The physicist and one of the greatest minds in history, Albert Einstein, once said, “Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.” Metal continuously receives opposition especially because of its satanic and God disdaining references. Characteristics such as these are not based of religious zealotry toward Satanism but are ideological in basis and meant as a middle finger to the status quo of society.
The history of the world has consisted of a great deal of Christian based societies. According to Pew Research Center, in 2015, Christians had the most followers in the world at 31% (2015). Metal music can often been seen as oppositional to society and therefore has used ideologies contrary to the majority. As early as the late 1970’s, bands like Black Sabbath have used Satanic Imagery like the Pentagrams in defiance against the norm.
Bands in the 1980’s and 90’s used Satanic lyrics and imagery but the image of metal was not meant to convey religious Satanism, only disdain for the conformity aspects of the biggest religion in the world. In the movie “Until the Light Takes Us” (2008), Varg Vikernes, the base player for Mayhem, spoke about his dislike for Christian religion coming into the Norwegian lands that had once been correlated with Norse deities. In my own opinion, and probably many more in the metal community, Varg is a racist psychopath, but in the movie he does justify his dislike for Christianity by bringing up the destruction of many cultures due to Christian violence like in the case of the burning of the Library of Alexandria. Varg describes how he and others around the Mayhem band were correlated with the church burnings; he declares he was not involved, but again, he is a bit psychopathic. He said his fellow band member and guitarist Euronymous of Mayhem had been cultivating an image of Satanism that the media jumped all over; therefore, increasing the following of Black Metal. Varg wanted to end this and went to the media with his stories which got him convicted for these crimes and later killed Euronymous landing him in prison for a longer sentence. I do not condone the destruction of private property and in no way agree with what was done to the churches, but I also do not appreciate how the media only took the narrative created by Euronymous dictating metal heads as occultist and not the idea of metal being dissenters from the masses ideals.
Big names in metal who surround themselves in Satanic and God hating lyrics are not into religious Satanism, but are instead focused on the task of going against the system. The lead vocalist and base player of the iconic metal band Slayer, Tom Araya, was asked what his album “God Hates Us All” meant to him and responded by saying, “God doesn’t hate, it’s a great f*cking title. I really wanted to make it and album title… I thought it would f*cking piss allot of people off” (Necronomicon5 2012). Even with his Catholic background, Tom understands metal as a force against the norm. A big name in Black metal is Behemoth and their vocalist, Negral, often pronounces his appreciation of Satan. Negral does not worship Satan as a diety but rather uses his story found in Milton’s Paradise Lost as something ideological. He has built his life off the “fictional character” of Satan and believes in individuality which Satan expresses (Leseman 2015). This appreciation for the juxtaposed Satan to the creator of the universe shows how far metal goes in its opposition to the norm. Negral has always related to antiheros and declares how Satan has stood up for ideals precious to him like freedom, independence, autonomy, and intelligence (Laweson 2014). The greatest antihero in our age is the romanticized fallen angel Lucifer and his defiance in the face of adversity which makes sense why figures like Negral who are prominent in the metal scene would identify with him. In an interview discussing religion, Negral proclaimed,
“I really hoped we'd piss off many people with The Satanist. And we're pretty good at doing that. Just watch and wait for our Polish tour and see how many shows are going to be boycotted by these idiots. But that's the tax we pay on who we are and what we do, that's the price of freedom, right? For me, being an artist is about being a free man and I'm just speaking out – that's who I am, deal with it” (Everley).
Negral desires to piss of the “idiots” through his music and fights against the 31% of the world conforming to the biggest religion of all.
Metal heads do not desire to raise a dark lord through satanic ritual, or at least not the intelligent ones. Metal stands as an oppositional force to the status quo and nowhere can conformity to the norm be better illustrated then through religion. As a metal head I desire for a day when free thinkers and independent minds thrive in society and metal stands to all mainstream forces, especially ones like Christianity that consist of 31% of the population. The next time you get upset at someone for wearing an “inappropriate” metal shirt, just remember, you are doing exactly what they want because metal is an ideology based on the opposition.
Work Cited
Pew Research Center (2015). The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections 2010-2050. Retrieved From: http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projections-2010-2050/
Aits, Aaron (Producer & Director). (2008). “Until the Light Takes Us”. [Motion Picture]. Variance Films, Factory 25.
Necronomicon5 (2012 October 18). SLAYER Entrevista (Satanismo) Subtitulando HD. [Video File]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq7Fqr0JYvM
Leseman, Linda (2015). Behemoth’s Negral: Taking a Page from his Satanic Bible. The Village Voice. Retrieved from: http://www.villagevoice.com/music/behemoths-nergal-taking-a-page-from-his-satanic-bible-6653097
Laweson, Dom (2014). Behemoth’s Negral: ‘Satan stands for everything that is dear to me’ interview. theguardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/may/22/behemoth-nergal-satan-everything-dear-to-me-interview-leukaemia
Everley, Daver (2016). Behemoth: Negral’s Guide to Life. Metal Hamer. Retrieved from: http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-09-17/behemoth-nergal-s-guide-to-life
