Expanding Your Metal Horizons

Next week my new book (which I co-edited with Ben McCraw) on philosophy and heavy metal will be released (I will do another post about it once it is officially available - though you can pre-order it now!). I should note that it is a book written by academics for academics, so it is definitely not a popular-audience level volume. If you do like metal and love the deep dive that philosophers offer when they really nerd-out, then this book might be for you! But, don’t buy it thinking it is some sort of follow-up to Camping with Kierkegaard, ha! I will let you know when that book comes out!

But, in anticipation of this book today I want to bring to your attention four bands that are all in four different metal sub-genres that are either under-appreciated or otherwise just not as well known as I think that they should be. If you just do not like metal at all, then cool, check out the first recommendation and you might still vibe with lots of it, but maybe skip the other three! ha. Anyway, more serious philosophy on Friday, but for today raise your horns and check out some stuff that I really enjoy.

If you have ever wondered what it would sound like in Middle Earth if Sauron had won, well I think Myrkur does a pretty good job of coming close! Think Enya meets Dark Throne with a bunch of Celtic Woman thrown in! The product of the mind of the Danish composer and vocalist, Amalie Bruun, Myrkur is genuinely a breath of fresh-air (and specifically air coming off of high Scandinavian mountains looking out into an abyss of ocean).

Here is a track off of her most recent album, “Spine.” It is a good gateway drug into her music. Much more accessible than some of her tracks, but also has all of the various components that come together to make the stunning tapestry that is Myrkur:

If you want to see the more intense side of her work, then “Ulvinde” is for you. It is by far my favorite of her songs and, to be honest, one of those tracks that I can listen to over and over without growing tired of it.

And, just if you are more vibing with the atmospheric folk stuff, but not the black metal stuff, then here is a hauntingly beautiful song that she recorded at an abandoned military base. Just amazing.

Sticking with the slightly stranger sub-genres (and I admit that I am making up the specific name of this one), I give you Zeal and Ardor. This is a group led by Manuel Gagneux who draws as much on African-American Spirituals as on Black Metal (with a bunch of other flavors that just don’t make any sense on paper and yet work perfectly somehow when brought together).

This live version of “Devil is Fine” does a nice job of showing what this band is all about:

I also really like the track, “Death to the Holy” that draws deeply on the call/response of Spiritual Songs and yet has an incredibly heavy chorus that cuts through like a knife. What is also cool about this track is that it invites the listener to consider what the “holy” is and how it serves sometimes to reinforce existing power structures that oppress people rather than the idea of genuine liberation in the name of a God who would side with the oppressed. In that sense, though I can’t speak to their authorial intention, this track might be one that Kierkegaard would have listened to as he engaged in his “Attack on Christendom,” or Bonhoeffer as he thought about what it means to defend “religionless Christianity.”

My favorite track by Zeal and Ardor is easily “Götterdämerung.” This thing slaps and also demonstrates Gagneux’s ability to go into the high registers in his screams. He sounds like a freaking goblin. Very, very cool.

I would also be remiss not to mention their EP, “Wake of a Nation,” which was released in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter protests (as evidenced by tracks like “I Can’t Breathe” and “Vigil”. This whole thing stands as a musical critique of the social structures that reinforce white supremacy. A sustained interrogation of those who continue to marginalize people of color, this album also implicitly challenges the appeals to religion that often serve to reinforce such dehumanizaiton. Definitely worth a listen - and for all your philosophy professors out there, this is a good one for class material!

Ok, so this subgenre is a bit more mainstream, but I am deeply attracted to metalcore for a bunch of reasons. First, as a drummer it is just so groovy. Second, it avoids the blastbeats of black metal and the nonstop speed show of thrash. It is, perhaps, slightly more accessible due to the frequent “clean” vocal parts, but I don’t that should fool you into thinking that it is any less intense or extreme than other options. Greyhaven is deeply underappreciated for just how good they are as musicians and songwriters. If you like Norma Jean, as I definitely do!, then I think you will like these guys. This is one of my favorite of their tracks. Give it a listen.

This is another one that I like a lot:

Yes, I know that there is not technically any subgenre called “experimental metalcore,” but there should be. Not quite so “showy” as “mathcore,” but more chaotic than much of metalcore, and often just strange, the band Better Lovers fits this bill. Formed from the remains of Every Time I Die, Dillinger Escape Plan, and featuring a member of Fit For An Autopsy, this “supergroup” is just gooooooood.

This one is also fantastic:

This band has gotten a lot of attention, but still aren’t at the level that I think their music warrants. I hope you enjoy them. I definitely get some strange looks when listening to them on my headphones in coffee shops because I can’t help but do a little bit of head-banging without realizing it!

So, speaking of sub-genres that don’t technically exist, here is one! ha. In solidarity with Ukraine, I have to mention 1914. I highlighted them when I did a post early in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine that featured the best Ukrainian metal bands. They really are something special.

Impressively thematically focused, their lyrics and their stage presence all are unrelentingly interested in the realities and horrors of war. As far too many in the world continue to think aggression is the only way to establish power and far too many others celebrate politicians for being “hawkish,” 1914 stands up with fists raised refusing to allow that vision to be victorious.

Oh, and definitely follow them on Facebook and other social media platforms. They are amazing at offering frequent commentaries about the situation on the ground in Ukraine and inviting global solidarity in the name of resisting authoritarianism.

Ok, there are five bands and five sub-sub-sub genres! I hope you enjoy them (or at least some of them). Be sure to pre-order a copy of The Heaviest Ideas in the Universe (but only if you really like metal and very technical philosophy!).

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