The International Society for Metal Music Studies

The positions of Chair and Ordinary Member on the ISMMS Executive Board will become available in January 2022, at the end of the current terms of Dr Bryan Bardine (Chair) and Dr Gabby Riches (Ordinary Member). We seek candidates to stand for each position in an election of the ISMMS membership, to serve four year […]

Check out this podcast featuring metal scholar Holly Royle along with her PR colleagues and fellow musicians: Curtis Dewar, Gaia Guarda, and Sarah Lindsey from Book of Wyrms. Holly is a PhD student researching masculinities in heavy metal at the University of Chester. Her research brings in her experience as a musician, journalist, and music […]

On behalf of IASPM-US, please check out the call for the 2022 conference, and consider sending in a proposal. Horns up!   IASPM-US 2022 Conference: Grooves and Movements May 26-May 28, 2022 Ann Arbor/Detroit Michigan Dates and Place: The International Association for the Study of Popular Music-United States chapter (IASPM-US) invites proposals for its annual […]

Glocal metal   Didier Goossens    Not long after the first metal music studies, attention arose for its ways of production, distribution and consumption across the globe, with significant attention for non-Anglo American/European contexts. This became theorized as the global metal scene. But that utopic idea steals the thunder of many unique contexts of local metal scenes by depicting a global industry of artists, labels, platforms and fans – while some artists might not even aim for global audiences. This explains the need for a new critical framework, one that attends to the specific contexts of metal music […]

Multilingual Metal   Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi  Heavy metal is often sung in English. This is a global language, the use of which can increase sales and reach wider audiences. Yet, many bands choose to write lyrics and sing in other languages. We explored this choice in an edited volume titled Multilingual Metal Music: Sociocultural, Linguistic and Literary Perspectives on Heavy Metal Lyrics (edited by myself, Charlotte Doesburg and Amanda DiGoia).  Bands may choose to write their […]

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 […]