DMV Metalcore band demanding to perform to a venue of 24 people, promoting death to the hypercapitalistic state of America.
Source: “Perspective | a Striking Visual Foray into a Unique Moment in D.C. Metal Music History.” Washington Post, 14 Dec. 2022, http://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2022/12/14/striking-visual-foray-into-unique-moment-dc-metal-music-history/.
Music in and of itself cannot be classified as a language, because it can do what words can’t, and that’s adding another level of depth through the frequencies created with every strum of the guitar, or double kick against the bass drum. The point is that you can hear a song over 100 times and still never understand the meaning until you listen to the emotions conveyed by the artist, and the genre that does that best is metal music.
Metal music is often associated with punk because the meaning of what it truly means to be a metalhead has dissolved, and what remains is the principles of what most call anarchy, but few call change. I don’t speak to a minority to make those who don’t know feel inferior; I want to shed light on how the largest genre in music has been forgotten, partially due to the counterculture nature of the scene, which is needed now more than ever to help motivate the pursuit of healing Mother Nature. I’m not saying metal music is the key to unlocking a healthier planet; it’s more like fuel that fuels the vehicle of change, which is you.
The genre is based on anti-establishment (Pearce, Vanessa), which naturally creates an environment that questions the play pretend in their big white castle, discussing which stocks they should tell their wives to invest in, while people are starving because the land is being poisoned by run-off waste from companies dumping their toxins, like robbers searching for their next victim.
Most people think of Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden when the genre comes up, but that’s like saying the founding fathers are the only American leaders. As time progressed, the genres split into thousands of sub-genres, each with a unique spin that gave it a new classification, which is a difficult feat for most genres. The difficulty arises from the lack of degrees of freedom with the possible vocals, because most songs, I assume, you can clearly hear the words leaving the singer’s lips, loud and legible.
While this may work for more modern genres like nu-metal or pop-punk, there is a loss of emotion in the straining of the vocal cords to reach a pitch that of a howl or a scream. To most, the sound is unsettling, but to tuned ears, there is an added layer to the sounds that not only conveys a message but incorporates the yearning of a better future.
Since the scene has been dying since the early 2000’s, due to the push that metal = satanism, it was shunned by the mostly Christian nation. But the shun inadvertently created a tighter-knit community; in a way, it can be thought of as the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars.
Ideas can flow easily from person to person due to the small community, but it’s what also gives the ability for action to take place, because unlike large establishments that are meant to “fight” for you and me, they have to go through boards of directors and legal work and blahh blahh blah.
My head begins to ache when thinking about all of the restrictions that are in place for the pursuit of a better future for the planet. If only there were a smaller group that isn’t united by a title, but rather aligned by the concept of pushing back against the government, in any necessary measure, as seen fit by those who choose to take action.
Let go of the norm of what sounds are appropriate, let go of the social norms that tie you down, that hold you back from feeling in control. The truth is, you do, and there is a community that will welcome you, just like how they welcomed me. Broil in the funky noises and he screaming, embrace the fact that people look against you, because that just means that they are too close-minded to pursue change, and they are probably the same people who start unions or “fight for the commonwealth.” What a load of bullshit to judge a book by its cover, to call all metal heads satanists, did society not learn anything from the Red Scare…?
Sources:
(1) Pearce, Vanessa. Ecometal: Could Ozzy Osbourne’s Legacy Be Helping Save the Planet? 14 Oct. 2025, http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq8elv48qgzo.
Writing About the Environment 