(Part 3) Top products from r/Metal

Hey mate, doing a PhD on Aussie extreme metal. I'll do a write up for you when I get home :)

Edit: the promised write up.

So, there's actually quite a lot on metal in the academic sphere, but it can be hard to find. It's growing at an exponential rate too, which is exciting! My own area is musicology (with a slight ethnomusicology element) and I've done work on symphonic metal, the original Gothenburg scene and Australian extreme metal. I've published two papers, and done a few posters/conferences so far (I can give some links via PM if you'd like).

Metal studies is very multidisciplinary, with a huge range of content under different subject areas. To start with, I'd encourage you to check out the journal Metal Music Studies which is a completely legit peer-reviewed journal that covers most disciplines. You can also check out conferences like Modern Heavy Metal and there are a few others around. I'd also strongly recommend the book Global Metal Music And Culture as a recent overview of where the field has come from and where it's gotten to.

Other than that there's a variety of books worth looking into. Robert Walser's Running with the Devil and Deena Weinstein's Heavy Metal are the two main starting points. Both are really worth reading, but they're very dated. I'd also strongly recommend both Extreme Metal by Keith Kahn-Harris and Metal, Rock and Jazz by Harris Berger.

My other big recommendations are in musicology areas mostly, which might not be the most helpful to you. I recommend everything Eric Smialek has done; both his theses are great and he combines musicology with a really good perspective on metal culture in general. If you want more, I'm happy to share parts of my literature reviews for my two theses with you.

For your paper, I'd encourage you to do it. My three primers on Aussie metal I did stemmed directly from my PhD and they're be plenty of interest in an article like the one you describe. Check out the first issue of MMS published this year, they had a whole half of the journal about metal from Latin America that might give you some ideas. Don't worry about ethnomusicology methods, there are barely any ethnomusicologists in metal studies, it's nowhere near the norm for the field. There's no one disciplinary style that's expected because there's such a wide range of disciplines in the field. There's also always the option of publishing metal-focused work in subject-specific journals (I can link you a few music ones if you'd like). More than happy to talk more in detail about this.

Finally, I'd like to offer a little word of advice: be careful of assuming that there's not much that's reputable or 'gets' metal. There is a lot of mediocre stuff out there on metal that unfortunately often gets publicised (e.g. Sam Dunn, Until the Light Takes Us etc.) but don't let that colour your view of an entire field. Equally, don't assume that because a writer's cultural experience of metal differs from yours and that of your main communities (e.g. reddit, your local scene etc.) that it's wrong. I had to really get over this, as I found a lot of writing on metal didn't match my experience but I've decided to respond by a) acknowledging that my experience might not match theirs and b) writing a lot about my experience! I'm particularly interested in genre, especially in terms of making some clear, musical( or even musicological) definitons for genres and working out exactly how and why genres like metalcore and hard rock 'don't belong' according to many fans. A bit of a tanget, but something talking about imo.

I really hope that's helpful. Please do ask if you have any questions, I love talking about metal academia (and miss AveLucifer and chatting with him about some of this!) and I'm really keen to help others get into it.

>In some way however my worry remains. Are these modern incarnations more 19th century spiritualism or new age woo woo? I can respect that these beliefs tap into an anti-ascetic desire in people and a genuine practice could result. But even new age religions like Wicca and paganism are often shallow at least compared to the complexities and depth that exists in well established age old religions. I speak as an atheist with no compassion for established beliefs, but when you give a traditional system thousands of years to parse out it's theology and practice it gains a depth unknown to recent reincarnations of religious belief. This isn't anyone's fault but it doesn't help that these beliefs are represented by some the more er floaty types in the west.

