Beethoven’s Funeral

Follow me to the entombment of music. All Black is the dress code.

I thought, once again, that going to a Death Metal (DM) concert will be akin to being a witness to the butchery of both chromatic and pentatonic scales, it will be witnessing a massacre of tonality, offensive on triads of both major and minor scales, killing of Solfegio system, mass destruction of musical instruments, stabbing of rhythm, annihilation of tempo, bloodbath of timing, slaughter of vocal chords, and assassination of symphony – in short, it will be
like attending a burial of music.

That is how I felt after attending my first DM concert last year. And this is how I have often felt when I listen to my 15 year old son play his CD collection and when he practices with his own band. Today, I am a changed man. I am.

Two weeks ago I accompanied my son and two of his metalhead buddies to our second DM concert. The concert was at BBKing on 42nd Street, NYC. The following 7 bands performed: Cryptopsy (Montreal); Suffocation( New York); Vader (Poland); Despised Icon (Montreal); Decapitated (Poland); Aborted (Belgium); Dew-Scented (Germany).

The concert begins with a thunderous insane drumbeat.
Dew Scented starts off with usual lewd greetings.
Imagine that.

While the boys started headbanging (a ritual violent shaking of the head), I walked myself to a corner of the hall, still keeping an eye on the boys and making sure not to spill too much of my beer (the darn thing costed 8 bucks and tasted like watered down piss).

Between that and the other stuff, I wished to make a serious effort to understand this genre of Heavy Metal. As much as it was to learn about the technical aspects of this type of noise (sorry, I mean music), I also wanted to learn about it so I can carry an intelligent conversation with my son in the language that he speaks.

First thing Once you get past the shock of extreme loudness, you begin to hear some music (well kinda music – not exactly my kind, but some kind, I admit). To understand that, I allowed myself to be fully immersed into Metal concert experience and to be completely open-minded about it to figure out what the hell (if anything at all) is ‘musical’ about DM. At the same time, I also wanted to find out what type of teenagers and early 20’ers boys feel attracted to DM. DM is Boys’ Music (trust me it is politically correct to say that it is Boys’ music). There I was.

Before I do an objective appraisal, let me say that I am supportive of my son playing or listening to any kind of music, even if the lyrics contain stuff that I wouldn’t personally like. It is his life, he is only 15, I say let him be. I only have one expectation of him. That he be completely open and honest with me, and that he stays out of trouble (drugs, sex, etc.).

I recently found out that the poor kid had scabs on his penis. I am glad that we talked about it and I advised him to give it a rest for a few weeks. He no longer spends hours in the bathroom. Ok, so much about his discovery of (to what his younger brother refers as “pulling the rope”).

Now the concert This music is basically extremely loud and aggressive. DM bands generally consist of 5 musicians: a drummer, a bassist, a guitarist, a lead guitarist and a vocalist. The vocals are delivered in very very low and coarse pitch (almost like screaming at the bottom of your lungs). DM, as well as Black Metal (BM) took influence from the Thrash Metal (TM) bands of the 80s (Metallica’s ‘Kill’em all’ album gave birth to Thrash). TM was based on the rock bands of the 60s, 70s (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, etc.).

My son has a complete historical collection of all the major milestones in Metal Movement (starting with TM – the Hard Rock bands like Zeppelin and Black Sabbath are “elevator music” to him and are worthy of only a little respect) and he is the youngest Metal scholar that I know (I don’t know any other). He knows the difference between “brutal” and “melodic”. I have a little trouble telling the two apart, they all sound pretty brutal to me. From him I also learnt that there is yet another Metal genre called “Grindcore”, which apparently, according to him, is more “Humanitarian” than DM or BM. OK, I buy that. I like Humanitarian stuff. Don’t we all?

At the concert, I spoke with a few of the performing musicians. Some of them held “other” jobs including an English Teacher. Music is their passion and rebellion their infatuation. Sadly, in this “corporate world of big labels” there isn’t a sizable market or following for their music that forces them to earn a living doing other jobs. One Swede was so proud that his new CD sold 300 copies in first 4 months of release. They have a very dedicated(although small) following of young people. Their down-to-earthness was apparent from them setting up their own equipment (I have rarely seen big bands setting up their own equipment). So these bands are usually your local underground bands (some with international following of poor young kids who hate pop culture).

I was talking to a musician, and later I asked my son whom the guy was. My son nonchalantly tells me that oh, he is the legendary Cryptopsy drummer Flo. Oh well, I must admit that I was the most star-struck guy at the concert. All the musicians I spoke with were very level headed, warm and friendly. Almost all had long hair, tattoos, and they all cursed a lot. As much as wanting to enjoy the concert and see my son have a good time, I also had a lot of questions: what, when, why, where, and etc.

