Heavy metal is outlandish, it’s ridiculous, it’s frightening—and it relates fundamental truths about the dark side of human nature, writes James Parker in the Atlantic. Indeed, its dark lyrics echo the writings of mythographer Sir James George Frazier: “We seem to move on a thin crust which may at any moment be rent by the subterranean forces slumbering below.” But, laments Parker, “today we find ourselves in something of a metal slump.”
The music certainly still exists, in the form of bands like Disturbed and Avenged Sevenfold. But it’s moving under the radar, which makes Parker wonder if it is past its prime. Indeed, bands like Metallica and Black Sabbath have lost their "boogeyman status” to the likes of gangsta rap. But fortunately for us, “metal renews itself.” As one fan noted, lighter music seems “to lie ... about the world.” Heavy metal reminds us, Parker concludes, that “much of modern life is a fiction. Go through the membrane, break the crust, and everything is metal.” (More heavy metal stories.)
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