{"id":2555,"date":"2023-08-11T13:19:20","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T03:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/?p=2555"},"modified":"2023-08-11T13:31:42","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T03:31:42","slug":"getting-zen-heavy-metal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/getting-zen-heavy-metal","title":{"rendered":"Getting Zen with heavy metal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thrashing around in a mosh pit while a heavy metal band screams at you might not sound very chill, but for fans of the genre, it can be extremely therapeutic. So says Australia\u2019s kings of metalcore, Parkway Drive, who have performed at some of the biggest metal festivals in the world. In an interview with ABC\u2019s Australian Story, lead singer Winston McCall describes heavy metal as being incredibly cathartic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the place to let out all of these repressed feelings,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat do you think most people are doing when they\u2019re in the mosh pit just losing their mind and throwing their limbs around and jumping on each other? They\u2019re not trying to hurt anyone. They\u2019re just, [letting] it out. And then you walk out of that venue better than when you walked in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lead guitarist Jeff Ling told Australian Story it\u2019s all about the energy: \u201cI\u2019m not an aggressive or assertive person in my everyday life. But there\u2019s something in me that needs to be released. There\u2019s only two ways I can seem to get that out, and that\u2019s through playing heavy metal live, and surfing seems to help with that too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metal and mental health<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moshing at a concert is certainly one way to achieve an emotional release, but heavy metal doesn\u2019t just provide a physical outlet for getting those good vibes. For many, it\u2019s simply about the raw music: screaming vocals, heavy distortion, dense bass and emotionally charged lyrics.<\/p>\n

True, it\u2019s not everyone\u2019s cup of tea. In the past, critics of the genre have unfairly stereotyped heavy metal as being aggressive for the sake of being aggressive. So much so that some bands, like Cannibal Corpse, have had their music banned in certain countries, and acts like Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest have faced lawsuits related to the content of their music.<\/p>\n

But ask a true metal fan how they feel when the music starts and it tells a different story. \u201cDuring my teenage years particularly, when I felt very isolated and different due to my mental health, it was cathartic to listen to this aggressive music,\u201d says 32-year-old Natalie Shears. \u201cIt taught me that these intense feelings can be channelled into something meaningful and even positive.<\/p>\n

Hearing someone else verbalise what I was feeling, through their lyrics or through their riffs, or even through their blast beats, gave me solace. I knew there were other people out there who were going through what I was going through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rammstein, Metallica, Opeth, Septicflesh, DevilDriver and Leprous are just a few of Natalie\u2019s favourites. She credits heavy metal bands like these with being an invaluable resource for dealing with her complex post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression<\/a>. There\u2019s no denying the link between mood and music is a unique one. While some people might find listening to \u201csad\u201d or \u201cangry\u201d music accentuates such feelings, others find it therapeutic. Emotional reactions vary greatly from person to person.<\/p>\n

For Natalie, heavy metal music helps her feel re-energised and upbeat. \u201cOften it makes me feel like I can take on anything,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s a great feeling of strength and resilience that comes from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natalie certainly doesn\u2019t stand alone in her experience. A 2015 study by the University of Queensland put the music to the test. Researchers Associate Professor Genevieve Dingle and Dr Leah Sharman set out to explore the relationship between anger and what they considered \u201cextreme\u201d genres of music, such as heavy metal, punk, hardcore and screamo. The study involved an induction that stimulated feelings of anger in 39 participants, who were then assessed as they either listened to 10 minutes of \u201cextreme\u201d music of their choice, or 10 minutes of silence.<\/p>\n

The results confirmed that headbanging for your health isn\u2019t such a bad idea, with the participants who listened to heavy metal mostly left feeling calmed and inspired. The study also revealed that listening to metal was as relaxing for participants as sitting in silence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found the music regulated sadness and enhanced positive emotions,\u201d says Leah. \u201cResults showed levels of hostility, irritability and stress decreased after music was introduced, and the most significant change reported was the level
\nof inspiration they felt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study also observed that, much like Natalie, participants were reportedly using music to immerse themselves in feelings of love and enhance their happiness.<\/p>\n

Love, happiness and heavy metal<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLove\u201d and \u201chappiness\u201d probably aren\u2019t the first words that come to mind when you see a heavy metal band perform. It\u2019s loud, chaotic, and some bands like to incorporate dark stage personas in their acts. Heavy metal band Slipknot, for example, is famous for rocking out in their iconic horrifying stage masks. But as lead singer Corey Taylor explained in an interview with the BBC, it\u2019s actually about embracing honesty and getting past niceties, manners, morals and rules. \u201cThe mask for me has always been that physical representation of the person inside of me that just never had a voice,\u201d he says. \u201cIt allows me to be me.\u201d<\/p>\n

This philosophy could be applied to the heavy metal scene as a whole. From the outside it may appear aggressive in its music or gruesome in its lyrics, but there is intent there, and much like poetry or artwork, finding meaning requires a deep dive beneath the layers.<\/p>\n

Sometimes happiness isn\u2019t about feeling giddy but experiencing honesty and acceptance in who we are. Metalheads seem to get this. They\u2019ve long been pigeonholed as the outsiders, the anti-social and the angry, but a closer look reveals a tight-knit, like-minded community of music fans seeking connection, solace and emotional release. They acknowledge anger and sadness and understand the need to experience and regulate their own emotions. In this context, it\u2019s a shame this community isn\u2019t better known for its mindful, healing qualities.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, there is one place in the world where metal has gone mainstream. In 2022, Finland was crowned happiest country in the world by the United Nations-sponsored World Happiness Report for the fifth year in a row. Is it any coincidence, then, that the country boasts more heavy metal musicians per capita than anywhere else in the world \u2014 a reported 70 metal bands per 100,000 people? Maybe the Finnish are onto something there.<\/p>\n

Lauren Furey is a freelance writer who loves deep dives into tough topics on all things culture, society and the messiness of humanity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thrashing around in a mosh pit while a heavy metal band screams at you might not sound very chill, but for fans of the genre, it can be extremely therapeutic. So says Australia\u2019s kings of metalcore, Parkway Drive, who have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":2556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[158],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2555"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2557,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2555\/revisions\/2557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}