“What Ye Seek, Shall Ye Find”, I said to myself guzzling down another plastic cup of watered-down beer. Although the quest continues, here are some of the things I have learned so far, based upon listening to my son and a few Metal musicians, talking to a few Metalheads as well as my own bservations:

What is DM? A stem of Heavy Metal that introduces anger and rage into musical expression with low pitched dark vocals and extremely uptempo rhythms.

Lyrics usually address social issues and inequalities of the world (expressed in a dreadful way, but I must add, that some of these are pretty darn intelligent, with (mostly) no curses in the lyrics, only some dark references, and some of the bands use Olde English with terms like Thy and Ye). Some lyrics glorify Satan Worship. Both BM and DM basically took a lot of
influence from TM (Thrash Metal, I knew you will forget) bands of the 80s. According to the musicians that I spoke with, there are different interpretations of DM. One set views it as a very specific form of music that must follow a particular 'style', while the other sees it as a philosophical andpolitical ideology of music (likely to be heavily inspired by Nietzsche) regardless of the 'style'. According to yet some other DM or BM has proven terribly difficult to define but every one agreed that this is the music of certified morons.

Within DM is yet another type, called Gore Metal (GM from now on). As the name implies, this type deals mainly with gore and blood. Some musicians didn’t like defining DM into various categories and argued that there are many crossovers and it all depended on the musician as to where and when he switches style.This explanation made a lot of sense to me. However, my son insists that every genre is unique and the real musicians don’t do any crossover crap. ‘Nuf a that.

Who are the DM Musicians? The DM (and other Metal) musicians are generally self-taught who started playing guitar and drums in their basements as kids, after listening to Metal Bands on TV, or listening to their hippy dads’ collections. (However, a few are classically trained musicians who gave up on Beethoven) and formed their own bands by the time they were 12 year old. They tend to be very bright, anti authority, social revolutionaries, and aware of the world around them (except for contemporary popular culture and sports). This can’t be said of musicians in some other style of music.

What is DM about? First and foremost it is about Music, after that it is about Devil adulation, and the guys who are into DM (and GM) mainly subscribe to Atheism and Satanism - my son believes that he practices a little bit of both. He considers Satan to be an intelligent creature having courage to challenge the notion of organization and taking orders. To him, Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires. He also tells me that Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years. All Satanists hate Christians as well as other organized religions. Metalheads always wear black, and rarely spend more than 25 dollars on a pair of shoes (usually black Converse High Tops or cheaper knockoffs). In NYC, East Village is the best place for them to go shopping for clothes and shoes.

Where and when did it start?The early version of DM (called Proto-Death) began in the late 80s and Florida’s was the most influential scene (“Death” was the first recognized DM Band), followed by European bands between late 80s early 90s – each place having it’s own stamp on the type. It now has over 100 established bands; apparently some of the most successful ones come from Sweden (of all places), England and Germany. Scandinavian DM bands tend to be more “Melodic” than their counterparts across the Atlantic. In addition to DM, a lot of BM bands originated in Europe. Some superb DM bands have come out of Brazil too. Hopefully, and God willing, some day we will have Arab and Pakistani DM bands.

Some influential DM Bands As mentioned earlier, DM is anti-religion and it shows from their band names – e.g., Deicide (which means to Kill the God); Hate Eternal; Morbid Angel (they are coming in NYC in April, we already have the tickets); God Dethroned; Children of Bodom; Necrophobic: Sickness; Anal Blast; Angel Corpse; Beheaded; Evil Incarnate; Bloodgasm; Dead Jesus; Dismembered Fetus; and many many more. Not only the names, but the band T-Shirts have this awful awful art painted on them, that can only be described in one word: Pew, filthy and disgusting.

Why: Why not?

Status of DM bands Although more successful DM bands do make a decent living and enjoy star status, however, most little bands struggle (like a few of the ones that performed at the concert). Some of them are not welcome in some countries. Most have small yet devout following of young punks. Some of the bands are banned in certain countries. E.g., Germany banned a band for trying to slaughter a goat on the stage during a concert. Sweden banned one for peeing on the stage (what’s such a big deal about that?). A musician told me that whenever they go to Malaysia, they are sworn and made to sign an affidavit that they will not sing any “Satanic” songs. Most are banned from performing in the Middle East. Cannibal Corps is banned from performing their first 4 Albums in Germany and must submit their lyrics to the Government before being permitted to perform there. Such treatment of these bands is sickening and it is sad. I thought only religious minorities had it hard.

Would I go again?I will go anywhere my son wants me to take him. No strings attached. I can’t wait for my next brutal experience, but I want it to be melodic too.