Well the New Age and 19th century Spiritualism are actually modern incarnations of far more ancient phenomena. I am referring to the field of study called "Western Esotericism" which covers ancient Hermeticism, Gnostic thought, Theosophy, Alchemy, Theosophy, Kabbalah, etc all the way down to the New Age, Spiritualism, and others. The New Age and Spiritualism are in fact rooted in this phenomenon, and cannot be properly understood without it. If you're interested the book New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought is the best book on the subject, and in it the author, a highly respected and influential scholar in the field, shows how New Age ideas are actually deeply rooted in Western Esoteric ideas, and are in fact just modern incarnations of the same. As for Wicca and Paganisn you're a little closer to the mark because there isn't much evidence for it before Gerald Gardner's creation of it (that he framed as merely a public revival of a long underground Pagan system, which historical evidence has a hard time backing up). While I understand your point that "established religions" have more time to parse out and elaborate a more consistent and rooted theology and practice, it's also true that no religion started in a vacuum, and in fact most of the time new religions just work with material already existing. We can see this with Christianity, in that it's more or less an offshoot of Judaism that adopted many Pagan beliefs involving the resurrection of god, and furthermore ancient Israelite thought owes much to the religion of the Ancient Near East as well. Buddhist thought cannot be understood outside of the shramana milieu surrounding its genesis on the fifth century BCE. My point in this is that none of these religions, even in their infancy, sprang out of thin air. Thousands of years later they're accepted as fully formed religions, but in their infancy they looked a bit more like modern day Wicca in the ways that they creatively worked with already existing material in the creation of a semi-novel worldview, in the absence of thousands of years of credibility-building. And modern Wicca and Neopaganism has the entire wealth of Europe's pagan past to work with as raw material for their own worldviews, and this chain of lineage is real for them, so as a scholar I have a commitment to study how these issues of legitimacy are dealt with in the creation of a worldview that is whole-heartedly believed in.

>My question to you since you study this is where does the occult even come from? I get that it's a combination of Kabbala, Gnosticism, and western mystical beliefs, but when did it arise and who lumped this disconnected series of beliefs together in the west? The evangelical Christian revival and romantic metaphysics movement seemed to occur at the same time in America, a time when people were furiously searching for meaning but surely someone had to "put it all together" into a practice no?

This is something I'm still trying to learn the complete history of, but reading some other books on Western Esotericism could help lay the foundation. This history is a great overview of Western Esotericism as a whole, and towards the end it discusses Kabbalah and the other components of modern day Occultism. We should keep in mind that the word "Occultism" is a word used to describe a various number of interrelated traditions, so take it with a grain of salt. Its development wasn't the work of any one person or innovator, but over the decades and centuries it subtly morphed, elaborated, and acquired new directions just like the history of Western Esotericism, and all religions for that matter. As for precise details that's something I'm working on understanding myself, but the books I mentioned should help for your general inquiries.

> I'm a huge fan of Retro/Synthwave but i've never been attracted by their live show, what's the point of having a guy behind a macbook clicking Next every 3 minutes?

there is a great book called Last Night a DJ Saved My Life which gives a history of the DJ and also electronic music. One thing I learned is that many people judge electronic music from the perceptive of rock music where albums are the format released and concerts are there to see and appreciate the musician making the music. (this isn't helped by promoters / venues who advertise high profile electronic acts)

Electronic music is different as it is more about the party and dancing and uses the music as a backdrop. You can still have "personas" and be there to see a person and what they do. Mix Mag has this series that has famous DJs do a set with different music. This is Skream (original dubstep) spinning UK GARAGE which was the precursor to dubstep.

The problem happens when people begin to judge how other people have fun. These czech ravers seem to be having fun standing in front of speaker banks with no DJ in site. The raves and electronic shows I have gone to have all been of varying qualities with even some of the most fun times being of average music quality. there is a rock belief that music and the musician must be revered and worshiped like artwork where electronic shows are more communal with music as a backdrop.

Ah yes. You are exactly correct. In the grand scheme of things, everything is meaningless. But it does not then therefore follow that there is not meaning to be found in life.

My favorite author on this is Viktor Frankl: neurologist; psychiatrist; and Holocaust survivor, his psychoanalytic theory of logotherapy was informed by existentialism and his experiences in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

According to Frankl, meaning can be found in life in 3 ways: by creating a work or doing a deed; by experiencing something or encountering someone; and by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering. So basically our choices are accomplishment, love, and perseverance.

In Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl states that "Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible."

From what little context you've provided I assume that you are right now facing unavoidable suffering in the form of a hard realization. Life is questioning you right now by giving you the realization of meaninglessness. This is good for you are being given an opportunity to respond. An opportunity to show Life that you are worthy to endure the struggle of this knowledge and keep going. You are strong enough.

I'd highly recommend the book I've linked to. If you don't want to buy it, send me your address and I'll have it shipped to you. I'm serious.

EDIT: Also check out this essay.

Precious Metal - This is a collection of 25 expanded interviews conducted by Decibel on what they consider some of the greatest extreme metal albums. Really good read.

Slayer's Reign in Blood (33 1/3) - A fantastic account on the making of Reign in Blood.

Lifting

Maxed out on dl and squats this week. Pulled 500 x 1 on deadlift. Finished up the week yesterday so next week is a deload which doesnt feel 100% necessary, which is really good for me.

