Heavy Metal is a peculiar music genre, made by fans for fans, which spread throughout the entire planet and became, over its five decades of existence, a global community as well. These aspects of Heavy Metal make it a very interesting phenomenon to study. Heavy Metal has previously been researched with a micro outlook on its local connotations in several different Global South countries, analyzing one at a time. As far as the whole Global Metal community is concerned, to this day, there seems to be no literature that is based on the Global South perspective, but only on the Western one. As it has not been attempted to study Global Metal with a macro outlook and to take a broader perspective on it, this research employs a larger view on the Global South’s point of view on Metal culture. Therefore this study aims at giving possible explanations about the reasons behind Heavy Metal worldwide spread. Results will show how further Heavy Metal reception studies on Global South metalheads should be approached through the lens of the Cosmopolitan paradigm; how the metalheads of the sample tend to indicate Death Metal as the most spread sub-genre and to describe themselves as open minded and tolerant. This research helps showing a slight tendency of metalheads to consider themselves part of a Global community, which is defined more like a family, underlining their inclination towards cosmopolitanism. Finally it will show how there should be a broader study on the sense making of well-known songs to determine whether or not there is a certain degree of similar interpretation across different cultures.

Présentant des styles musicaux spécifiques des musiques extrêmes, cette thèse permet au lecteur de découvrir leurs sources d'inspirations et imaginaires. Elle interroge, à travers l'histoire du genre, le concept de contre-culture attaché à la culture Metal. Dans cette perspective, cette recherche va s'intéresser aux stéréotypes et aux préjugés. Ceux liés à la pornographie, souvent mis en avant par les détracteurs de cette musique, avec l'analyse du projet Girls X présenté par le festival Hellfest Open Air. Puis ceux relatifs à l'homosexualité en étudiant le sous-genre du glam'metal et les figures de l'androgyne et du beefcake tout en s'interrogeant sur la place des femmes dans ce sous-genre. Ce travail met aussi en opposition deux sous-genres musicaux, le métal symphonique et le black métal afin de réaliser une analyse de la présence féminine sur ces deux scènes. Le premier a pour particularité de mettre en scène le conte de La Belle et la Bête et le second d'observer le lien entre femmes et religions, grandes inspiratrices du black métal, et de présenter un héros spécifique du Métal, le prêtre-guerrier. L'étude du corps féminin dans la culture Métal est essentielle. Ce sera l'occasion de mettre en lumière les muses du Métal et les critères auxquels elles doivent correspondre. Enfin, cette thèse s'intéresse aux interactions entre ce qui est traditionnellement associé à la féminité et à la masculinité dans cette culture musicale notamment à travers les notions de puissance et pouvoir, la pratique du maquillage et le port de la jupe. Enfin, le changement de genre fait l'objet d'un dernier point de ce travail. / Is Heavy Metal music a counterculture? To answer this question this thesis presents various styles of Metal music with their imaginary worlds and inspirations in relation to gender studies. First, this thesis studies pornography stereotypes and prejudices with Hellfest Open Air Festival's project: Girls X. Then, this analysis studies those in relation to homosexuality in the glam'metal and present androgyne and beefcake figures. There is also some question as to, where women are in the glam' metal ? This research shall also estimate the presence of women into symphonic metal and black metal. Symphonic metal staging tale of Beauty and the Beast and black metal study observe link between of women and religions and present the warrior-priest hero character. This work studies the female body in Heavy Metal culture as well as the interactions within this musical culture, which matter and are seen as traditionally masculine or feminine through notions power over and power to, makeup... Lastly the thesis study the transgender people in Heavy Metal culture.

In this diploma thesis I am going to analyze Christian metal music with emphasis on its missional character. My starting point is at a hypothetical use of metal as a tool for Christian mission. I assume that new Christian communities will be able to use metal as a cultural tool for creating the inner character of the community. This requires a short introduction to the development of both Christian and secular metal music. To describe Christian mission in this subculture I am going to use the method of praxis matrix, through which I'm going to try to offer more detailed information about the subject in question concerning the topic of the identification of the agent. I'm also going to try to describe the social context, the church affiliation, interpretation of the tradition, concretization of the activity and the ability of self- reflection and spirituality.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 256-265). / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / xii, 265 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

This thesis aims to analyze how a site developed, nurtured and consumed by heavy metal fans can have an empowering character. For this, we analyze the Whiplash.net, the most trusted specializing in heavy metal in Portuguese. Theoretically we left assertions of authors like Henri Jenkins, John Fiske, Lawrance Grossberg and Michel de Certeau to show how the action of fans can reverse the logic of consumption prescribed by cultural industries and create new meanings from their everyday life and their interests. Such action is possible due to their affective investment in relation to its object of worship, process which is here understood as active reception process, not only because relativize cultural and media hierarchies, but also generates socialization and conflicts within the lifestyle. / A presente dissertação tem como objetivo analisar como um site desenvolvido, alimentado e consumido por fãs de heavy metal pode ter um caráter empoderador. Para tanto, analisamos o Whiplash.net., o maior site especializado em heavy metal de língua portuguesa. Teoricamente partimos de assertivas de autores como Henry Jenkins, John Fiske, Lawrance Grossberg e Michel de Certeau para evidenciar como a ação dos fãs pode inverter lógicas de consumo prescritas pelas indústrias culturais e criar novos significados a partir do seu cotidiano e de seus interesses. Tal ação é possível graças ao seu investimento afetivo em relação a seu objeto de culto, processo que é entendido como recepção eminentemente ativa, não só porque relativiza hierarquias culturais e midiáticas, mas também gera socialização e conflitos no seio do estilo de vida.

The progressive metal style "djent" emerged in the mid-to-late 2000s with bands that modeled their use of extended range instruments and complex rhythmic cycles after that of Swedish metal band Meshuggah. The addition of a new vocabulary of melody and harmony by bands such as Periphery, Tesseract, and Animals as Leaders has come to define djent in a new way and provided fruitful ground for voice-leading and metrical analysis. In this dissertation, I approach analysis in two steps. The first step is the production of detailed transcriptions of four djent songs. The process of transcription has allowed for the development of Transcription Preference Rules, modeled after Lerdahl and Jackendoff's preference rule approach in their Generative Theory of Tonal Music. The Transcription Preference Rules account for the selection of key signatures, time signatures, and other features of the scores that may affect analysis. Second, using these scores, I examine the connection between the textual topic of change and the voice-leading and metrical structures in Periphery's "Insomnia" and Tesseract's "Of Matter." I show how this topic is reflected by techniques such as change melodic direction, multidimensional metrical dissonance, and auxiliary cadential events. Finally, I apply voice-leading and metrical analysis to Animals as Leaders's "Tempting Time" and Mute the Saint's "Sound of Scars" in order to show what these analytical techniques reveal about instrumental djent pieces. I show how shifts in meter in "Tempting Time" can be represented cyclically. I conclude by showing how the interaction of metal and North Indian Classical techniques produces a unique representation of Mute the Saint's topic of longing and frustration in "Sound of Scars."