Scientists study the psychology of death metal

Psychology professor William Forde Thompson of Australia's Macquarie University and his colleagues have published a series of scientific papers about the appeal of death metal. The scientists were surprised to learn that death metal fans aren't particularly angry or violent people and actually in a happy place whilst head-banging to the likes of Morbid Angel (above) and Cannibal Corpse (below). The research reminds me of how my dad was always so surprised by my love for goth music even though I was a fairly happy teen. From Scientific American:

Its the paradox of enjoying a negative emotion that I was interested in, says Thompson, a professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Why are people interested in music that seems to induce a negative emotion, when in everyday life we tend to avoid situations that will induce a negative emotion? A number of studies have explored the emotional appeal of sad music, Thompson notes. But relatively little research has examined the emotional effects of listening to music that is downright violent.

Thompsons work has produced some intriguing insights. The biggest surprise? The ubiquitous stereotype of death metal fansfans of music that contains violent themes and explicitly violent lyrics[is] that they are angry people with violent tendencies, Thompson says. What we are finding is that they are not angry people. Theyre not enjoying anger when they listen to the music, but they are in fact experiencing a range of positive emotions...."

Chris Pervelis, a founding member and guitarist of the band Internal Bleeding (whose songs include Gutted Human Sacrifice [below] and The Pageantry of Savagery), is confident that the positive emotions he experiences when he plays and listens to Death Metal are the real thing.