devil music

Shadows Fall
Marilyn Manson


My friend wanted to have a fully clothed woman crawl on hands and knees across a bar top. Slowly and seductively inching closer to the camera. A three second shot to be used in a four minute video. Nope. Can’t happen. At least not according to MTV. My friends name is Matt and he’s in a heavy metal band called Shadows Fall. They’re doing extremely well for themselves. Playing massive festivals in Europe. Performing on the main stage of Ozzfest this year. Their musical neighbors on that stage include Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. You might have heard of them. Shadows Fall’s newest record “The War Within” is being critically heralded with “redefining the face of heavy metal”. And not by some pimple-faced, eighteen year old zine writer. By Rolling Stone. By every guitar/drum magazine under the sun. Last I checked, their record sales were soaring around the 250,000 mark. So why no fully clothed woman crawling across a bar? Why in this day and age of hip-hop videos featuring woman in hardly any clothing, pouring champagne all over their chests in hot tubs, can MTV so demonstratively say no to this 3 second long idea? Well, I have a theory.


Heavy metal is devil music. There. That’s why. I know how simple and silly that sounds to those of you reading this. Whom I’m assuming are somewhat leftist-leaning, open minded folk and all. But really, let’s just think about how true this might actually be. Let’s really look.


It’s a long standing tradition. From the Medieval Period (1450 and before) through the latest documented case during the Romanticism Period (1810-1910) of traditional (more commonly referred to as “Classical”) music there were mandatory death sentences to be predicated upon any church organist who played a “tritone” during a service. A tritone is the root note of a scale played simultaneously with the sharped 4th of that same scale. Death sentence? Why? It was commonly referred to as the “devil’s tone”. So filled with dissonance and lack of resolve that it instilled panic amongst the common folk. If you want to know what one sounds like just listen to the first side of any Black Sabbath record. You’ll hear at least a hundred of them. Tony Iommi would have lasted two seconds in a church back then.


I don’t want to bore you to death with an undergraduate synopsis of the tritone. Point being that this heavy handed religious involvement with the arts (for this point of interest, music) has yet to cease. The pioneers of the delta blues scene in the early 1900’s? Evil. The first avant guard horn players in the 40’s? Satan. Ray Charles and his boundary-crossing sounds of gospel and soul, mixing sex and the church? The Devil. Elvis. Lucifer.


And on and on. In most recent history one can simply look back at the tragedy of Columbine. Marilyn Manson was pigeonholed as the martyr of all things terrifying. In some eyes he was the initiator of these tragic events. His over the top live shows and scandalous lyrics being used as fuel by every soccer mom protester. Manson, however, is a practicing Satanist. An intelligent, if not silly man who’s greater focus is shock as opposed to political sentiment or riotous action. This incident is all that the religious right needed to focus their attention back at censorship and purity. He was protested, in heavy militant form, at nearly every tour stop following that tragic day in Colorado. A Karl Rove-like strike at the heart of the FCC. Trying to get even more big headed and heavy fisted government into the smallest of holes. They were truly burning this man at the stake. Piling on and pillaging the first amendment in droves. In some twisted cases, holding this man responsible for the deaths of those boys. Granted, Manson is (or was) a practicing Satanist so there wasn’t much that the media would ever let him say. The only quote I find from him at that point is this:


"I have been asked to comment by numerous organizations on the Colorado school tragedy," Manson wrote. "It's tragic and disgusting any time young people's lives are taken in an act of senseless violence. My condolences go out to the students and their families."


But it didn’t matter. Shows were cancelled. CD’s were pulled from shelves. And the onslaught of picketing outside of the venues continued for the rest of his tour.


“ …Manson was the most prominent musical target Thursday. The New York Post ran a photo of Manson with a sidebar article headlined, "Telltale signs your kids might be ready to explode," along with photos of Hitler, three children in goth makeup and a man with multiple piercings in his face.”


From the same article that originally appeared in Addicted To Noise, a now defunct music website.


“Manson no longer embraces the goth imagery of the devilish persona he used while promoting 1996's Antichrist Superstar. For 1998's Mechanical Animals the artist took on the persona of a wild-dressing, red-haired glam rocker.”


Most should be able to see through this Marilyn Manson persona. Notice that it was more about imagery than calculated rebel rousing. Some might think that ended there. That the hectic and revenge-like attitudes have softened since this ridiculous indulgence. I mean, in one way I understand. When tragedy strikes one of the first reactions is to find an answer. To try and justify the act. To point fingers. Most times, aimlessly. It’s hard to be cohesive during such times, I suppose. However, it’s the trickle down that kills me. The endless, subtle leftovers that are more horrifying than the original strike. I guess its similarities to actual warfare are pretty clear. Just last year, guitarist Dimebag Darrell of the band Damage Plan was shot and killed during the first song of his bands set. Senseless. Tragic. The attack was made by a young man who was supposedly angered by the fact that Darrell’s previous band, Pantera, were no longer together. Not much to report on this sad kid. Obviously the case of someone suffering from some form of mental illness that helplessly spilled out. I talked to a dear friend who’s also in a hugely successful regional heavy metal band called Killswitch Engage. They were on tour when these tragic events unfolded. He noted that everyone on the tour was on edge. Thinking about their fragility and mortality. Feeling very unsafe and violated and obviously, deeply saddened by the loss of one of their colleagues. I watched a handful of hours of news coverage on the case that next day. From various network affiliates. Fox, CNN etc. And lo and behold, there it was. All of them, towards the end of their reports made mention, however so vaguely at times, to the “music of the devil”. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. You can do the homework yourself, Damage Plan and Pantera were no more involved with the church of Satan than Martha Stewart is. (Oh wait, maybe that’s not the best analogy. I have my suspicions about her). I would say a safe number of Satan-free metal bands hovers around the 99th percentile. Unbelievable, I thought. They’re going to dig this up again. Send the FCC into a spin and bring down the hammer on heavy metal. On the devil. How far reaching is the church? Could they change the face of the entertainment industry? Could they reshape our political structure? Could they sneak their ways back into the classroom? Could they elect an ape? Seems that the answer is a resounding yes.


Meanwhile, my good friend Al and his fiancée were shopping for clothes for his then 9 year old son. While perusing through the isles of some huge, nameless department store, looking for a Spiderman shirt or somesuchthing, he stumbled upon the undergarment isle. The sign read “Thongs. Ages 8-12. $5”.


So sex can now be sold to children. It’s now a passionless after effect of the ad industry. You can pour booze all over yourself in a thong in a video on MTV that’s shown at 4 in the afternoon on any Wednesday of the week. Believe me, I don’t want to censor that either. I believe that those decisions are truly up to the artists. But if we can mass market misogyny then why can’t my friend’s band have a fully clothed woman seductively crawl toward the camera for 3 seconds? Why? Is it really what I suspect? Can it be as simple as the ageless question of that which you don’t understand is what you fear most? Heavy metal music is just that. Music. Made by passionate people who are extremely skilled. Sometimes it’s filled with anger, isolation and sadness. It’s always loud and it’s always fast. However, it is never made with the intention to initiate some sort of mass destruction. It’s art. Made as short, powerful statements. How much further can this really go before things are drastically confined? Before this heavy hand chokes the life out of our freedoms? It’s a truly horrifying thought. One that would make great subject matter for, well, a metal song I suppose.


Killswitch Engage
Madjef video shoot