This article examines how the British metalcore band Architects negotiate existential crisis in extended lyrical narratives that employ Christian symbolism from a non-Christian perspective. Rather than affirming or rejecting religious belief, they repurpose these symbols to articulate profound personal experiences, such as mortality and grief, thus illustrating the need to further investigate how Christian motifs are applied as abstract tools of meaning-making within the broad field of metal. Employing a framework of natural narratology, grief theory and existential philosophy, I investigate how these motifs shape narrative structures and serve as conduits between individual crisis and collective storytelling. I thereby base my analysis on examples grappling with terminal illness and bereavement to illustrate how the metaphoric use of Christian imagery adds profound meaning to the lyrics.
This article provides a conceptual theoretical review that disentangles the philosophy which has shaped Metallica’s lyrics in the post-Binge/Purge period, from 1996 to 2023. This period takes in Metallica’s sixth album Load (1996) ending with their eleventh album 72 Seasons (2023). The article discusses the double entendre of Metallica’s lyrics, through a philosophical and/or psychosocial critical lens. To varying degrees, there are several themes that Metallica have written about repeatedly in their long and illustrious career. There are the usual suspects, for example, alcohol, power and rage. However, Metallica have also been verbally adept, in writing about alienation, isolation and religion, albeit in a more nuanced manner. The article articulates how the latter subject played a clear role in James Hetfield’s developmental years, from high school to adulthood. Religion is one of the key concepts in the lyrical content of Metallica’s latest release 72 Seasons , the first eighteen years of someone’s life.
This article analyses globalization through the lens of Colombian extreme metal, challenging predominant Eurocentric perspectives. Globalization is often interpreted as a process of cultural domination led by the West; however, this study examines it as collaborative cultural interactions. Extreme metal is explored as a form of resistance and identity expression in contexts of sociopolitical adversity, such as 1980s–90s Colombia. The Colombian metal scene serves as a space for young people to express social discontent and connect with other cultures through music, fanzines and letter exchanges, fostering a transnational cultural identity. This exchange illustrates dialogical globalization, where global influences are reinterpreted locally. Grassroots networks – such as pen-pal correspondence – are highlighted as mechanisms enabling the flow of ideas and music, contributing to the consolidation of a global metal community. The analysis demonstrates that Colombian metal not only reflects local realities but also influences international scenes, portraying globalization as a multidirectional process of cultural co-construction.
It is expected that each generation of metalheads has its own points of reference and perspective on metal’s icons. For metal fans raised in the mid-2000s, especially those raised as girls or who identified as queer, their image of Ozzy Osbourne may be pure Disneyfication and Camp, having been introduced to the Prince of Darkness via a parody from the Disney Channel’s hit 2006 sitcom Hannah Montana . First introduced in the 2008 episode ‘(We’re So Sorry) Uncle Earl’, this rendering of Osbourne served an important narrative role: to save Hannah Montana from a horrid music critic (played by Gilbert Gottfried) who is a hater of girly pop and longs for a return to the good old days of rock’n’roll. The parody is hilariously bad – drawing on Ozzy’s stage aesthetic and MTV persona – and fools nobody, but it nonetheless was a point of introduction for some metalheads. In this article, I aim to unpack this portrayal and the importance of exploring varied introduction points for a diverse audience of metal fans and musicians, which go beyond a cisgender, heterosexual and masculinist understanding of metal’s icons and tropes. Furthermore, this article addresses the Campness in Osbourne’s legacy and his transformation from Birmingham metal originator to MTV oddity to Hannah Montana’s failed saviour.
Black Sabbath’s final show in July 2025 and Ozzy Osbourne’s death weeks later were both accorded international media attention and establishment recognition, including the Coldstream Guards performing ‘Paranoid’ outside Buckingham Palace. These recent events furthered the legitimation of metal in British culture, developing on previous phenomena that also often focused on Birmingham, Black Sabbath and Ozzy. This article explores the discursive framing of these events in British media, noting that metal’s legitimation within establishment culture is attended by ironic distance and rhetorical justifications for metal’s transgressive aesthetics. Ozzy’s treatment in twelve news media obituaries and ‘tributes’ especially indicates the torsion inimical to legitimating metal, in that his ‘wild’ lifestyle and controversial aesthetic associations make his recuperation ambiguous and challenging. In rendering Ozzy’s life hagiographically, establishment journalists deflated aspects of metal’s aesthetic transgressions while maintaining and expanding rock and metal mythology.
