death metal dunn

7/28/2019 Death Metal Dunn

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An anthropology whose objects are no longer conceived as automaticallyand naturally anchored in space will need to pay particular attention to theway spaces and places are made, imagined, contested, and enforced. (Guptaand Ferguson 1992,17-18)

IntroductionDeath metal is widely regarded as one of the most aggressive, technical, andvisceral forms of music. Characterized by guttural vocals, distorted anddown-tuned guitars, rapid double-bass drumming, and complex songstructures, death metal emerged in the mid-1980s as an extreme offshoot ofthe genre of heavy metal. Its lyrics and iconography (including group logosand album covers) typically depict themes of horror and gore, environmentaldestruction, political corruption, and social decay. Death metal bands,particularly Tampa, Florida's Cannibal Corpse, have sparked considerablecontroversy among political and religious groups and have been banned inseveral countries (Purcell2003, Kahn-Harris 2003, Christie 2003) .

"Scenes" have played a particularly important role in the developmentand evolution of death metal. Most notably, the two distant locations ofTampa, Florida and Gothenburg, Sweden have served as the most influentialscenes throughout the genre's twenty-year history. In 1983, Tampa becamethe birthplace of death metal when the group Mantas (which later changed itsname to Death) released its first demo cassette.This primitive recording wascirculated throughout the underground metal cassette tape trading circuit, andin turn spawned a number of bands from the Tampa area, most importantlyMorbid Angel, Obituary, and Deicide. By the early 1990s, death metal hadgained international popularity and new scenes began to emerge. Mostprominent among these were Stockholm and (especially)Gothenburg, Swedenwhere bands such as Entombed, Dismember, At The Gates, and In Flamescombined the aggressiveness of the "Tampa sound" with the melodic Europeanmetal of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and others. This particular style ofdeath metal, which has been labelled the "Gothenburg sound," typicallyfocuses less on themes of horror and gore and instead addresses societaland philosophical issues including media manipulation, political corruption,and hopelessness.


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Th e influence of the Tam pa and Gothen burg death m etal scenes is wellsuppo rted by fan discourse and metal wri ters (Mo ynihan and Ssderl ind1998; Popoff n.d.; Christie 200 3; Wasylyk 20 03; Ayers 20 02 ). When I wasgrowing up as an avid death metal fan an d musician in the 19 80s and1990s, the Tampa scene was widely regarded as the most vibrant andimportant in the genre. In this pre-Internet world, news about the Tampascene spread by word of mouth, tape trading, and small magazines andfanzines. Through similar mechanisms a nd an em erging online culture, theGothen burg scene flourished in the mid to late 1990s and its sound continuesto have an enormous influence on m etal bands in N orth America, Europe,and other parts of the globe. Yet there has been no examination of whydeath metal thrived in these two specific localities. How did these twoscenes become the mo st imp ortan t scenes in death m etal's twenty-year history?And w hat does the prominence of these tw o scenes sugges t abo ut therelationship between place and m etal?

This paper draws on fifteen years experience as a death metal fan andmusician in two metal scenes in C ana da (Victoria, British Columbia andTo ronto , On tario), an analysis of texts (p articularly musician discourse andbook s and articles on h eavy metal) an d theoretical research (especially JohnConnell and Chris Gibson's recent book, Sound Tracks: Popular Music,Identity an d Place). It critically investigates the development of the Tampaand Gothenburg death metal scenes and sounds and raises questions forfuture research on the relationship between music and place. It is not acomprehensive history of death metal1 or a detailed analysis of the wealthof theoretical literature on scene^.^ Instead it focuses on the co nstruction ofthe Tamp a an d G othenburg scenes an d sound s and the relationship of theseconcep ts to place. That these two scenes emerged in tw o d istinct geographicallocations has been a subject of debate among metal fans, musicians, andjournalists for many years. When asked why death metal emerged withinthese tw o d isparate locations, respo ndents (fans, musicians, writers, recordlabel representatives) usually provide one or more of the following simpleexplanations:

"It's in the water.""We have nothing else to do.""It's the weather: really hot, really cold."

