Beyond the Expression of Nihilism in Black Metal

As Heavy Metal music’s most extreme subgenre of, motives of destruction, death and darkness are largely characteristic of Black Metal. A frequently anti-Christian message and commercially driven aim to shock the audiences have led to the impression that Black Metal is an expression of nihilism,...

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Main Author: Tiziano Suran
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Juraj Dobrila University of Pula 2021-01-01
Series:Studia Polensia
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/393231
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author Tiziano Suran
author_facet Tiziano Suran
author_sort Tiziano Suran
collection DOAJ
description As Heavy Metal music’s most extreme subgenre of, motives of destruction, death and darkness are largely characteristic of Black Metal. A frequently anti-Christian message and commercially driven aim to shock the audiences have led to the impression that Black Metal is an expression of nihilism, Satanism, or simple transgression. However, this stigma does not capture the entirety of the concepts musically embodied in this genre with its distortion and screamed vocals. The aim of this work is to show that there is more to this genre, and to provide a description of the dual nature of the original motifs in this genre, how they are expressed using archetype and myth, and an alternative to nihilism. It will be seen that destruction is a prerequisite for rebuilding, death a precursor of rebirth, and darkness a call to courage so that one may conquer fear by facing it.
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spelling doaj.art-4b8edc26445740e39be799e9640d978c2024-04-15T17:31:20ZengJuraj Dobrila University of PulaStudia Polensia1848-49052459-62562021-01-0110114114810.32728/studpol/2021.10.01.08Beyond the Expression of Nihilism in Black MetalTiziano SuranAs Heavy Metal music’s most extreme subgenre of, motives of destruction, death and darkness are largely characteristic of Black Metal. A frequently anti-Christian message and commercially driven aim to shock the audiences have led to the impression that Black Metal is an expression of nihilism, Satanism, or simple transgression. However, this stigma does not capture the entirety of the concepts musically embodied in this genre with its distortion and screamed vocals. The aim of this work is to show that there is more to this genre, and to provide a description of the dual nature of the original motifs in this genre, how they are expressed using archetype and myth, and an alternative to nihilism. It will be seen that destruction is a prerequisite for rebuilding, death a precursor of rebirth, and darkness a call to courage so that one may conquer fear by facing it.https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/393231Black Metalnihilismpaganismmythologyduality
spellingShingle Tiziano Suran
Beyond the Expression of Nihilism in Black Metal
Studia Polensia
Black Metal
nihilism
paganism
mythology
duality
title Beyond the Expression of Nihilism in Black Metal
title_full Beyond the Expression of Nihilism in Black Metal
title_fullStr Beyond the Expression of Nihilism in Black Metal
title_full_unstemmed Beyond the Expression of Nihilism in Black Metal
title_short Beyond the Expression of Nihilism in Black Metal
title_sort beyond the expression of nihilism in black metal
topic Black Metal
nihilism
paganism
mythology
duality
url https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/393231
work_keys_str_mv AT tizianosuran beyondtheexpressionofnihilisminblackmetal