Metal and the Holocaust: Too Much Transgression?

[TheRuts]

Interesting read.

https://www.jewthink.org/2020/10/07/metal-and-the-holocaust-too-much-transgression/

[Eoin McLove]

Trying to find the message either for or against the holocaust in a song like Angel of Death is to miss the point, surely? The only angle that has merit beyond endless navel gazing is that it was a young bunch of lads,  pushing heavy music to its limits of speed and aggression (in the context of its time). The lyrics are effective for the imagery they conjure,  and maybe precisely because they offer no one standpoint. Surely we can all agree that the only point of the lyrics was to be extreme and perhaps to provoke parents,  teachers and normies? In the context of an extreme metal album, they make absolute sense! Trying to drag everything back to ideology is banal. That's my thinking anyway.

[open face surgery]

It is an extreme and taboo subject therefore perfect fodder for metal lyrics. At least it was. You wouldn't get away with it now.

[Blackout]

Historically though - when metal bands go against the grain - they achieve so much success. I honestly think there's money to be made in an anti-woke Metal/Punk movement.

[Anton Arcane]

This is the conundrum that WOKE metal fans are going to find themselves in.
Metal credibility VS empty virtue signalling.
Anyone with two brain cells to rub together on the other hand can understand things like context and the difference between fantasy and reality so really it's just a strawman debate.

[Eoin McLove]

But sure,  there can't be much mileage as a listener in anti-woke subject matter. Better to just ignore it and not bow to meaningless online bullying. Write about whatever subjects interest you and fuck the begrudgers.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Trying to find the message either for or against the holocaust in a song like Angel of Death is to miss the point, surely? The only angle that has merit beyond endless navel gazing is that it was a young bunch of lads,  pushing heavy music to its limits of speed and aggression (in the context of its time). The lyrics are effective for the imagery they conjure,  and maybe precisely because they offer no one standpoint. Surely we can all agree that the only point of the lyrics was to be extreme and perhaps provocative to parents,  teachers and norms? And because, in the context of an extreme metal album, they make absolute sense! Trying to drag everything back to ideology is banal. That's my thinking anyway.

Is that not what the author kinda tried to say? That the reason the Angel of Death lyrics work is because they remain ambiguous and troubled on the ideological front, meaning the curious listener who reads them will be left questioning rather than siding with one ideology. Anyway, it wasn't really that interesting a read, I mean, Lemmy and Slayer in an article written in 2020? Both of those acts were at their prime as long ago from us now as the end of WWII was to them then!

[Eoin McLove]

But why bother writing an article about this stuff, that's my point. Pointless waffle. Like a waffle that has had its points removed.

[Anton Arcane]

Because it's topical clickbait.

[astfgyl]

Young folks need something to rebel against and when the rebellion becomes mainstream it's probably time to rebel against that too, so no surprise that there is a market for edgy subject matter. I'd be of the opinion that it's supposed to be taken with a pinch of salt. I like Burzum albums. I don't care what VV has to say beyond a bit of entertainment. The unofficial censorship of metal by its' own proponents over some real or perceived subversion in the lyrics is sort of missing the point of its' existence anyway.

[Blackout]

But sure,  there can't be much mileage as a listener in anti-woke subject matter. Better to just ignore it and not bow to meaningless online bullying. Write about whatever subjects interest you and fuck the begrudgers.

I would've said the same thing a few years ago, then I had to attend an "unconscious bias" course. This "woke" shit has pervaded our colleges, offices etc... and cannot be ignored anymore.

[Eoin McLove]

I didn't realise that shit had made it over here already. What an insult to people. If a staff member was being antisocial or racist or problematic in some way then you could see how it might make sense for them to be sent on such a course as a kind of punishment,  but to assume that all of your dangerous white employees aren't capable of decorum and decency, that they need deprogramming from the start... Sickening. I think I'd walk out.

[Trev]

I'd to do one of those in my place a while ago too, but we're all working from home so it just meant watching a three hour video. I left it playing and took the morning off, came back to tick the box saying I'd sat through it

[Blackout]

I didn't realise that shit had made it over here already. What an insult to people. If a staff member was being antisocial or racist or problematic in some way then you could see how it might make sense for them to be sent on such a course as a kind of punishment,  but to assume that all of your dangerous white employees aren't capable of decorum and decency, that they need deprogramming from the start... Sickening. I think I'd walk out.

Would've loved to but I had bills to pay!

[Eoin McLove]

Mere tokenism on behalf of your company. I can see this type of thing having the opposite effect than the one intended to be honest. Being patronised by your boss and told how to have a human interaction is one way to get people's back up whereas just lumping people in together and allowing them to get to know each other on a personal level would be far more healthy and productive. Imagine the tension among colleagues after being subject to this stuff. Shudder.