O ne goal o f this paper is to move beyond these essentialist explanations andconsider the social, cultural, political, economic, and technological factorstha t have produ ced a nd sustained these two scenes. Building on the w ork ofanthropolog ists Akhil Gupta and James Ferguson, this paper pays "particular


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attention to the way spaces and places are made, imagined, contested, andenforced" (1992, 17-18). What are the motivations, desires, and intereststhat have built and maintained these two death metal scenes? Are certainmotivations, desires, and interests more influential than others in givingshape to-and supporting-these scenes? Further, how did these scenesbecome identified as sounds and what does this process say about howmusic is produced and consumed?

This paper is divided into three broad sections. First, I examine a selectbody of theory on scenes and sounds and suggest ways in which the examplesof the death metal scenes in Tampa and Gothenburg can contribute to thiswork. Second, drawing on key sources on heavy metal music and culture, Iprovide a very brief history of death metal and situate it within the broadergenre of heavy metal. Third, I pose questions about the connectionsbetween music and place and encourage researchers to examine the subtleyet powerful ways in which texts shape the formation of scenes and sounds.Scenes/Sounds: A Brief Overview"Scene" is a common concept used to explain the link between music andplace in local settings. In everyday talk, the term is usually used to describethe connection between a locality, a group of people, and a form or style ofmusic (e.g., "The Detroit Scene," "The Seattle Grunge Scene," "Bay AreaThrash Metal Scene," etc.). "Scene connotes a...flexible, loose kind of spacewithin which music is produced; a kind of 'context' for musical practice"(Harris 2000). For example, as Mark Olson (1998) describes in the paper"Everybody Loves Our Town; the indie rock scene in Chapel Hill, NorthCarolina (often referred to as "the next Seattle" by the music press) featuresa critical mass of young people who have aligned themselves with (andmigrated to) "where all the action is." The Chapel Hill scene is characterized byseveral bands exhibiting a particular style and sharing venues for performance,radio programs, and record labels. Scenes such as Chapel Hill also commonlyinvolve local "hang-outs; rehearsal or "jam" rooms, fanzines and magazines,music shops, and recording studios (Connell and Gibson 2003,101-102).

It is probably impossible to estimate the total number of local musicscenes across the globe. Any village, town, or city with any number ofmusic groups and artists-and people aligned and associated with thosegroups and artists-could be called a local scene. Indeed, as a heavy metalfan growing up in Victoria, Canada (population roughly 335,000) in the1980s, we had a small scene of local bands, venues, fanzines, and a radioshow. We went to shows, traded cassette tapes, played in bands together,and wrote letters to metal fans in North America, Europe, South America,and Japan. Despite this "small but dedicated metal scene" (Schreurs 2002)


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and our connections to fans in other local scenes through letter writing andtap e trading , ma ny of us felt outsid e of-or periph eral to-the ma jor hu bsof metal act ivity such as Toronto, Tam pa, an d even nearby Vancouver.How , then, do p articula r localities become recognized as influential scenesand , further, as sources of particular so unds while others become peripheral?

Scene may also be used in a broa der sense. According to Har ris (2 00 0, 14),scenes are also "decentralised, global and diffuse networks of producers andconsum ers" o f a particular (sub-) genre of music. "The Extreme M etal Scene,"for example, is a global music scene, but it also contains quasi-a uton om ouslocal scenes within it (H arris n.d.). Death m etal fans, musicians, and the m usicpress speak of a generalized, global de ath m etal scene tha t is not perceivedas rooted in any particular place (Purcell 2003), but rather described as anetwork and infrastructure for producing, distributing, and consuming deathmetal. In this paper, although I situate the Tampa and Gothenburg deathmetal scenes within a global social, cultural, economic, and technologicalcontext , I concen trate primarily on h ow they are produced, maintained ,and contested as globally recognized loca l scenes throu gh th e discourses offans, musicians, an d th e music press and h ow these scenes have been cred itedwith producing particular sounds.

