Controversy In Metal?

[Cryptic Stench]

In terms of controversial content, lyrically or in terms of artwork etc have things gone a little stale?

When what's the last time you were genuinely shocked by something? I think the last time I thought something was on the edge was the cover of the last Nimenorean record.

[M Void]

99% of the time a "controversial" or shocking cover/lyrical content is just a gimmick to get people talking about a band that would garner no interest otherwise and comes across very forced and insincere.

[Cryptic Stench]

These days maybe. But Once Upon The Cross for example was controversial, the music was there to back it up, the release date even caused a stir back then.

[M Void]

Of course, the album even got pulled from being played on the sound cellar top ten on the John Kenny show on Sunday's back when it came out because of the cover and lyrics. In the internet age when the most extreme images, videos and other content are a click away people are far more desensitised to things that would have been outrageous in the mid to late 90's.

[hellfire]

I think there is a fair amount of self censorship in metal these days. It's easier than having your gigs protested or cancelled.  It's pretty safe now to insult the Christian god the new orthodoxy encourages it.

[Cryptic Stench]

I would've thought because things have gone mental in terms of being politically correct more acts would be looking to push buttons.

[hellfire]

It's disappointing that they didn't.  Unfortunately for bands it's easier to play it safe. Nobody wants 100 whiny vegans hell bent on shutting down their gig. 

[Spoderman01]

In the internet age when the most extreme images, videos and other content are a click away people are far more desensitised to things that would have been outrageous in the mid to late 90's.

Would have been my first thought as well. Just that much harder to shock these days.

[Eoin McLove]

Been listening to a bit of new Peste Noire and M8l8th recently,  two bands on the extreme right who are definitely pushing buttons.  PN are incredibly catchy sing writers and mix bm and French folk through a hip hop filter. It's an interesting combination as they seem to be very much anti- immigration,  yet openly take massive influence from the French rap scene.  M8l8th are alright but less interesting (even though there appears to be a fair bit of cross over with both bands). In their videos their fans are sieg heiling on stage which says it all.  So there are bands out there still pushing buttons and even if I'm not into their political views I think it's good that there are still antagonistic black metal bands operating as good bm should always have an unsettling element.  The post- WITTR bm landscape has become a bit too nice and cuddly for me.

[Trev]

Nobody wants 100 whiny vegans hell bent on shutting down their gig.

Think this has happened to Tyr a lot because the singer is involved in the grind whale hunt

[M Void]

I've been a bit Peste Noire fan for years and it's been interesting to see the road Famine has gone down. That political ground is about the last bastion of metal and he's been very clever the way he's done things in making the band more popular than ever, which helps when you put out your stuff on your own label. I thought the last album was ok in parts but not great overall. The first track they put up off this upcoming album I thought was absolutely excellent and got me excited for it. The subsequent rap-ish track has put a bit of cold water on my hopes for a great album. With M8l8th I first heard them years ago on YouTube and it was this epic black metal with clean Slavic vocals that sounded great. I then picked up the album ant the rest just sounded like metalcore with bm vocals.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

"You should have seen the cover they wanted to go with. It wasn't a glove, I can tell you that!"

What would be controversial today? Behemoth, for example, still bang away at the same kind of "controversy" that Deicide had going on Once Upon The Cross, but who gives a flying fuck these days? The mainstream orthodoxy is no longer christian in the majority of the western world. If a metal band wanted to be truly controversial today, they'd have to identify the new sacred lambs of most of society and start poking at them. And if the only thing you can come up with is the various "snowflake" issues, then you're only really left with the option of being racist, homophobic, misogynistic, etc. And that's all been done to death too, it was called the 80s. I'm sure the populist wave in politics may well bring a populist wave in culture too, I just wouldn't expect much of it to be of the same calibre and dark self-irony as Peste Noire. Ultimately, since no form of morality has replaced, on the same scale, the background ethical code of judeo-christianity in the west, it has now become impossible to appear as controversial to as many people in one fell swoop as it used to be.

[Juggz]

Jesus is a soft touch. Controversy is now Allah in compromising situations but no band has really had the grapes to take it on.

[blessed1]

Jesus is a soft touch. Controversy is now Allah in compromising situations but no band has really had the grapes to take it on.

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Seeds_of_Iblis/3540334240

[KingBuddha]

I liked that Seeds of Iblis album. They were supposedly bullshitting about being located in the Middle East though.