Two Steps past Insanity: The Expression of Aggression in Death Metal Music
In: Can I Play with Madness? Metal, Dissonance, Madness and AlienationSearch for other papers by Daniel Frandsen in
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The Death Metal genre is commonly associated with madness and aggression. Among the reasons for this association are the lyrical themes such as violence and murder, the specific style of music both regarding the instrumentation and the specific vocal types normally used within the genre (i.e. growling and screaming), and the gestures normally seen in most live performances by Death Metal bands. While the connection between Death Metal and the expression of aggression may seem obvious, it can nevertheless be problematic for philosophers of music to explain a connection, if any, between music and the expression of emotions. According to Aaron Ridley, part of this problem is grounded in the formalist assumption that philosophy of music should be concerned with ‘purely’ instrumental music and that emotions cannot be expressed in that kind of music. In order to be able to treat contemporary music – in this case Death Metal – in which lyrics and vocals are present and of aesthetic importance, the formalist view will need to be rejected. By rejecting formalism it will be possible to claim both the reality of expressive content in music and its significance as a genre-defining property. The aim of this chapter will be an attempt to show the following: Firstly, how the lyrics can be viewed as a musical element closely connected to the type of vocals used in a song; secondly, how to explain the connection between Death Metal and the expression of aggression; and finally, why this connection is of aesthetic significance to the Death Metal genre. This will be done by reference to songs particularly from the Finnish metal band Children of Bodom and theories from Eduard Hanslick, Aaron Ridley, Jerrold Levinson, Malcolm Budd and Peter Kivy among others.