On The Demon Mania Of Metal

Kris Morrison's thoughts on the partnership of metal and horror:

A thought struck me as I was watching a rerun of one of my hands-down favourite shows: Supernatural.  I think anyone who would read a blog on a metal site would appreciate a show about two brothers who go around kicking the shit out of demons, werewolves, ghosts and all other form of nasty by way of shotguns, machetes and homemade explosives.  In a wonderful bonus, the soundtrack features the likes of Metallica, Eagles of Death Metal, Ozzy, Ratt and Blue Oyster Cult.  What a combo!  AC/DC’s Highway to Hell playing while vampires get beheaded and demons face exorcism rights; it’s enough to make me stiff. 

What really got me thinking was the almost too natural partnership between hard rock/metal and the dark monster-filled underworld.  I have trouble seeing rap or trance matching the battle that occurs between the brothers and War, the first Horseman of the Apocalypse.  Why, though, is metal the obvious choice? 

Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath certainly revelled in the frightening and demonic imagery.  Some bands, like Slayer and Iron Maiden, have lyrics which focus on myth and dogma – even if it is in protest of it.  Is this odd considering that the genre originated as more of a protest against a failing real-world system?  It was artists who were working class people living hand to mouth that birthed metal.  They wanted others to know that however depressing life gets, you’re not alone.  And yet, Kevin Smith’s movie Clerks aimed to do the same thing.  I don’t see many Quick Stop or Mooby Burger shirts at a Children of Bodom concert or in a Hellraiser movie.

Of course, not all artists take to the dark side.  The glam rockers of the Sunset Strip were about partying and fighting social convention.  Most thrash metal is about fighting personal demons (the figurative kind of course – Linda Blair was on her own with that one).  So why do even we as metal heads seem to associate the genre with darkness?  Perhaps we find comfort in horror.  It’s an excellent way to view a real crisis in an easier-to-deal-with fictional form.  Death, suicide, abuse, and the incomprehensible evil of others is not a simple thing to handle.  Thinking too much about it would make you crazy. 

The reason people turn to any art is because it speaks to them.  Metal speaks to those who need some kind of relief from the world around them.  We need to escape to Blind Guardian’s version of Middle Earth.  We need to know that Megadeth feels the same way about the outrageous hypocrisies in our governments.  Metal might use metaphor from time to time, but it’s still in your face with it's point.  It screams loud enough that everyone has to hear it.  It doesn’t matter who is creating the wars - Satan or the wealthy elite who never have to actually go and fight - the wars happen anyway.  Metal wants us to know that horror is universal; we all face it together, even when we’re apart.