I started a new tumblr called Heavy Metal Poets which is about exactly what it says on the tin. I sincerely believe that there are lyricists in metal whose work is subtle and complex enough to deserve the sort of detailed analysis I provide to videogames here on this blog. This is part of a larger mission I have to take serious analytic approaches to what have previously been considered works of low-art entertainment.
For my first post, I wrote about one of the absolute greats: "Embody the Invisible" by In Flames, with lyrics by Anders Friden, and I talked about how the song describes a sense of existential loneliness and a yearning for a god that we can never be sure is or isn't there.
Read it here!
Will be checking out. Reminds me of the following webpage:
ReplyDeletehttp://blackmetaltheory.blogspot.se/
And the following book (which I had, and gave away to a friend who listens to a lot of black metal):
http://www.amazon.com/Hideous-Gnosis-Black-Theory-Symposium/dp/1450572162
You'd probably have to have read quite a lot of continental philsophy in order to be able to understand what's written there, though.
I should also recommend some lyrics to you! Although quite a few of the lyrics I remember fondly don't seem to pop out as much in written form, without the music. So you should youtube the songs themselves, I think.
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mudvayne/mercyseverity.html
http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/cynic/tracedinair.html#7
http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/dreamtheater/imagesandwords.html#7
http://www.metrolyrics.com/chances-lyrics-clawfinger.html
Also, as a bonus I'll show you my "tribute to neometal" I did a year ago or so, as a sort of mashup/remix of all that is and was neometal (and some of the emo/core-stuff which the youth of today listen to) for me and for the bands which I've listened to. If you've listened to neometal before or have an idea of the themes of that specific teen angst neo metal, then I'm sure you'll feel right at home. It's obviously heavy-handed and dramatic and goes on for just a bit too long, but that's just part of what it means to be a neo-metal song! :P
Tribute to neometal
DeleteLet me go (you don't understand me),
I am evil, you are pure, I will defile you,
tears frozen like snow.
Stay away, I am a sinner, I will not turn the other cheek,
I've bled for you (all that I did for you!),
yet you will not hear me (where were you?),
but I still stand, not falling,
so save your hand for someone else,
I'll save myself, hide between my sheets
Falling forever, blurring the lies and truth,
what's real and what's not, coming undone,
like breathing in sulfur (suffocation),
can't trust anyone, until I'm catched,
or reach the bottom (dying, screaming),
the scars remind me of a past that never was
My weakness – that I care too much,
I touch, and it breaks,
veins pulsating, everything's my fault,
I tear myself open, sew myself shut,
like the pinup doll you want me to be
Make me real, I want to be free,
save me from myself, I don't know why I instigate,
maybe because I'm so uptight in this straitjacket?
so loosen these chains, untie the knots,
the stones sink with me,
with this dark chrysalis of a tomb, dead inside, aching, rotting,
not sleeping (can't stay awake)
will I ever wake up from what's underneath my skin?
Consuming, the walls are closing in,
my reflection breaking, wasn't love supposed to be something else?
I've kept my temper, now the shards are flying,
and I can't be held responsible (guilty),
lithium, valium and prozac keep me in line,
just another brick in the wall
I don’t need one more day of you wasting me away,
(all days are wasted on me)
don't turn your back on me, I won't be ignored,
I'm gonna suffer for the rest of my life,
But I will always find a way to survive, (alone)
Fix yourself instead, get on with your illusion of a life
I crawl in my own piss, what's wrong with me, can't fix myself,
once the paper's crumbled up, it can't be perfect again,
haunted by fairy tales you told me,
of someone to talk to and not just working for the man,
instead I only get the pat-down and the shouting,
to you I've never been enough,
fuck it, I tried to be a good boy,
now I just want to kill you (my last resort)
Don't judge me, you're no saint,
blaming it all on Marilyn,
we're the children of the Korn,
who the fuck are you?
Don't know, not the same anymore,
I hurt myself to get back at you,
addicted to your punishment,
craving it just to feel anything,
and so the hate in me washes the sin away;
it's in our nature to destroy ourselves;
hunger, rising, pick my victim;
I just wanna play, wait and bleed
...
I'm on the outside, looking in,
don't want any of it, won't change for you,
if I smile and don't believe, soon I'll wake
(from this sleep beneath the breaking waves),
replacing this pain with something numb,
everyone's a fake, so empty,
I see your true colors,
without your mask, where will you go?
because you are ugly, like me,
scaring away all that's pure
I need a place to escape the pain inside,
don't give a fuck, caught in the middle,
no place to run, a slow defeat,
life in pieces – do you even care if I die?
I'm dead to you already
(wounds so deep I can barely scar,
let alone heal)
Sick of all the lies and the hate,
I wanna find a place where I belong,
but I can't stay long, holding my breath, (drowning)
because I'm too lost to be saved
I'll just lie down, next to my thorns,
write poetry in red,
this way I can't let you down, ever again
nothing matters anymore,
if you can get away with murder, why can't I?
no-one cares,
I'm sure I deserve it
I can't keep from falling,
buried so far away,
digging a hole to bury the pain,
don't bother, I'm not worth it,
it's all my fault, angels stabbing me,
I am trash, going away, mind going haywire,
a mess never to be entangled,
so go away, erase any trace,
of love, let the fires of hell take its course
(Abandon all hope ye who enter, for there is no salvation for the likes of us)