The Philosophical Tradition of Heavy Metal

The extremities of metal music have been addressed in many forms and voices without touching on one of the most extraordinary factors of the genre: that is the one of the few philosophically-empowered cultures in modern society, and that its philosophical tradition descends through history to those veins of thought which have rejected a fear of nothingness in favor of creation.

An obsession with destructive noise that is a hallmark of the metal tradition arose from an essential question about life, one reflected in all levels and eras of philosophy: why is there what seems to be negative? Why does destruction seem a necessary counterpart to creation? And the human translation: why do we die?

Metal has enriched these questions with a depth of background in the romantic school of thought, which appreciates the emotions and perceptions of an individual as the only method of approaching a truth in existence. Its exploration however of extremity and deathlike themes, dating back to its inception with Black Sabbath, is beneath its exterior of the terrifying an exploration of nihilism, or the science of philosophy which states that all things have an equal lack of inherent value.

Nihilism, despite its seemingly empty value system, is an exploration of values that connect a free-willed individual to life. For centuries, philosophy religion and law have fled the realization of nihilism: that there is no necessary path and no inherent moral value to existence. The method chosen by those invoking that path revolves around a creation of absolute value to guide the human animal away from destruction toward positive, benevolent, actions. Gods, laws, and political beliefs were chosen as the single path to compliance with all that was "good" in the universe, avoiding "evil" and corruptive influences by strict allegiance to that which was known to have benevolent appearance.

However this tack is destined to failure since by substituting for human decision it creates a state of fatalism, where one accepts reality as having a necessary and predetermined quality as its essence, and from that the benevolence which is enforced by fear of its opposite becomes a slavery in itself: a fear of consequence in life, and not a desire to make life consequent, is the dominant ideology of that philosophy. Its creators were so determined to chase away nihilism with value that they made value arbitrary, and in doing so disconnected it from a human motivation to become part of the world: that which involves no choice is imposed and not developed as a matter of individual faith, and thus a belief in action.

Metal arose after the death of hope. The most destructive war in history was fading into the background as what is perhaps history's most pointless war pitted a superpower against its own destruction in a lack of heart toward its task. Materialism had become the norm as people had given up on any ideology as paradoxical and inherently destructive, and focused on short-term goals in order to survive. Black Sabbath, Slayer, Morbid Angel, Bathory, and many others have led a charge from the morass of the contradictory ideal of nihilistic realizations wrapped in absolute values, sometimes without even knowing their objective. But what they have created remains fundamental to metal.

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