Sound is another con cept adopted by the music press, music industry(record labels, mana gemen t c omp anies, booking ag ents, etc.), and researchersto capture- nd in some cases promo te -the relationship between particularstyles of music and a part icular local i ty. Connell and Gibson point out(200 3, 14 ) tha t "man y sites, or wider geographical regions in which musicalproduction and co nsum ption occur, become linked with particular so unds,styles or musical approaches (such as the 'Motown' sound, New Orleansjazz)." But beyond this theoretical work, there has been little critical attentionpaid to specific examples of ho w so unds are constructed and how soundsrelate to scenes (if at all). Sound is often assumed to be synonymous withscene. The "Tampa scene" and "Tampa sound," for example, are typicallyused interchangeably in music press and promotional materials. I wouldsuggest, however, that there is a conceptual move from scene to sound thatseems to denote a "dis-placing" of musical prod uction , con sum ption , an dexchange. That is, while one has to travel to G othe nbu rg to be par t of "its"scene you can access "its" sound throu gh (amon g other formats) recordings,live performances, and Internet radio. By listening to In Flames, for ex ample,wh o are arguably the most widely know n Gothenburg death metal band, thelistener instantly accesses the so und of Gothenb urg. Thr oug h this constructionof the Goth enb urg sound , the city becomes a "mythologized place in whichunique, locally-experienced social, economic and political circumstances aresomeh ow 'captured' within music" (C onnell and Gibson 2003, 14) . The


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term "Gothenburg sound" thus suggests tha t there is some natural, essentialconnection between the city of Gothenburg and a particular style of deathmetal (distorted guitars, guttu ral vocals, and double-bass drumming, bu t with"conventional" song structures, melodic and harm onizing guitars, and in somecases clean vocals). But how d o scenes become sou nds?A nd wh at elementsor discourses contribute to the construction of sound s and their prom otion ?

Before we begin to exp lore these questions in relation to th e death metalscenes/sounds of Tampa an d G othen burg , we will take a brief look at thehistory of death m etal and its place within the broader genre of heavy metal.Death Metal: Providing a ContextTampa an d BeyondThe end of the 1960s marked the closure of a cultural and musical era. In1970 , with th e break up of The Beatles and t he deaths of Jimi H endrix andJanis Joplin, a new period of scepticism replac ed the peace, love, and happine ssof the "hippie" generation. Heavy metal ban ds such as Black Sabbath, LedZeppelin, a nd Deep Purple emerged from large ur ban cen tres (mostly inEngland, particularly Birmingham and Lo nd on ) with a fast, sinister, blues-inf luenced sound. These groups played with some of the most highlycharged themes available in western culture such as the occult, sexualexcess, and substance abuse, which attracted condemnation from right andleft and was the subject of media and state-sponsored 'mo ral panics' (Miller1988; Richardson 1991 in H arris n .d.) . These pioneering group s attracted awide fan base in North America where, by the mid-1970s, KISS, AliceCooper , and A erosmith , among o thers , gave heavy meta l a more po p-influenced, theatrical flavour and brought it fully into mainstream markets.

In the 1980s, heavy metal fragmented in to multiple sub-genres. The mostinf luential among these, "The New Wave of Brit ish Heavy Metal"(N W OB HM ), represented a new m ovement toward s melody, high-soaringvocals, dual g uitar work , and increasingly complex song arrangements. IronMaiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead, and other NWOBHM bands set a newstanda rd for m usicianship, challenged the acceptable norms of lyrical content,and helped to crystallize wh at w ould become kno wn as "classic" heavy metal.Meanwhile, in Los Angeles and elsewhere, bands bent on excess, pop hooks,and glamour such as L.A.'s Van Halen, Australia's AC/DC, and Germany'sScorpions, were rising up the charts. These acts broa dene d the audience forheavy metal (primarily by attracting a largely untapped female fan base)an d for many fans stretched-or violated-the bo und arie s of the genre.3

