Metalocalypse Always Wins

The roots of heavy metal established in the blue-collar youth of industrialized North America and the United Kingdom created an outlet for the frustrations of a destabilized workforce. Its lyrical content was often as shrouded as the unidentifiable corporations and conglomerates that endangered middle-class wealth opportunities. The aural soundscape represented anger, rebellion, darkness, and despair. Symbolism, in many cases, embodied gothic figures, mythical origins, and mysterious threats. While this was not exclusively the case, even when compositions reflected more mundane subjects, their descriptors were known for being emboldened with sinister skies, glowing eyes, and emanating evil. Deep tones of distorted guitars, fast-paced percussion with thudding bass drums, and long-haired head-banging were some of the signature styles that formed this genres borders. Its Anglo-American origins did not exclude broad cultural participation, and through the modern methods of media, nations began to get exposure and gain ground in a variety of locales.

Because of the communist party’s policies towards viewing its populace only as proletarians and revolutionaries, ideas like gender identity and sexuality were firmly suppressed. This left a large portion of the male population feeling powerless and emasculated. The texture of sound that heavy metal embodied was part of the thriving appeal to these feeling, but the band also incorporated Chinese legend and folklore into their lyrical content. Urban youth from the region were developing appreciation for wu and wen, masculinity from foreign films and magazines, in addition to a revival of interest in literary epics. The archetypes of the martial warrior and refined scholar were some of the most prominent figures of characters wielding political and economic power in the repertoire. (Metal, p72) The band faced separation during their first tour, as the violence in Tiananmen Square forced Kau to return to the United States. The remaining members reformed and kept performing until Kau was able to return in 1996. Heavy metal embraces ideals like disruption of conformism while simultaneously hearkening its audience to an earlier age of historical past. Tang Dynasty made a profound representation of these embodiments through their exhibition of both aggressive sound and body language on stage, coupled with their lyrics that embraced historical texts and poetry. This mold would prove a fit for a multitude of other regions, spanning to all the continents.

These more noble qualities of cultural expression were also embraced by a more dangerous sector of outcast youth. The foundations of these appropriations start in the UK. A form of punk rock called “oi” (a common English working-class greeting) was established in the late 70s as a mixture of West Indian and London’s East End neighborhoods. This two-toned ska and punk hybrid was visually represented through workman’s boots, pork-pie hats, suspenders, and short or completely shaved hair. As Sharon Hochhauser describes in her article on hatecore, “This visual style was originally a marker for ethnic and racial harmony and cultural cohesion.” (Metal, p168). German punk bands experiencing the economic disruptions during the 1980s adopted these styles but expanded the themes beyond national unity to national superiority. As National Socialist parties and embraced these forms of expression, European governments were quick to impose harsh scrutiny and regulation. Neo-Nazi music in Western Europe faced harsh censorship, and white supremacist groups in Northern America took note.

The hatecore branch of heavy metal evolved out of the neo-Nazi movement’s need for a tool to entice new membership through the common messages that heavy metal championed, while adding their own layer of rhetoric that could easily be enfolded into the already aggressive nature of the music. Anti-hate laws instituted in Europe in 1985 made the production, distribution, and possession of music deemed hateful or harmful punishable with hefty fines and substantial prison time. Despite this, German skinhead groups like Volkszorn, Enstüfe, and Tonstörung proudly display Nazi-era regalia on their posters, promotional materials and album covers. In the late 80s, Rock-O-Rama Records, a former punk label that had evolved into Germany’s most successful publisher of fascist music was raided, confiscating thousands of records, tapes, and materials. Despite the success of the underground industry between 1980 and 1992, it was only moderately successful in propagating its cause, insured by harsh legal penalties and effective enforcement.

Hawthorn served time in prison and has since left the movement and become and educator for young people about the dangers of white supremacist groups, though he returned to right-wing extremism in 2017. William Pierce, head of the National Alliance hate group took control and expanded the influence globally under the conspiratorial theories of Zionist faction’s influence of the music industry. The “Jewish world conspiracy” theories have played a decisive role in the hatecore philosophy in an otherwise politically unaffiliated metal market. By removing the overt racists commentary, playing on the fears of global instabilities, and plying upon the inherent anti-establishment nature of metal music, Peirce has been able to manipulate the market and gain audience exposure to the dangerous neo-Nazi rhetoric. Underground metal scenes seek to distance themselves from the mainstream, and hatecore has used this facet of credibility to its advantage, preying on their inherently abhorrent message to attract those seeking to rebel without a clear understanding of what they are fighting against.

The National Socialist Black Metal website uses messages to downplay bigotry and racism to widen its ability to gain access to new members, ratcheting up their ideology after initiations. They site “group think”, politics, and making people obey as the enemy, and the forces that persecute their message as the real enemy. Manipulating these tenets of heavy metal into distorted hate speech and hiding behind the non-politically associated hardcore metal scene as a way to blend in, these groups pose a real danger to the legitimacy and fandom of the traditional metal audience.

As an added note of irony, hatecore groups often tie themselves to traditional Christian values in addition to Aryan racial purity, a religious aspect of metal that is almost universally opposed. Even the use of Satanic messages are largely a vehicle to undermine Catholicism in all its forms, rather than a means to promote any sort of actual ceremonial reverence. Paganism, legend, and folklore are key elements that heavy metal uses to resist traditional religious values. Hatecore music using this as an actual means to recruit is a testament to how hypocritical the entire subgenre is once given any real investigation.

I think it’s important to end on a positive note. The most effective weapon against the forces of hate, is the dueling of guitars. Let’s enjoy some Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem — The Duel — Skwisgaar and Toki and put all this evil behind us. This is Toki’s audition and it shows us how important it is for us to support each other, even when we are at odds.

Sources:

Cynthia P. Wong, “A Dream Return to Tang Dynasty”: Male Camaraderie, and Chinese Heavy Metal in the 1990s, From Metal Rules the Globe, (London 2011)

Sharon Hochhauser, The Marketing of Anglo-Identity in the North American Hatecore Metal Industry, From Metal Rules the Globe, (London 2011)

“The Duel”, The Doomstar Requiem: A Klok Opera Soundtrack, Metalocalypse (2015)

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