Full Description
This multi-disciplinary edited collection explores the textual analysis of heavy metal lyrics written in languages other than English, including Yiddish, Latin, Russian, Austrian German, Spanish and Italian. The volume features fascinating chapters on the role of ancient language in heavy metal, the significance of metal in minority-language communities, Slovenian mythology in metal, heavy metal lyrics and politics in the Soviet Union and Taiwan, processing bereavement in Danish black metal, cultural identity in Norwegian-medium metal, and the Kawaii metal scene in Japan, amongst others.
Applying a range of methodological approaches - from literary and content analysis to quantitative corpus methods and critical approaches - the book conceptualises various forms of identity via lyrical text and identifies a number of global themes in heavy metal lyrics, including authenticity, parody and the desire to sound extreme, that reoccur across different countries and languages.
The book is essential reading for researchers and students of metal music and culture, as well as those with broader interests in cultural studies, musicology, literary studies and popular culture studies.
Contents
Introduction; Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi, Charlotte Doesburg, and Amanda DiGioia Part 1. Texts and Intertextuality
Chapter 1. Yiddish Metal as a Manifestation of Postvernacularity; Lily Kahn
Chapter 2. Baudelaire and Black Metal: Performing Poetry under Perestroika; Caroline Ardrey
Part 2. National, Cultural, and Minority Identity
Chapter 3. Større enn tid, tyngre enn natt - The Interplay of Language and Cultural Identity in the Lyrics of Norwegian Metal Bands; Imke von Helden
Chapter 4. Spanish and Non-Spanish Perspectives on El Cid in Heavy Metal: Identity Vindication, Cultural Appropriation and Islamophobia; Amaranta Saguar García
Chapter 5. At the Crossroads of Nordic Traditions and Languages: The Representation of the Swedish-Speaking Finnish Community in Finnish Heavy Metal; Lise Vigier
Part 3. Processing Oppression, War, and Bereavement
Chapter 6. Poetic Analysis of the Anti-War Song Muerte en Mostar by the Spanish Heavy Metal Band Desafio; Elena-Carolina Hewitt
Chapter 7. Vocalizing a Troubled Past: A Case Study of Political Activism in Taiwanese Metal; Kevin Kai-wen Chiu
Chapter 8. Til Opalsøens Dyb 'To the Depths of Opal Lake': On Bereavement, Locality, and Intimacy in Danish Black Metal Lyrics by Orm; Tore Tvarnø Lind
Part 4. Local, Global, Authentic, and Funny
Chapter 9. I Custodi dell'Accaio Inox: Language as an Interface Between the Global and the Local in Italian "Heavy Metal demenziale"; Karl Farrugia
Chapter 10. The Paradoxical Usage of Austrian Dialects of German in Metal Music; Peter Pichler
Chapter 11. Delusions of Grandeur? Producing Authentic Metal Music in the Soviet Union; Dawn Hazle
Chapter 12. Is kawaii Metal? Exploring aidoru/metal Fusion Through the Lyrics of Babymetal; Lewis Kennedy
Part 5. Ancient Languages and Mythology
Chapter 13. Nata vimpi curmi da: Dead Languages and Primordial Nationalisms in Folk Metal Music; Simon Trafford
Chapter 14. Verba Bestiae: How Latin Conquered Heavy Metal; Flavio M. Cecchini, Greta H. Franzini, and Marco C. Passarotti
Chapter 15. Local Folk Tales, Legends, and Slavic Mythology in Slovenian Heavy Metal Lyrics: A Quantitative Analysis; Anamarja Šporčič and Gašper Pesek
