Being a Metaller.

[son of the Morrigan]

I started secondary school in 95, a budding metaller into Metallica, GNR etc. Initially there seemed to be lots of older lads to look up to. But like other posters have alluded to they started dropping like flies. It was weird seeing and talking to those lads who were coming in on Monday morning hair gone, new jacket, all about pills and dance music. Just changed with the wind. That went on for a few years. By 97/98 there were little to no metallers left in my school. I was into the heaviest stuff by far (only pantera, seps, FF etc). Isn't it mad how so many from the 80s/90s explosion were only into it superficially, despite having the cool look and many of the great albums? They weren't fucking in to it at all ever! I remember feeling a bit of bewilderment bordering on disdain for those people. My cousin who introduced me to the genre was one though he went in a Beatles direction. Strange.

I grew up with few mates into the same thing as me and none with the same passion for heavier stuff. However i drifted in and out of the metal scene over the years. But I suppose I was a lifer from the start when I look back at all those ship jumpers in the 90s and how it made no sense to me to be following the crowd like that.

These days my hair is short again through oncoming baldness and I'm just as likely to be wearing a football top than a metal shirt. I live in the country, farm, do regular Dad things like gaelic training u8s etc so I don't cut about in Burzum shirts all the time or anything 😅. But if we have kids and parents over they will invariably sit in our 'middle room' which is stacked high on three sides with cds, tapes, vinyls and lots of cool records on display. Its not like i hide who i am. The black metal listening is still going most nights. Gigs are rare. The recent Emperor one was a reminder of how much I enjoyed that scene, out drinking and meeting like minded lads you don't get down the local GAA park or the mart 

Ah good man Grim, a fellow farmer, I was beginning to think I must be the only one.
This auld forum is great for lads who have nobody to talk about metal with, as you point out, there aren't many Mayhem fans at the mart.
All the lads around me are mad into dance music for some reason, I despise it with a passion.
I had never turned on a computer in my life until the dept. went all online a few years ago and forced me to get one, Its been a game changer in regard to access to music (Bandcamp and the like) and hearing about new music (this forum and the like) since all the good mags are gone.
Still think the dept.s decision to go all online is unforgivable though.

[Grim Reality]

Not to derail the thread but have always felt my rural background was a factor in my attraction to black metal. The best of the genre be it Norwegian, Russian, Polish scenes etc has this natural outdoors feel. Sky, wind, fields, trees, the elements....

Not to mention the physical side of things, blood, stench of death, muck, shite, soil, pain, injury, new life, sun, cycle of the year, transcendence, spiritual awakening.... everything really

[Skott Furys jizz rag]

Not to derail the thread but have always felt my rural background was a factor in my attraction to black metal. The best of the genre be it Norwegian, Russian, Polish scenes etc has this natural outdoors feel. Sky, wind, fields, trees, the elements....

Not to mention the physical side of things, blood, stench of death, muck, shite, soil, pain, injury, new life, sun, cycle of the year, transcendence, spiritual awakening.... everything really

I'd ascribe to that, I grew up and currently live next to the mountains and the coast so lots of walks with the dog with some decent tunes on and serious fucking scenery. Back when we still had the farm it was the same, hanging out in the fields with the cows smoking joints listening to Black Sabbath 😂

[Eoin McLove]

Not to derail the thread but have always felt my rural background was a factor in my attraction to black metal. The best of the genre be it Norwegian, Russian, Polish scenes etc has this natural outdoors feel. Sky, wind, fields, trees, the elements....

Not to mention the physical side of things, blood, stench of death, muck, shite, soil, pain, injury, new life, sun, cycle of the year, transcendence, spiritual awakening.... everything really

The kebab in the back pocket while dancing must be a country thing too?

[Grim Reality]

We are a practical sort maximising our resources in any given situation 

[The Heretic]

Nowadays I get a lot of you don't look like a Metaller, which I don't, and to be fair I'm the wrong side of 50 and haven't "looked like a Metaller" for 20+ years now, what the fuck should a 50+ yr old Metaller look like without looking ridiculous?

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

what the fuck should a 50+ yr old Metaller look like without looking ridiculous?

(Okay, he wasn't quite 50 here, but closer to it than I am now!  )

[The Great Cull]

what the fuck should a 50+ yr old Metaller look like without looking ridiculous?

(Okay, he wasn't quite 50 here, but closer to it than I am now!  )

Knowing how fucking difficult it is to take a regular t-shirt soaked in sweat when you come off stage, I'm really interested in how many people are required to help one remove a latex tshirt 

[astfgyl]

Fuck it must be like a Turkish bath in there

[Bürggermeister]

Blessed are the slick

[Mower Liberation Front]

Yep, trips to the Soundcellar were as important as gigs if you were from the country. One key trip for me was in the wake of the Kerrang! Black Metal sensationalism whereupon I returned with a shitload of albums and merch and resulted in me introducing Monaghan to the De Mysteriis longsleeve. The Top Ten on a Sunday night was an exercise in fingers hovering over the play and record buttons on the stereo.

Remember when we found out the guy who owned Stax was the Roadrunner distributor? 😁

[Thorn]

Yeah, Stax-A-Trax in Monaghan was a daily visit after school, I'm pretty sure he had the Nuclear Blast catalogue at his disposal too, I'm still listening to tapes that came from that place!

[Sworntothecans]

what the fuck should a 50+ yr old Metaller look like without looking ridiculous?

(Okay, he wasn't quite 50 here, but closer to it than I am now!  )

You never go full Radikult!

[Mower Liberation Front]

Yeah, Stax-A-Trax in Monaghan was a daily visit after school, I'm pretty sure he had the Nuclear Blast catalogue at his disposal too, I'm still listening to tapes that came from that place!

I remember that day. Everyone ringing each other, "Stax have loads of records from Nuclear Blass!" Picked up Like an Overflowing Stream then, and then going through the little catalogue in the sleeve to order more stuff. And then he started getting the NB shirts in, in addition to the usual stuff.
I remember plaguing them in the summer of 88 for Keeper Pt II, was delayed for ages because there was a UK postal strike. "Is it in yet? Is it in yet?" 😁