Win a Pentax Limited Lens: Raffle Now Live!

**luftfluss** · 07-12-2012, 07:30 PM

Quote:

An underground scene of bands in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East are finding new use for heavy music's blasphemous potential.

"Burn the Quran! Burn the ****ing Quran!" a woman screams hoarsely, over and over again. Tinny guitars course beneath her howls, sawing away at any semblance of melody. Sampled snippets of fundamentalist Islamic rhetoric filter through, and muffled voices exhort their unseen audience to praise Allah and to destroy the infidel.

To fans of heavy music, the hallmarks are immediately recognizable. This is raw, mid-tempo black metal, a lo-fi example of heavy metal's most evil subgenre. Black metal feeds upon hatred, nihilism, and anti-human behavior. Extremity is everything. It drinks the blood of Christ, turns upon its own, and takes almost carnal pleasure in the theory and imagery of war. The music from the early days of this scene conjured images of the ashes of burned churches and the dried blood of murder, and yet the genre, in its middle age, often doesn't shock the way it once did. The hellish noise of this particular song, though, does. There's something different about it. This is real.

The overall effect is chilling, which is, of course, exactly its creator's intent. Her name is Anahita, and she is the 28-years-old voice and vitriol behind Janaza, Iraq's very first female-fronted, black-metal band. Allow that notion—Iraq's very first female-fronted, black-metal band—to sink in for a moment. Her first recording, Burn the Pages of Quran, boasts five distorted, primitive tracks that altogether run just shy of an unlucky 13 minutes. She, along with a handful of other acts hailing from the Middle East, are repurposing black metal's historically anti-Christian ferocity to rail against Islam. In doing so, these bands are serving up another example of how art and dissent can intersect in a region where dissent can sometimes have deadly consequences.

When Black Metal's Anti-Religious Message Gets Turned on Islam - Kim Kelly - The Atlantic

Ratmagiclady · 07-13-2012, 06:55 PM

Well, hardly shocking that *that* kind of thing might come about, even in as repressive a society as that. Pissed-off kids do that black metal thing over far less: I'm sure the areligious authoritarians will spin it as actually the 'evil' they claim to be fighting, whine that it's 'anti-religion' to get angry about the abuses, surely blame the people a lot of the imagery's clipped from, (Pagans and Heathens don't appreciate our Gods being treated as 'evil' figures in that music, *either,* but the people that music may have in ming to express anger against are all too willing to claim that that's actually what the kids *mean* when they're really, as the article describes, angry at the *dominant* system where they are....

And who can blame this gal for *that,* ...extremists murdered her parents, and it seems to me people are more ready to be shocked about *her,* or women being equal citizens in these would-be-theocracies throughout the world, than the hate preaching and even people *acting* on it.

Don't think too much of black metal, myself. Better could be done.

But it's funny how people think it's 'anti -my religion' if their own kids get pissed off enough to crank an amp.

**luftfluss** · 07-13-2012, 07:46 PM

Originally posted by Ratmagiclady

Don't think too much of black metal, myself. Better could be done.

IMO, that's the crux of the matter right there. There's a debate over at a music forum I visit as to whether or not her actions are actually useful for initiating change... she's certainly courageous, but dead ain't helping anything.

Ratmagiclady · 07-13-2012, 08:44 PM

Originally posted by luftfluss

IMO, that's the crux of the matter right there. There's a debate over at a music forum I visit as to whether or not her actions are actually useful for initiating change... she's certainly courageous, but dead ain't helping anything.

Wel, it's monotheists, they all have a martyr thing going on. Funny how they can blow the crap out of each other for decades then complain of 'evil' if anyone sings it.

Besides, if Pagans *really* wanna scare you about what you've been up to in the old Euphrates valley.... It might be more like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo4XYwG24cM

Kids can turn crosses and pents and Korans upside down all they want, .....doesn't mean what all these people are fighting about actually ever figured in the first place. (That's the screaming, wailing, hair-tearing tragedy of it, really.)

Can hardly blame em for venting, though. We're looking at long-term mismanagement here.

Last edited by Ratmagiclady; 07-13-2012 at 09:03 PM.