In response to heavy metal's flirtations with p op sounds a nd styles, severaldistinct but related "underground" sub-genres emerged concurrently in theearly 1980s. Thras h, black, and d eath m etal were fuelled by dissatisfaction


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with the glamour, spandex, and pomp of lite metal. Thrash metal, basedprimarily in the San Francisco Bay Area, took the melody and complexityof the NWOBHM bands and combined it with the speed and "street attitude"of punk. Led by the "Big Four" of Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, andAnthrax thrash metal introduced new levels of speed and aggression andexplicitly dealt with issues of environmental destruction, atrocity, and injustice.Thrash metal was raw, primitive, visceral, and largely "underground.""Stage costumes and other showbiz trappings went out the door as 'bangerstucked their heads down and concentrated on the music" (Christie 2003,137).

The term "black metal" had begun to be used in the 1980s to refer toovertly Satanic bands that played extremely fast with trebly guitar sounds,simple riffs and song structures, and often minimal production. The termwas coined by England's Venom who, in 1982, released the definitivelytitled Black Metal. Venom's early recordings featured rudimentary - ttimes sloppy- usicianship with debaucherous and soft-pornographiclyrics. Although Venom used overtly Satanic iconography, the band laterconfessed that it was all for show.

Early black metal bands such as Venom and Sweden's Bathory had anenormous influence on a new crop of young bands (mostly from Scandinavia)seeking to push the limits of speed, extremity, and controversy. In the early1990s Norwegian bands such as Mayhem, Emperor, Darkthrone, Immortal,and Enslaved crystallized black metal as a distinct form of extreme metal.Adding orchestral passages and choral arrangements, Norwegian blackmetal music and iconography mimicked the cold, bleak environs of thenorth. Indeed, Quorthon Seth (of Bathory) found Scandinavia's relative culturalisolation to be a creative asset:

Had we been from New York, we would have gotten gigs and contracts andgotten caught up in trends. We didn't have those kind of pressures-so wewere able to add acoustic guitars and backing harmony vocals and the soundof a seagull flying by. Slayer would never get away with doing that, but wecould. (Christie2003,270)

However, Norwegian black metal is perhaps most widely known for abizarre string of church burnings in the early 1990s. Driven by contempt forChristianity and a desire to return Norway to a pagan, Viking past, severalmembers of the Norwegian black metal scene (centred primarily in Osloand Bergen) torched and desecrated dozens of historic wooden churches.These acts of arson-as well as a series of grisly murders and suicidesamong members of the scene-attracted international media attention andgarnered Norway the reputation as being the centre of "true" black metal.


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Since the early 1990s, black metal has spread throughout the globe withbands hailing from such diverse nations as Israel, Mexico, and Th a i l a ~ ~d . ~

Death metal emerged as a distinct style in the mid-1980s. The term wascoined in 1983 by members of Switzerland's Hellhammer (later CelticFrost) who started a fanzine called "Death Metal." In the same year, SanFrancisco's Possessed released their aptly titled debut demo of the samename, and two years later would release their debut full-length, SevenChurches. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Tampa, Florida wasthe first death metal "hotspot" and produced such bands as Death, MorbidAngel, Obituary, Cannibal Corpse and Malevolent Creation (who bothmigrated to Tampa from their native Buffalo), Deicide, and Monstrosity.While American thrash metal often featured social commentary (Metallica's"Master of Puppets," for example, dealt with themes of political deceit andthe futility of war), the early death metal bands from Tampa delved deepinto the grim and horrific. A sample of early death metal album titles fromthe Tampa scene demonstrates an indulgence in gore and the arcane:Death's Scream Bloody Gore, Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness, Obituary'sSlowly We Rot, and Cannibal Corpse's Eaten Back to Life. The bands fromthe Tampa scene successfully set the standard against which other deathmetal bands were judged throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The main magnet to the Tampa area was Morrisound Studios and producerScott Burns whose production and engineering work "played a crucial partin creating the 'clean: precise guitar sounds that dominated Death Metal inthat era" (Harris 2000). Bands from as far as Canada (Gorguts) and Brazil(Sepultura) ravelled to Florida to capitalize on the high-quality psoductionat Morrisound. As Christie comments, "life in Florida did not revolve aroundany significant social scene, but dozens of bands had their albums producedor engineered by Scott Burns and the staff at Tampa's Morrisound Studios"(2003, 242). Morrisound Studios was thus critical in establishing theTampa sound, which was widely copied by death metal bands elsewhere inthe United States and other countries.

