Call for Papers: Metal and the Holocaust
(special issue Metal Music Studies 2020, ed. Keith Kahn-Harris and
Dominic Williams)
Our special issue tackles a well-known but
little-studied phenomenon: the importance of Holocaust themes to the metal
scene. The Holocaust has often featured as a subject of metal lyrics (from
Slayer’s ‘Angel of Death’ on). It has repeatedly been referred to in
descriptions of metal’s sound (e.g. the ‘Heavy Metal Holocaust’ of 1981). And
it has formed part of accusations and warnings against bands who flirt with and
sometimes outright endorse far-right and neo-Nazi politics.
Even with those bands – the vast majority on
the scene – who do not engage in such politics, their interest in the Holocaust
has frequently been seen as exploitative at best. But many metal lyricists and
musicians claim that they are providing a ‘history lesson’, and many teenagers’
first acquaintance with such figures as Josef Mengele and Reinhard Heydrich
surely comes from Slayer.
It is high
time, therefore, that the tangled relationship of metal and the Holocaust be
unpicked and examined. We wish to face up to a difficult and troubling topic,
and accept that many of the ways that metal has approached it are not beyond
critique. But we are also interested in possibilities that come from its
incorporation and embodiment of the Holocaust. What aspects of metal’s politics
need to be thought through, attended to, challenged? Can metal form a kind of
historiography? Metal frequently evokes extreme affects. Does this focus
provide a means of testifying to the Shoah that goes beyond the simply
propositional or representational? Are such modes of remembrance exportable
beyond the bounds of the metal scene, or do they only work within the
particular codes and values of this subculture? How do they compare to other
forms of ‘Holocaust impiety’ and other forms of representation?
We seek proposals for articles of 6,000-8,000
words. Final deadline for articles will be 1 December 2019.
Questions could include but are not limited to
the following:
- What
part has metal played in transmitting knowledge of or interest in the
Holocaust?
- What
place does this particular subject have within the subculture? Is it one of
many horrors that its fans wish to face up to, or does it have a particular
significance for them?
- Can
metal provide history lessons?
- How
has the understanding and presentation of the Holocaust by metal bands and fans
been influenced by:
- politics
(including those of the far right)?
- religious
and anti-religious positions?
- interest
in Nordic and Germanic culture and themes?
- Does
metal offer ways of approaching the Holocaust from which other cultural forms
can learn, e.g.
- its
tendency to avoid moralising?
- its
concentration on intense feelings rather than contemplation?
- How
has the significant history of Jewish involvement in metal culture impacted the
scene’s responses to the Holocaust?
- How
have Israeli metal scenes engaged with the Holocaust?
- Is
the approach taken by these forms of music best characterised as ‘holocaust
impiety’?
- Is
it possible to be ‘reflexively anti-reflexive’ about the Holocaust?
Send abstracts of 150-250 words plus a short
bio note to Dominic Williams (dominic2.williams@northumbria.ac.uk)
by 6 September 2019.
