As a metal fan, I hate to admit this, but I’m kind of starting to hate metal. Not the music itself, but the culture surrounding the music. It’s fine when it’s just people onstage screaming while covered in facepaint and fake blood, but sometimes this stuff spills over into real violence. The latest example is the murder of a prominent Thai black metal musician, Samong Traisattha, aka Avaejee, of Surrender Of Divinity.
As a metal fan, I hate to admit this, but I’m kind of starting to hate metal. Not the music itself, but the culture surrounding the music. It’s fine when it’s just people onstage screaming while covered in facepaint and fake blood, but sometimes this stuff spills over into real violence. The latest example is the murder of a prominent Thai black metal musician, Samong Traisattha, aka Avaejee, of Surrender Of Divinity. On January 8, Traisattha was slain in his family’s home after being visited by a fan who supposedly wished to purchase t-shirts. Soon afterwards, a Thai metal fan going by Maleficent Meditation claimed responsibility for the murder on Facebook, and Thai authorities believe the claim to be legitimate. In his confession, the fan–whose real name is believed to be Prakarn Harnphanbusakorn–cited “tarnish[ing] Satanism” as his reason for murdering Traisattha. In a (rather poorly) translated version of the confession, the killer says, “I thought this death is suitable for a poser like him.” If this is “true metal,” I’ll take false metal every time.
This is far from the first time murder and destruction have resulted from the metal version of what Dave Chappelle called “When keeping it real goes wrong.” The most famous series of incidents fitting this profile took place in Norway in the early 90s, when Burzum leader Varg Vikernes began burning churches around the Norwegian countryside in the interest of furthering his pagan/Satanist views. Vikernes’s behavior eventually escalated into murder, when he killed Mayhem guitarist Oystein “Euronymous” Aarseth, then a leading figure in the Norwegian metal scene. Quite a few other incidents of murder, arson, and assorted, uh, mayhem took place in the Norwegian metal community of that era, and one of the chief motivations fueling these young metalheads was a desire to truly live in the lyrical spirit of their own music, and that of their favorite bands.
The alleged murderer’s facebook profile picture
I know plenty of metalheads will leap to the defense of their favorite music, claiming that mental illness is a far more important factor than metal fandom in leading certain metal fans to behave in the manner described above. This is undoubtedly true, and I’d never deny it. What I am finding more and more frustrating and embarrassing as the years go by is the way, even as incidents like this continue to occur, the metal scene keeps putting emphasis on violent imagery, as communicated through lyrics, album covers, and onstage appearances. There’s a quote I always come back to, from Jef “Wrest” Whitehead of the black metal band Leviathan. Speaking to Decibel in 2011, he said, “Black metal at the end of the day is about Satan, and will always be about Satan.” He followed this line with a dismissive comment about bands who’ve moved away from the nihilistic image black metal had during the glory days of the Norwegian scene: “Black metal seems to be for hipsters with their girlfriend’s pants on nowadays.” It’s an attitude shared by a lot of purist metalheads who look down on less obviously misanthropic bands of recent vintage, such as Deafheaven, Liturgy, and Wolves In The Throne Room.
Those same metalheads will deride any metal band who does not focus their image and lyrical content on misanthropy, destruction, and either dismissal of mainstream organized religion or outright endorsement of Satanism and/or paganism. Meanwhile, they rush to refer to Traisattha’s murderer, and other metal fans who engage in similar actions, as aberrations, not representative of the wider metal community. That’s almost certainly true, but at the same time, by encouraging bands and fans to portray a similar misanthropic/Satanic attitude to that of the murderer, the question must be asked: Does the metal scene provide cover for these kinds of insane people, who might otherwise be noticed and stopped before they commit some highly destructive or even murderous action? We can claim the lyrics of bands like Slayer or Watain are not to be taken literally, and clearly they shouldn’t be, but not everyone is going to get the message. And as much as I hate to say it, in all likelihood, incidents like the murder of Samong Traisattha will continue to happen.
If “true kvlt metal” has to involve antisocial attitudes about murder and other unsavory behaviors, not to mention a lot of sketchy right-wing politics I want nothing to do with (see the recent exploits of Varg Vikernes, freed from Norwegian prison in 2009, who is now openly neo-Nazi and continues to record as Burzum), then fuck it–give me the false stuff. I’d rather hear hipsters in tight pants play black metal riffs while singing about preserving the environment or being depressed about their economic status than be “true” and have to wonder how many of my fellow audience members are plotting a church burning. The music’s still rad, and I’ll keep buying metal records and going to shows, but I’m not gonna pretend to care about “being metal” anymore. Call me a hipster if you want, but I’m done.
