will benefit from a greater focus on the experiences of self-declared fans and include experimental designs in conjunction with correlational analyses. Research will also benefit by investigating potential precursors to positive and negative engagement with heavy metal music, for example by assessing trait characteristics such as morbid curiosity (Scrivner et al., 2021 ) and moral reasoning (Messick & Aranda, 2020 ), in conjunction with fans’ tendencies for harmonious or obsessive passion (Olsen et al., 2022 ). The effects of listening to heavy metal music on psychiatric patients is also an area of research that requires attention, as it is within this population that empirical evidence is critical for guiding clinical recommendations pertaining to music use. This avenue of research is critical to ensure that negative stereotypes do not cloud clinical decisions (Rosenbaum & Prinsky, 1991 ). Indeed, understanding the mechanisms that drive affective, cognitive and behavioural responses to heavy metal music will be critical for informing interventions that address mental health concerns in fans. Such research will help therapists identify fans’ adaptive and maladaptive trait characteristics and listening behaviours, so informed decisions can be made regarding music engagement that optimally supports wellbeing while minimising maladaptive risk.

Data Availability

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

Change history

11 june 2022.

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03298-2

We employ the term gender to distinguish between males, females, and non-binary participants even when referring to research in which the original authors used the term ‘sex’. We adopt this approach because we assume participants were asked to select a gender label at the time of participation, rather than to indicate a label they might have been assigned at birth based on their biological features (i.e., sex).

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Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (DP160101470) awarded to William Forde Thompson.

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The original version of this article has been revised. In the first line of the Abstract, the word “exposure” was incorrectly written as “exposed”.

Kirk N. Olsen and Josephine Terry share first authorship.

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Olsen, K.N., Terry, J. & Thompson, W.F. Psychosocial risks and benefits of exposure to heavy metal music with aggressive themes: Current theory and evidence. Curr Psychol 42 , 21133–21150 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03108-9

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Accepted : 12 April 2022

Published : 25 May 2022

Issue Date : August 2023

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03108-9

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Interesting Research about Heavy Metal Music Impact on Students Performance

by Metal Insider | Dec 29, 2020 | News Around the World | 0 comments

Heavy metal music has been long seen as a genre associated with ideas of violence, suicide and death and even mass shootings. Recent research shows that heavy metal music can have positive effects as well, with the genre being a source of catharsis and even motivation. So, can metal music be useful in boosting the academic performance of students? This article is all about answering this question.

Change in Outlook through Metal Music

Heavy Metal Music came at an age where people developed a negative attitude towards the systems of the world and started having outlooks opposite to those that divide different behaviors into the categories of good and bad. This retaliation against norms and beliefs, along with the coarseness of the music, make metal music a genre not appreciated by everyone. Those that listen to this music are seen as people spiraling into chaos. But research considers how this outlook changing genre could lead to new ideas in terms of logical reasoning and even scientific thinking, bringing new ideas to compete with the existing ones.

A Cathartic Genre

There’s always a lot of pent up stress and frustration among students. Metal music, with its loud music and distinct sound, helps people relieve themselves of frustration. As students, stress and anxiety can come from a variety of sources, be it a big bunch of notes gathered in the last class or the huge number of assignments to finish in the next two days. Not only that, we all struggle with our personal lives, with heartbreaks and unrequited love, bad decisions and an almost empty bank account. There are options in the form of EduBirdie though, a renowned term paper writing service that can help with academic assignments at affordable prices. Also when you fail to write essays while studying something more important, you can take help from this academic writing service. Metal music can help channelize the anger and frustration that might be build up inside. While meditation works for some, metal music works for others.

Metal Music Can Pump You Up

Studying can get boring and tiring. But metal music can help bring back energy in your mind and body to get back to your chair and start studying again. Metal music includes many distinct and sharp notes, something your brain picks up as an alerting signal. As your brain focuses on these notes, it’s pumped up and more vigil, thus taking in every piece of information it is fed with more interest than it did before. Consider this as a brain exercise or even a shot of caffeine, waking your brain up from its nap and pushing it to learn the information it is being fed. So if you’re a student wanting to wake up early and sitting down to study, try listening to Guns and Roses in the morning and you’ll see yourself sitting down with enthusiasm you’ve never even imagined!

Improvement in Cognitive Functioning

Talking about brain exercise, metal music and its rhythmic music can help exercise those brain muscles that are constantly tracking every beat and note in the song, which is quite a rigorous exercise for your brain when it’s listening to heavy metal music. Research shows that students who listen to heavy metal music end up developing better focus, faster reaction times, and greater memory power. Metal music can further motivate students to work on exercising the brain constantly, thereby improving the effect it has on their academic performance and physical health .

Memorizing With Music

Metal music cannot directly help you with greater memory power, but it can be a medium to remember more effectively . How? When it comes to memorizing, one of the most efficient ways is music. You can fit a sheet of notes or a definition into a rhythm that exists and sing it back to yourself whenever you need it. We all remember the rhythms of songs, don’t we? So why not use it to memorize the most boring of concepts? Metal music can help you remember these concepts by embedding them into the songs. Another way is to learn a concept while listening to a song. This way, if you remember the song, you can remember the concept as your brain had made an association between the two when you were studying before.

Visualizing Pictures

Metal music can help you visualize and while this may not help in every subject, you can listen to a song and imagine a scene that includes the concept. This can be used for pictorial representations in your book. Embed them in your brain along with your songs and you’ll be able to retrieve the image when you listen to the music. While this may not work for everyone and might be a cause of distraction to many, you can try and see if this method can work for you. Do not go to an exam with blind faith, as it might not work for you.

Metal music may not be as bad and negative as it has been termed for all this while. It can be of huge benefit to students while dealing with stress, emotions and demotivation and even provide some innovative ways of memorizing. So try it out and see if it works for you.

Author Bio:

Paul Calderon works for a website as the lead blogger, article writer and editor and heads its lifestyle, politics and business sections. He’s also a part-time academic writer and is known for delivering winning essays in the same niches. In his free time, he loves watching live sports, reading novels and walking his dogs.

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