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Volume 9, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 2052-3998
  • E-ISSN: 2052-4005
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Abstract

Since its inception, metal music has been on a quest for greater heaviness. However, despite its fundamental relevance to the genre, what actually makes metal music perceptually ‘heavy’ is still poorly understood. This article examines the musical, performative and production features that contribute to the heaviness of Lorna Shore’s ‘To the Hellfire’, magazine’s metal song of the year 2021. The musicological analysis is supported by rich data from the provider Nail the Mix (NTM): the song’s original multi-track recordings; a Q&A and live mix session with the EP’s producer, Josh Schroeder, and community discussion in NTM’s Facebook group. The findings suggest that the song’s heaviness is mainly provided as a result of sonic weight, harmonic distortion, hyperreal performances, disruption and unpredictability, contrast and dynamic development towards a climax. Musically, blending metal subgenres to increase heaviness is deemed beneficial, and concerning production, automated and dynamic processing responsive to musical structures and performances is highlighted.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) (Award AH/T010991/1)
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Intellect Ltd.
This article is Open Access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The CC BY licence permits commercial and noncommercial reuse. To view a copy of the licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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2023-09-01
2025-03-16
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/content/journals/10.1386/mms_00105_1
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Lorna Shore’s ‘To the Hellfire’: A study in heaviness
Metal Music Studies 9, 189 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00105_1
/content/journals/10.1386/mms_00105_1
/content/journals/10.1386/mms_00105_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): black metal; death metal; deathcore; metalcore; production; technology

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