Books

Has anyone read any books on the satanic panic? I was specifically looking at This one and This one . From what ive read the latter is more academic, but both seem pretty entertaining. Not quite sure which one I wanna go with.

> there is a rock belief that music and the musician must be revered and worshiped

I actually attempted to talk about the parallels between religion and music for my disertation. I used this book quite a bit:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pop-Cult-Religion-Popular-Music/dp/0826432360

> So aside from the goofy title which makes this look like a cheap trashy book

I always feel slightly apologetic when I recommend Psycho USA by Harold Schechter because, despite the horrible title and the cover art that makes it look like a Five Finger Death Punch album, it's actually a very well-written examination of why some crimes loom large in the public consciousness, while others are mostly forgotten. I highly recommend Schechter's other books as well. He writes very informative, yet entertaining, books about historical crimes and the public fascination with violence. One of my favorite aspects of his writing is the way he debunks the myth that people were more civilized and less obsessed with the sensational and the lurid back in "the good old days."

If you're interested in reading a book that covers some of the same territory as "Occult America" but from a scientific/skeptical viewpoint, I recommend Martin Gardner's Fads and Fallacies In The Name of Science. As the title suggests, it's more concerned with pseudoscience, but it does cover things like spiritualism, hollow earth societies, faith healing, and the early days of Scientology.

Weird history is kinda my jam.

If you want weird, obscure history with a focus on horrific crimes and the occasional supernatural occurrence, check out Keven McQueen. He's an English professor at a small college in Kentucky, who apparently spends all of his spare time combing old newspapers looking for weird stories to put in his books.


Although his books are mostly PNW-specific, I think anyone who is interested in weird history would dig Stewart Holbrook's Wildmen, Wobblies, and Whistlepunks and Murder Out Yonder.

This book was assigned for drawing classes when I was in college. Lots of the exercises sound kind of batty, and they often demand long drawing sessions. But I think it's supposed to get you to understand the spatial aspects of figures super well.

Little fellow, if you honestly took the time to better yourself your inability to understand a few sentences not targeted towards your kindergarten level of reading comprehension wouldn't be such a source of exasperation for you. English is a beautiful language, it's a shame a few multisyllabic words vex you so. Here's a book to help get you started on your journey into words. It might be a little bit over your head but go ahead, give it a shot:

http://www.amazon.com/Wheres-Spot-Little-Board-Books/dp/0399240462/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1396627348&sr=8-6&keywords=see+spot+run

Hail Santa :)

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081P4HG8W

I personally recommend getting your ass to the library or bookstore and getting two very interesting books:

Running With the Devil: Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal Music by Robert Walser

Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture by Deena Weinstein

Both are interesting reads and Walser's in particular has a section which memorably compares a particular guitar solo to a Vivaldi violin cadenza... very interesting.

I'm not really much of a death metal person so I can't recommend you anything in the way of bands but the other people who commented sound like they know their shit. :)

the best and worst thing you could ever read

Author

Let me recommend three things to you.

The Sword - Warp Riders

Thought Chamber - Psykerion - Behind The Eyes Of Ikk

Vernor Vinge - Deepness In The Sky

You'll die for Thought Chamber. The style varies a lot across the entire album, very prog rock on some tunes, very prog metal on others, even jazz instrumental on some. And the story makes me think of the book by Vernor Vinge, which is also worth checking out.

> Peloponnesian Wars

This for something lighter and this for something a bit drier. I think these two books are the standard recommendations when approaching the topic.

Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal https://www.amazon.com/dp/0380811278/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_9STOub1A3KTY4

Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore https://www.amazon.com/dp/193259504X/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_pUTOub10T8719

Here´s the first story I ever read by him, called "The Frolic" and it's absolutely chilling. https://pastebin.com/cbWmGNA7

It's about 15 pages too if I remember correctly so it's a quick read. If you like that story then I would recommend ordering Songs of a Dead Dreamer/Grimscribe as that collection has some of his better stories including The Frolic. https://www.amazon.com/Songs-Dreamer-Grimscribe-Thomas-Ligotti/dp/0143107763.

I tried reading his other collection called Teatro Grotesquo but wasn't that into it because it's very abstract horror which kind of loses me after a few stories. That said I've also heard Conspiracy Against the Human Race (which is an essay) is one of his best pieces so in the end just look for what interests you most! (But seriously, read The Frolic you won't regret it)