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Volume 6, Issue 3
  • ISSN: 2052-3998
  • E-ISSN: 2052-4005

Abstract

While genocide, killing and transgressive acts of violence are common themes in metal, there is a relative absence of metal lyrics and other ways of engaging with the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews as a theme. This stands in contrast to premodern genocides that are often the subject of fascination. Even when the Holocaust is apparently ‘celebrated’ by neo-Nazi metal acts, some of the specificities of the genocide, together with its applicability to Jews today, may be elided and effaced. When the Holocaust is engaged with in non-neo-Nazi metal lyrics, it is usually with great care and the victims themselves are rarely mentioned. The Holocaust constitutes a ‘problem’ in metal that makes silence and absence a preferable option to engagement. The reasons for this lie in part in metal’s self-conscious avoidance of ‘politics’, the lack of salience of Jews and antisemitism, and the excessive nature of the Holocaust itself.

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2020-09-01
2024-04-27
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http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/mms_00025_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): black metal; denial; genocide; Holocaust; metal; National Socialist Black Metal; silence; transgression

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