07-12-2012, 07:30 PM	#1
luftfluss Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: NJ Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 11,629	When Black Metal's Anti-Religious Message Gets Turned on Islam Quote: An underground scene of bands in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East are finding new use for heavy music's blasphemous potential. "Burn the Quran! Burn the ***ing Quran!" a woman screams hoarsely, over and over again. Tinny guitars course beneath her howls, sawing away at any semblance of melody. Sampled snippets of fundamentalist Islamic rhetoric filter through, and muffled voices exhort their unseen audience to praise Allah and to destroy the infidel. To fans of heavy music, the hallmarks are immediately recognizable. This is raw, mid-tempo black metal, a lo-fi example of heavy metal's most evil subgenre. Black metal feeds upon hatred, nihilism, and anti-human behavior. Extremity is everything. It drinks the blood of Christ, turns upon its own, and takes almost carnal pleasure in the theory and imagery of war. The music from the early days of this scene conjured images of the ashes of burned churches and the dried blood of murder, and yet the genre, in its middle age, often doesn't shock the way it once did. The hellish noise of this particular song, though, does. There's something different about it. This is real. The overall effect is chilling, which is, of course, exactly its creator's intent. Her name is Anahita, and she is the 28-years-old voice and vitriol behind Janaza, Iraq's very first female-fronted, black-metal band. Allow that notion—Iraq's very first female-fronted, black-metal band—to sink in for a moment. Her first recording, Burn the Pages of Quran*, boasts five distorted, primitive tracks that altogether run just shy of an unlucky 13 minutes. She, along with a handful of other acts hailing from the Middle East, are repurposing black metal's historically anti-Christian ferocity to rail against Islam. In doing so, these bands are serving up another example of how art and dissent can intersect in a region where dissent can sometimes have deadly consequences. When Black Metal's Anti-Religious Message Gets Turned on Islam - Kim Kelly - The Atlantic

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
What's your religious affiliation?	deadwolfbones	General Talk	195	12-14-2012 08:49 AM
Religious Sites are Worst for Malware	boriscleto	General Talk	4	05-01-2012 04:07 PM
Suggestion Political & Religious sub-forum	boriscleto	Site Suggestions and Help	17	02-28-2012 10:27 PM
43mm Limited Black Metal Lens Cap	drolph	Ask B&H Photo!	4	08-23-2011 10:01 AM
Photographs from a Black Metal concert on Sunday	Nixarma	Post Your Photos!	12	05-24-2007 10:13 AM

07-13-2012, 06:55 PM	#2
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	Well, hardly shocking that that kind of thing might come about, even in as repressive a society as that. Pissed-off kids do that black metal thing over far less: I'm sure the areligious authoritarians will spin it as actually the 'evil' they claim to be fighting, whine that it's 'anti-religion' to get angry about the abuses, surely blame the people a lot of the imagery's clipped from, (Pagans and Heathens don't appreciate our Gods being treated as 'evil' figures in that music, either, but the people that music may have in ming to express anger against are all too willing to claim that that's actually what the kids mean when they're really, as the article describes, angry at the dominant system where they are.... And who can blame this gal for that, ...extremists murdered her parents, and it seems to me people are more ready to be shocked about her, or women being equal citizens in these would-be-theocracies throughout the world, than the hate preaching and even people acting on it. Don't think too much of black metal, myself. Better could be done. But it's funny how people think it's 'anti -my religion' if their own kids get pissed off enough to crank an amp.

07-13-2012, 07:46 PM	#3
luftfluss Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: NJ Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 11,629 Original Poster	Originally posted by Ratmagiclady Don't think too much of black metal, myself. Better could be done. IMO, that's the crux of the matter right there. There's a debate over at a music forum I visit as to whether or not her actions are actually useful for initiating change... she's certainly courageous, but dead ain't helping anything.

07-13-2012, 08:44 PM	#4
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	Originally posted by luftfluss IMO, that's the crux of the matter right there. There's a debate over at a music forum I visit as to whether or not her actions are actually useful for initiating change... she's certainly courageous, but dead ain't helping anything. Wel, it's monotheists, they all have a martyr thing going on. Funny how they can blow the crap out of each other for decades then complain of 'evil' if anyone sings it. Besides, if Pagans really wanna scare you about what you've been up to in the old Euphrates valley.... It might be more like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo4XYwG24cM Kids can turn crosses and pents and Korans upside down all they want, .....doesn't mean what all these people are fighting about actually ever figured in the first place. (That's the screaming, wailing, hair-tearing tragedy of it, really.) Can hardly blame em for venting, though. We're looking at long-term mismanagement here. Last edited by Ratmagiclady; 07-13-2012 at 09:03 PM.