Rhys B

What is the definition of live performance, and how does it practically function within the context of contemporary metal music?

QUOTES:

“Many writers and musicians have explained the usage of a distorted guitar timbre as a means of acquiring power for those who do not have any in their daily lives, particularly in light of metal’s working-class origins.” - Aesthetic-Sonic Shift of Melodic Death Metal

“This isn’t to say that records can’t inspire but live performance is different. Live performance has the element of chance or possibility and that could be heightened by a fan seeing their idols in the moment performing on stage.” - Live Performance, Touring, and Music in the Digital Age

CW: explicit language, crude language, misogynistic language.

The notes below are about extreme metal music. The names of the bands, some of which are listed in the following document, are intentionally shocking.

Notes Document

Bibliographic Information:

Author: Joan Jocson-Singh

Title of article or book: Vigilante feminism as a form of musical protest in extreme metal music

Title of publication (if article in magazine, newspaper, or journal): Metal Music Studies Vol 5 No. 2

Page numbers (if article in magazine, newspaper, or journal): 263-273

Publisher: Intellect Limited

Date published: 2019

URL (if applicable): 

Paraphrased Notes: Include Page #s

  • The more feminist bands, in addition to having names related to blood and gore (the main band featured in the article is Castrator, though prominent EMM bands include Cannibal Corpse and Visceral Bleeding), also have names that are in direct opposition to the more misogynist band names that exist within the genre (all of which are ridiculous and include Nunslaughter and An*l C*nt).

  • Part of this is exploring gender roles by participating in a culture as though the musicians were men instead of as women, where their role instead would have been traditionally limited to groupies and the like.

  • Use the extreme content of the lyrics and the genre in general to demand gender equality in a way that would otherwise be only okay if men participated in it.

  • Generally speaking, female vocalists in metal tend to sing in a clean, almost operatic style. However, in the new wave of female-fronted bands the vocalists are moving in the direction of screaming, though of course this isn’t an all or nothing prospect (i.e. Jinjer or Red Handed Denial)

  • Within the subgenre female artists will tend to wear masculine-coded clothing in order to take attention away from the difference in their gender identity in an attempt to move the genre in a gender-less direction.

Direct quotes: Include Page #s

  • “Choosing such a name adheres to the EMM convention of naming bands using words related to themes of gore, horror, and death.” (265).

  • “They engage in headbanging, moshing and screaming; traits and behaviours coded masculine.” (266).

  • “The women here are not trying to be men; they are simply adhering to EMM conventions.” (268).

  • “As an anomaly in their field, they used tactics born of the… Women’s Liberation Movement… in order to assimilate with the men in their genre. They had to in order to prove themselves equal. That’s how it was in those days. You took care of your own problems.” (269)

  • “...the dismissal that many male EMM fans promote… that sexism or racism doesn’t really exist, mainly because it’s not something they themselves have experienced or had to confront.” (270)

  • “By engaging in masculine coded forms of practice (vocal styling, lyrical content, imagery and dress) women performers and fans destabilize EMM through their feminist protest.” (271)

Summary of Source (2-4 sentences)

Extreme Metal Music has been dominated by male artists since its conception, and the male-centric gaze of the genre has multiplied on itself to create a genre which has plenty of musical merit but presents many issues when it comes to gender and racial diversity and acceptance. Female EMM bands are addressing this by creating their image and song material around the struggles that they have in the genre as well as the world at large due to their gender identity, within itself a form of protest, while also drawing attention to the systemic issues within the codified structure of EMM.

Does this help me answer my question? Why or why not?

Indirectly, but yes. A recurring theme that is coming up in these sources, even if not explicitly, is that a successful or noteworthy band is able to identify with their audience. In the case of the bands featured here, this largely presents itself in live venues due to the more underground nature of the genre--record production is much less common and also not the primary focus of these bands. The source also goes into detail about specific codified elements of live metal music (headbanging, moshing, etc.) and further defines them as critical to the genre at large.

Lingering Questions

What kind of audience is there for this female-fronted EMM? How big is the “scene” relative to the larger subgenre? Have any of these bands reached a point where they are pulled out of the underground scene?

Connections to other sources

The “shock factor” of the lyrical content of the bands, as well as their gender identity (no I can’t believe I typed that either) is addressed in multiple other sources, but most explicitly so far in the Aesthetic-sonic shift of Melodic Death Metal.

JRPS, Division 4Betsy Goldman