Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge

This book is neither a fan pleasing exploration of different extreme metal scenes or genres nor a catalogue of underground heavy metal bands and their discographies. In fact, this is a very serious study of the extreme metal subculture from a socio-anthropological point of view written with a very dry, academic style. The core material used in this book comes from the author's doctoral thesis investigations, so don't expect any fun anecdotes or trivial band information here: the subjects tackled by the author (underground metal label economics, gender relationships, cultural capital, racism and political activism to name a few) are far from light hearted, and while not mandatory, an academic background in social science or communications will surely help the reader sift through some of the harder theoretical constructs this investigation is based upon. Even if the author considers himself a big fan of the music, he does manage to maintain an observant and neutral point of view throughout most of his analysis and makes some very valid points regarding the scene's future and its irresponsible handling of sexism and undesirable white power bands using the excuse that musical credibility is far more important than politics. This book is ideal for metal fans seeking to expand their knowledge about the subject beyond the usual band discography information and reviews usually found in books that cover heavy metal.

If you love metal but have always wondered what does a scholar think of my music? Then this book would be your answer. It's a bit dense in places and the author has a way of writing that sometimes causes his meaning to be lost and his sentences to collapse under their own weight. This book doesn't delve too much into the anthropology and culture of the music, if you want that you'll have to settle for Headbangers Journey.Overall, I would suggest this book to lifelong Hessians, music critics, and people who regularly watch documentaries or read dissertations.

An assertive take on what Heavy Metal especially the extreme and underground side of it is and was, it's importance in society and the presentation of it's reality from many different points of view, the musician, the fan, the producers, the market, etc. It takes the theme in a very respectful and serious way, and it also shows that is a well researched thoughtful write.

I read this in college, when I had just brought my black metal fanzine back to life (I'd stopped writing it in the 90s), and was therefore very interested in the subject matter at hand. The pre-social media days of metal were interesting when you are not a man, or belong to various other groups. There was definitely anti-semitism in the scene as well, and women being treated badly and as thought they somehow could not like the music at hand (or in the case of musicians, could not play it).I was delighted to find a scholarly book about this topic at the time which was not sensationalized, again, because I was in college at the time, and studying languages and anthropology, and also was writing about the metal scene.Keith Kahn-Harris gives some great insight into the culture of music scenes as well as those "exscripted" from them, namely women and other minority groups. Jewish people in the case of some black metal. This is often not taken seriously by other writers or other people in the scene itself, and I really feel like this book was way ahead of its time in understanding that yes, some places can be hostile to some groups of people and make them feel unwelcome, and thus, they will be underrepresented.There are also just cultural tropes that reinforce these beliefs, I believe David Lee Roth was quoted as saying that girls were pushed to play piano, not to be guitarists, or something to that effect in the book "Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music" by Robert Walser, but that book dealt more with 80s "heavy metal," and Keith Kahn-Harris deals with smaller scenes like black metal and death metal here. It's good to see these things being analyzed and discussed.

A key text in the field of Metal Studies, simply a must have for all academics of the field and anyone who has an interest in this style of music

A great book

Buyers expecting a book in the same vein as "Lords of Chaos", "Lucifer Rising" or "Choosing Death" will likely be disappointed. Kahn-Harris's book is a textbook, based on a PhD study and is structured like a thesis. It's a sociology book rather than a book about music (hence the 3 star rating).Having said that, it is an interesting factual analysis of the extreme metal scene, its history, psychology, fandom and codes of ethics, though the style is dry which makes for heavy going at times.

... zumindest möglicherweise!Man mag durch die Zusammenfassung vermuten, dass man hier verschiedene (Extrem) Metal Arten betrachtet und wie sie sich unterscheiden und wie sie sich entwickelt haben.Prinzipiell stimmt das auch. Aber anders als vermutet! Ich bin zwar nicht völlig blauäugig an das Buch heran gegangen, hatte aber durchaus auch selbst nicht mit dieser Ebene der Wissenschaftlichkeit gerechnet! So ein wenig könnte man sagen, dass das Buch staubtrockene Soziologie/Anthropologie ist!Entsprechend sollte man keinen totalen Lesefluß erwarten, sondern man muss desöfteren innehalten und das Hirn einschalten, was hier gerade beschrieben wird. Wer zudem kein nativ-englisch speaker ist sollte seinen Englisch(lese)kenntnissen absolut vertrauen können, ansonsten wirft einen das Buch etwas aus der Bahn! Denn Keith Kahn-Harris' "Hintergrund" für dieses Buch ist seine Doktorarbeit! Entsprechend muss man mit sehr gehobenem Level rechnen!Soweit zu den Vorwarnungen. Aber wie ist das Buch? Nun, ich zumindest war begeistert!Viele, und auch ich, reden ja davon, dass "Metal" mehr als nur Musik ist. Und ich versuche deshalb sehr viele Informationen und Hintergründe mir eigen zu machen. (ob das die Anderen auch tun, oder nur "Schwätzer" sind dahingestellt). Und für solche Personen ist dieses Buch eigentlich eine Pflichtlektüre. Unglaublich tief und intensiv wird auf die (Extreme) Metal Szene eingegangen und auch auf viele ihre "Auswüchse" neben der Musik, wie Fanzines, Fankultur (im allgemeinen), das Verteidigen der Musik gegen Außenstehende, etc. Für die Betrachtung nutzt Keith Kahn-Harris verschiedene, soziologisch anerkannte Konstrukte und Theorien, die er in die Metalszene einbettet.Mehr kann man eigentlich nicht genau in einer Rezension erzählen, ohne auf genauere Inhalte einzugehen.Man muss das Buch halt einfach lesen!

A must have for anybody interested in the relations between Heavy Metal and society, thought-provoking and really holistic. Be aware: that's a sociology study and thus not immediately accessible for casual readers