Amerika

Music is a form of art and art is an expression of inspiration from our world. Music can produce sounds most abhorrent, sounds most profound, of which can either excite and inspire or annoy and repulse. Many different genres of music have now entered the world, of which most are fairly easy to define: country music, classical music, electronic dance music, pop music, rap music, rock/metal music.

This layout of basic genres and sub-genres shows how each grouping maintains a consistent and purposeful aesthetic in composition, performance, imagery, and production. There are also mainstream artists and underground artists. Mainstream, in simple terms, is that which has a broad appeal to the masses. It is easily accepted, embraced. It is “normal” everyday music; however, out of all these styles of music, there is only one which is still considered perhaps an outcast, even if mainstream in some respects: metal.

Metal music is raw. I personally consider hard rock to be under the family umbrella of metal, but hard rock is much more acceptable than the pure substance which is metal. Metal has a cast of sub-genres which makes it a delight of musical diversity: heavy metal, black metal, folk/Pagan metal, speed metal, thrash metal, symphonic metal, doom metal, death metal, melodic death metal, black metal, unblack metal and we will not count glam metal as a thing to be taken seriously here.

Metal music is the most intense form of music. It is an array of musical aggression and intensity, of which the average layman simply cannot understand or come to respect. In general, all musical genres invoke different ideologies and worldviews in their lyricism; though, it is fair to say certain genres uphold a thread of commonality which they do not break away from. An example of this would be pop music. Or, consider country music. It’s either love songs, breakup songs, party songs or some form of empowerment based on liberal ideology. It is confined to simple and light subject matter. It’s puff music.

Metal music is often characterized as violent or even strictly Satanic, which is inaccurate. Metal has such an array of style and lyrical ideology that it cannot be contained by mere cookie-cutter labels. But one thing which is absolute is the fact it is masculine music. I am one who does not personally discriminate against female vocalists in metal, as the music itself has a drive of masculinity by default. The blending of feminine energy never overcomes the masculine aspect which makes it a fun and exciting layout on stage. In fact, the feminine energy through the clean vocals surging with the masculine dominance of the guitar work and drums is a beautiful combination of these two sides dancing as one. It comes together as one unique entity and heavy metal does this best.

Pop music is a vulgar disgrace. The Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Beyoncé, Bruno Mars and Kanye West of the world are pumped out in manufactured proportion to fuel the ever-increasing puff minds of the masses. Pop music is, as Slipknot/Stone Sour vocalist Corey Taylor put it:

I feel like I’m being stung by a thousand bees all at once. It’s so autotuned, and it’s so beat-corrected and it’s so canned and processed and lifeless. I mean, you might as well be listening to a f*cking piece wood.

Pop music, along with popular music overall like mainstream rap, hip-hop and country, display surface-level carnality without an inch of depth into the human soul and its totality, for these forms of music are designed for the weak.

Pop music is happy-go-lucky music. Everyone is a winner and everyone is a glistening lullaby. Though, when a pop song does address a slightly below-surface level song, it appears to invoke victimhood and royal complaining where someone else is always the assailant. A lot of pop songs seem to be geared more toward a snobby New York hipster crowd rather than your average working-class man. They tend to be focal on this drooling false reality of average everyday laymen life. Many metal songs are weak as well; however, in a general gist of things, metal always has more depth and extremity to deliver than other forms of music.

False Images We Worship

A recent Taylor Swift dung drop entitled “Lover” was inspired by the holiday spirit where she endures an ethnically-mixed relationship that displays this Disney fantasy lifestyle. Many ethnically-mixed couples are not actually rich like Taylor Swift’s dream-day imagination, but as with much of pop stars in general, this rich lifestyle is displayed in their material.

This intense fantasy world is cast far too often by the celebrity class which furthers this delusion that certain things obtained equate to a life of happiness. This is a vicious false image and perpetuates this horrid American idealism toward fame and fortune and that this is a goal worth gearing toward.

Compare the world Taylor Swift daydreamers live in with cool New York City nights and warm-tucked one-night lovers and compare it to something like Impending Doom.

Get out of your own head
The toxic thoughts
Poison your mind
Fed by this twisted culture
That’s never satisfied

The song is entitled “Everything’s Fake” and it conveys a wonderfully brutal message of honesty about culture at large, especially Western society and its extreme forms of vanity, radical individualistic pursuit and higher-than-life desires.

We’re addicted to a false image
Nothing’s real but forced gimmicks

The dominant pop culture is very deceptive in the false realities they project through our screens. It is a poisonous world for those sucked into late-night TV show host and their special guest of horrors. Hollywood is a curse upon society and their social value is now stamped void for those who have managed to break away from their grip. When we sit in front of our screens and are sucked into a world of entertainment, it can take hold of your mind for a time. The background music combined with the images and dialogue create this false reality which gets stamped into the deep subconscious and it is deadly if advocating a morally corrupt worldview, of which Hollywood and most all mainstream entertainment now do.