By the 1990s, through tape trading and letter writing, the death metalsound had spread to many parts of the globe.5 New York's Immolation andSuffocation built on the Tampa sound by offering extremely deep vocals,churning "breakdowns," and anti-Christian themes, which would becometrademarks of the New York scene. In England, Napalm Death and Carcasstook the aggression and "brutality" of death metal and played it at blisteringspeeds, pioneering what became known as "grindcore." While NapalmDeath's lyrics focused on social issues and political corruption, Carcassdevoted itself to gore-centred themes using elaborate medical terminology.By the fourth full-length release Heartwork, however, Carcass had moved


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towards a slower, more melodic sound that effectively combined elementsof "traditional" North American death metal with the rhythms and leadwork of the "classic" European metal bands.Gothenbu rg an d the "New Wave of Swedish Death M etal"The melodic direction of European (mostly Swedish) death metal bands inthe 19 90s challenged the bo undaries of the genre for many m etal fans.Bands such as Entom bed, Dismember, At The Gates, and In Flames combined"brutality" and callous vocal styles with more conventional song structuresand clean vocal passages. Indeed, the complex guitar riffs and gutturalvocal style may be the only aspect of the "New Wave of Swedish DeathMetal" (NW OS DM ) that links it with the Tampa sound. Nonetheless, theNWODSM movement has stimulated new directions for metal over thepast ten years especially in Europe and the United States. According toheavy metal historian Joel McIver (20 03, 14),

Death metal can be divided into old and new schools: Eighties death followsthe guttural, barked template ...while the "new" death of the mid-to late-Nineties includes much more me lody in the guitars and often a clean vocalstyle. This development originated in Gothe nburg, Sw eden (becoming the"Gothenburg sound") and triggered the NW OSDM - he New W ave OfSwedish De ath M etal, a very much in-vogue style.

This newer, more accessible sound of the NW OSD M ha s dra wn manymainstream no n-metal fans into the depths of death metal. (Ch ristie 2003,251)

Gothenburg, Sweden is thus widely recognized by metal fans, the musicpress, and Internet guides as the "home" of melodic death metal (Popoffn.d.; All Music Guide 200 3; Ayers 2002; Christie 20 03 ). Even theWikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, an online general information source,recognizes Gothenburg as the centre of the melodic death metal movement(Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia 2 00 3) . Although several imp ortan tbands associated with this sound originate from Stockholm (namelyEntombed a nd Dismem ber), Gothenb urg has become labelled by fans, themusic press, and record labels as the "hom e" of this specific style. One reasonfor this labelling is that, similar to Tampa, Gothenburg is also the locationof an im portan t studio- tudio Fredman - nd principal producerlengi-neer, Fredrik Nordstrom. Like Scott Burns, Nordstrom is credited withshaping a particular sound through the production of key melodic deathmetal album s like At The Gates' Slaugh ter of the Soul, In Flames' JesterRace, and A rch Enemy's Wages of Sin. Although these album s vary greatlyin their production styles and Nordstrom has produced a wider range of


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metal bands (Dim mu Borgir, O peth , Spiritual Beggars), Studio Fredman hasserved as key factor in the developm ent of an identifiable Gothenb urg soun d.Why Tampa and Gothenburg?There have been hundreds if not thousands of local "face to face" scenesthat have produced heavy metal bands and generated local fan bases andfamines. It is likely that most cities in North America and Europe (and tosome extent S outh Am erica and A sia), especially during th e 1980s, haveha d som e kind of metal scene. However, there are very few local scenes th athave gained global attention from fans, journalists, and record labels and tha thave been credited with prod ucing a particular sou nd. In the late 196 0s an dearly 1970s, Black Sabb ath and Judas Priest appeared ou t of the Birmingham,England area creating the "classic" metal soun d. Later, in the early 198 0s,San Francisco was the home to the "Bay Area" thrash metal sound. Apartfrom these disparate examples of so-called "core" scenes/sounds (Harris2000, n.d.), heavy m etal bands have typically originated from (o r relocatedto) major centres of musical consump tion and production, prim arily London,Los Angeles, and Ne w York.

