written by Igor Jakobsen (Dreamslain) In general, metalheads are great at signalling a stance. What bands they like and support, what genre and so on. So it’s only natural that metalheads, artists, promoters and venues committed to this work could use patches, stickers and merch to show their commitment. A good example here is Metalheads […]

written by Igor Jakobsen (Dreamslain) The discussion panel theorised that metal’s image as “music of the underdogs” might contribute to less willingness to address problematic sides within the scene. Many seek to metal because of being marginalised in some way. But the metal scene, instead of welcoming diversity, ends up with policing itself even harder, […]

written by Igor Jakobsen (Dreamslain) What do you need to be a metalhead, to go to metal concerts or start a metal band?Not much, the interest in heavy music should be enough. And yet, the metal scene seems to be dominated by white, heterosexual, able bodied young men. I’ve already written about how this seems […]

This is an informal, non-scripted conversation about layers of meaning in reactions to Queen Elizabeth II’s death in the metal community. Both Holly Royle and Anna Loppacher have their background in the social sciences, which shines through in how we talk about the topic. However, the conversation is neither a result of a scholarly study […]

“Apolitical” Metal? Whiteness in the Metal Community From time to time, a debate about the political position of metal resurges, and in that context, usually at some point the argument appears that metal is, or should be apolitical. I want to share some reflections about this debate. Someone once told me that when looking at […]

From now on, I would like to keep you informed on this blog about research projects I am working on in the field of Metal Studies. With this, we would like to set ourselves apart from other websites where you can mainly find reviews and interviews. Since there are already so many of them, we’ll […]