Struggle Between Light And Darkness

Katy Perry’s and her crew put out a song entitled “Never Really Over.” Basically, it is a paperthin “love” song about never getting over someone. In truth, this is actually a theme of obsession with someone rather than actual authentic love. It is both unhealthy and tends toward disruptive behavior due to obsession and even lustful infatuation. The music video which accommodates this musical disaster displays a set of rich folks dancing in fields, doing yoga-style things and performing a Pagan ritual. Typical in those circles, of course. More and more celebrities are coming forward with their ritualistic performances and Masonic imagery in their produced content. Now, let us compare this breeze of piss to a different artist.

Lacey Sturm has a song entitled “Rot” which is one of those songs that hits deeper levels than the hollow shell of Katy Perry.

The most disgusting lies are dressed in beauty that’ll rot

In this music video, it does not convey a false image of happy-go-lucky Hollywood fantasy. It discusses the raw struggle of desiring light while being infatuated by darkness. It keys in on the struggle of the flesh and spirit as well. Characters like Lacey are not of the surface-level and, though deeply flawed, find life and beauty in the things of higher value such as God and eternity played out through song and musical praise. Hollowness is an element foreign to the music she associates with and produces.

Life, in general, is hard. If it isn’t issues with family or a loved one, it is issues with loneliness, depression or financial stress and heart-crushing bills. Escapism may be fine for a moment, but it is not a cure or something to be sought out when dealing with such conundrums. Pop music seems to produce a constant flow of feel-good happy tales. Granted, only through (my strong opinion incoming) seeking God can anything ever be dealt with properly, but in terms of art and music, it is the metal scene that reaches out and touches our hearts with brute honesty and skin-deep lyricism.

Blunt Facts Of War And Conformity

Red put out a song some years back entitled “Feed The Machine.” It could be taken several ways as to the motive and identity of this machine, but the overall theme is giving in to something which is clearly evil.

Turn around, they might be watching
And you never disappoint them
Hide your innocence before they see right through
You mustn’t disappoint them

The end of the song has Michael Barnes screaming “Wake up! Wake up!”^* The emotion behind his voice indicates a ruthless realization of the mass conformity toward this machine. Though, as much as it disappoints, most everyday people do not wish to have their routines disturbed or hopeless securities questioned by realism. Unconfined idealism seems to overturn realism these days.

Western culture is laced with a sad and broken mentality. Alcohol abuse is common enough and drug use (including the light stuff) is rampant, and perhaps soon to increase as drugs like weed are legalized and regulated. It is simply another product which capitalizes on many folks desire for escapism. The song is sorrowful in this toeing the line for this machine which we dwell within. It forces, it persist, it ensnares you and your individual thought. In another sense, it is the carnal works around you.

Some folks sing about world peace and universal love. Others scream about the brutal bite of living in a war-torn system of annihilation. Jinjer has a song entitled “Home Back” in regards to wanting back a home shredded apart by bullets and gunfire.

Terrifying silhouettes rising over the Motherland
Are those fireworks?
No, it’s a military quirk
Is it a mermaid singing?
No, it’s a siren screaming!

The lead vocalist is Tatiana Shmailyuk. She grew up in a post-USSR era fueled by uncertainty and pending war:

“Sometimes it’s calm and peaceful, but sometimes people [are] just waiting for something to happen. Right now at least it’s not being bombed, so that’s good.”

Jinjer vocalist Tatiana Shmailyuk is talking about her hometown of Horlivka, in the Donetsk province of Ukraine. She and her bandmates — bassist Eugene Abdiukhanov, guitarist Roman Ibramkhalilov and drummer Vladislav Ulasevich — first escaped Donetsk in 2014, not long after the ongoing conflict between the Ukrainian military, anti-government protestors and pro-Russian rebels began. “It’s better that we moved when we did,” she says, “because in later months it was really impossible to cross the region borders.”

Many folks in metal have had a taste of reality’s blunt fist. Though, this is not exclusive to metal musicians. The difference is metal music displays a sense of raw honesty while pop sounds like a Hollywood brat whining and complaining with dancers and fancy cameras everywhere.

Metal music is war music. It is the heartbeat of that masculine blunt directive staring down the gun barrel of life without flinching. Whether the subject is war, childhood abuse, manipulative heartlessness or political tyranny, it is the metal scene that addresses these fronts head-on in a manner most fitting to the extreme.

