Report: Heavy Metal Adopts Political, Social Messages In New Millennium

July 29, 2006

Justin M. Norton of the Associated Press has issued the following report:

Heavy metal singer Chris Barnes didn't know what people would think of the anti-war song "Amerika the Brutal" he wrote after his cousin deployed to Iraq in 2003.

He heard a number of complaints — but also received supportive e-mails from American troops in the war zone.

"It kind of sent a shiver up my spine because those are the guys I didn't want to offend by sounding anti-war," said Barnes, vocalist for the death metal band SIX FEET UNDER.

Other metal bands are finding similar inspiration.

LAMB OF GOD's albums criticize American foreign policy. CATTLE DECAPITATION are ardent vegetarians who use explicit album covers and songs like "Veal and the Cult of Torture" to condemn the meat industry. Serj Tankian of SYSTEM OF A DOWN is co-founder of a nonprofit organization that works on social issues.

More than three decades after BLACK SABBATH conjured images of the dark arts, heavy metal is growing up. The genre is increasingly incorporating social and political messages into its dense power chords.

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