The International Society for Metal Music Studies

BLACK METAL IN TURKEY  Douglas Mattsson  “Black metal? We don’t have that in Turkey.” – The middle aged Turkish academic sitting across from me in a restaurant in Istanbul is not the first to have expressed surprise, even disbelief, when I told him about my topic of research. Although literature on metal music in Muslim majority societies has multiplied during the last decade, black metal, one of metal […]

METAL AND SYNTHESIZERS  Fulya Çelikel    As a metalhead and a metal musician, it has always amazed me that metal research that touches on organology (the musicological term for the study of musical instruments) is mostly on the electric guitar in some way. There is very little in terms of timbres or techniques that are considered “metal” for non-guitar instruments, such as […]

Ethno-journalism in metal research  My research has come about because I could not answer a simple question when I was in graduate school: What did I know about metal in Africa?  Though I was never educated to become a journalist, I have utilized a more journalistic approach in order to properly profile scenes, and their respective […]

Black Metal Ontology: Performing the Witch Dr Jasmine Hazel Shadrack   Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and as terrible as an army with banners? (qtd. in Grey, 2013, p. 14)   Through my performance as Denigrata Herself in the black metal band Denigrata, […]

http://zapruderworld.org/2021/05/cfp-music-and-social-conflicts/ Introduction Music has often been described as a “soundtrack” for social conflicts. However, as recent scholarship has begun to demonstrate, music’s role within social movements and conflicts runs much deeper than just sonic representation. Indeed, in both its auditory and lyrical forms, music has played a multifaceted role within many social movements, conflicts, and […]

SNARE DRUM AT MY WOMB: THE ROLE OF ROCK AND HEAVY METAL MOTHERING  Joan Jocson and Julie Turley   “After giving birth, I told the doctor I needed to leave the hospital for five hours. Our band was opening for Johnny Thunders. I think I was on an adrenaline rush.”   Cynthia, 67, B-Girls, Renegades, New York Junk     Musicking, a term first coined by professor-musician Christopher Small (1998), is the active way in which we take part in the creation of music and in establishing relationships with society–a form of engagement and meaning-making. While scholarly literature regarding popular culture […]