Sexual Immorality And Godlessness

Miley Cyrus has a fairly recent song entitled “Mother’s Daughter.” The music video is, of course, highly sexualized and features a very obese woman sitting naked on a plush piece of furniture acting like a goddess of some kind. Subliminal messages are also featured in the music video. One is as follows:

Virginity is a social construct

This suggest that purity until marriage is a false idea and is merely the product of outdated religious folk in attempts to control women and oppress their inner goddess power. The message could also be rooted in the idea that everyone is a whore and innocence itself does not exist. This runs contrary to many orthodox religious views. It adopts a post-moral universe rooted in freedom from all moral code and law. The world shall become in the image of Aleister Crowley and his seemingly ultimate agenda: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Another subliminal message reads:

Sin is in your eyes

This occurs at the exact time Miley Cyrus sings “Hallelujah. I’m a witch, hallelujah.” This could have spiritual implications, but not to become entangled in speculations, it certainly hints at blasphemy and sexual liberation, as the music video is extremely drenched in pornographic imagery while advocating female power over male dominance. This is another typical and predictable display of Hollywood’s anti-patriarchal agenda and moral approval of a sexualized society. The message could be an indicator of moral relativism; as to say, sin is that which you make it.

NLE Choppa is someone I’ve never heard of until discovering them while seeking out the latest and trending music. The song is “Famous Hoes.” It is rap/hip-hop music and is the stereotypical imagery associated with this brand of mainstream vomit. Genuine grotesque imagery that conveys the ghetto party life, flash a gun here and there at the camera while smoking in slow motion. This type of material is actually fed to the young; especially those who hold this lifestyle as something to be admired or to live up to in some fashion which furthers the fuel of this worldly indoctrination. Even listening to parts of the song made me feel very unsettled and vulgar inside, as if I was deliberately inhaling sound waves of trash. Very disturbing material.

Ashnikko is a rapper/hip-hop stylized entertainer also. She has a recent song entitled “Working Bitch.” and it is another case of female empowerment. Of course, as it too often is with such sentiments, it is over-sexualized and extremely disrespectful. I actually found my own jaw dropped while watching parts of the music video. It is another symptom of this decaying world far more dominant than that which advocates for self-control of earthly urges and carnal desire. Not being used to this display of filth, it is unsettling what passes as popular and acceptable forms of music. References to side d*ck and garnering satisfaction from a blue dildo play a role in the song.

Let us take two metal bands and compare. Granted, many metal songs sing about and glorify the party life and its related counterparts, but it is the fact metal has such a vast array of subject matter that pop music simply does not ever step into the pit to discuss.

Wolves At The Gate is on the polar opposite end of Miley Cyrus crowds when it comes to a view of morality and God, which leaves out any room for the abomination of Paganism or promotion of sexual debauchery.

I was once a dead man
A stranger with no home
I stood opposed to God Himself
And yet He pardoned me
With all my heart and the fiercest will
Desires not but to thieve and kill
I hadn’t a thought of peace but war
Surrender was not what’d I’d endure

This is from a song entitled “Dead Man.” Surrender to God is a hard thing in American life. It is offensive and requires humbleness and submission. This song addresses that inner beast in man and his desire to rape, to thieve and to kill. Man is, in all his naturally warped self, an animal. The fact man can overcome his beast is to address his capability to rise above toward an objective good beyond pure carnality. We are not made as other beast.

As I’ve focused on more religious bands, I will perpetuate that with another band, Demon Hunter, with a song entitled Lesser Gods.”

Something in your soul will beg you why
What gain it is to live and die
Here we stand
To turn and face the odds
Sacrifice yourself
Or bow to lesser gods

Western society has come a long way since the ideas of respect, honor and family have been highly valued. Though many shall claim it is still a thing to be grasped, their actions defy their words. This song, which points to a spiritual struggle within, defies the modern world by bluntly addressing the fact that to live and die (in the Christian context) is of higher value, but holds a cost even yourself may beg and ask why. The contrary to this, however, is the horrid thought of bowing to lesser gods. Lesser gods, in our modern world, are the LGBTQIP+ mafia, celebrity idols and those who promote anti-God and anti-conservative agendas. The lesser gods are, in fact, the army of opposition to this path.

These are only a pinch of the vast array of content out there. I primarily focused on morality due to the current environment and its rotting core. Music which stands against the modern world and its foaming moral doctrine is something worth holding close in this day and age.

Final Thoughts

Pop music is for the masses. It allows them to identity with that which is light-hearted and trends among the hollow things. It feeds into their mind-numbing ability to drown out reality under the utopia delusions set forward by their idols as they parade false images and glorify a life of over-abundance and sexual revolution.

Heavy metal has become a genre of honesty. Some of the old folks who first gave birth to metal have thankfully somewhat faded away with their party-hard always-rebellious-mentality as a new form of metal has risen up throughout these years. One which still defies musical expectation and speaks to the raw side of this horrifying world. It is sincere, laced with emotional masculinity and is one of the last forms of art that has not been feminized to the point of bubblegum pop nothingness. Metal music is for the raw, by the raw, but another word for raw might simply be “perceptive.”

Tags: heavy metal, heavy metal music, metal music