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Abstract |
“By contrast, this study will focus on the way in which (some, but not all) doom metal artistsincorporate three cultural ideas into their works; horror, the occult, and the psychedelic. Whilstmuch of metal focuses on horror and monsters, particularly death metal, doom metal's use of moreesoteric material separates it from much of the larger metal genre, and connects it to an eclecticrange of cultural and musical influences. Doom metal's use of such paradigms has not beenexamined thus far, but there is much to be learned from such study; these cultural trends areintegral to understanding the history of esotericism and countercultural practice. In this study I willdefine each of those three cultural ideas, as well as further considering the cultural discourses thatcompose doom metal, and defining which styles within the genre are of the most interest. I will thenanalyse a range of music, album art and interviews with musicians, aiming to pinpoint how, and forwhat purpose, each band incorporates those elements into their style. Further, I will investigate howthese musicians and their works form part of larger zeitgeists (particularly that of esotericism), andwill consider how these artists, in different times and places, have come to utilise similar symbolsand ideas. These commonalities between musicians, I will argue, shows doom metal to be a 'glocal'musical phenomenon that has the ability to utilise a wide variety of cultural ideas and artifacts invariegated situations.” (from 4th page of introduction) |
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