As discussed earlier, the presence of a successful recording studio hasbeen a critical factor in the development of the Tampa and Gothenburgscenes. M orrisou nd Studios and Studio Fredman have provided a space forthe development and nurturance of a particular sound t ha t has becomeassociated with a specific locality. In their global analysis of the relation shipbetween music, place, and identity Connell and Gibson (2003, 1 03) arguetha t "[ t lhe com binat ion of an unusual locat ion and a highly successfulrecording studio could stimulate a particular association between musicand place ...."But is the presence of these studios the only factor in thedevelopment of these two scenes?

One of the few analyses of the relationship between metal, place, andidentity is provided by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Ssderlind in theirbook L ords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic M etal U ndergroun d.In a thorough documentation of black metal music and culture in Europe,No rth Am erica, and the M iddle East the au thors attempt to understand theroots of black metal and ask why black metal developed in Norway. Theyprovide the following explanations (M oynihan and Ssderlind 199 8,39 -44):

1.Deep historical roots of Christianity (Protestantism,Evangelism) havecontributed to anti-Christian music and actions.2. Cultura l legacy of Norwegian folk tales (trolls, witches, forebodingforests) have influenced black metal groups.3. Cultura l censorship of violence and the macabre (e.g. censorship of horro r


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films) has co ntributed t o black metal's app etite for such imagery.4. Cultural distance from Eu rope might explain why black metal was carriedto its logical conclusion in Norway.

According to Moynihan and S~ de rl in d,hese developments in Norway havecom bined to create a fertile historical a nd cultural context for black m etalto flourish. Norwegian black metal ban ds have thu s explicitly dra wn o nhistory, place, and "Norwegian culture" in lyrics and iconography, andhave attempted to mimic the bleak northern landscape through thin, raspyguitar tones a nd atm ospheric keyboards. The following excerpt is from theNorwegian black metal band Immortal:

O n many ships we have sailedFar beyond the north wavesO n the high northern seasWe have found our wayTh e shadow ing voices of o ur godsSinging on the calling wind ...Where the cold waves and the longboats brought us farThe saga of the warriors from northlandSpeaks of greatness an d strengthThe saga of the warriors from northlandAre the saga of many g reat a man("Sons of Northern Darkness", Sons of Northern D arkness 2002.)

Using images of battle, Vikings, the sea, and the "north," Imm ortal constructsa masculinized past that draws heavily on the notion of place. Similarthemes can be found throug hout the catalogues of many Norwegian blackmetal bands6

This analysis provides an interesting po int of co mpa rison for the study ofthe dea th metal scenes in Tam pa an d G othenbu rg. Similar to Norway, bo thFlorida and Sweden have strong roots in Christ iani ty and may also beconsidered distant from the cul tural centres of Europe and the UnitedStates respectively. However, bands from these scenes have not drawnexplicitly on place or loc al/national history an d culture in their lyrics oriconography. The following lyric from th e song "Leprosy" by pioneeringdeath m etal band D eath provides an example of the social commentary-meets-gore themes that were popular among the Tampa death metal bandsin the late 1980s and early 1990s:


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The remainder of th is sec t ion a t tem pts to sho w the ways in which theTam pa and G othen burg dea th m e ta l s cenes have been cons t ruc ted by avariety of texts. These other sources demonstrate that the notions of theTampa an d G othenbu rg death metal scenes are highly contested concepts.There are clear tensions in the ways tha t the music press, musicians, andeven academics talk a nd w rite abo ut these scenes.Metal writers have at tempted to explain the prominence of the Tampascene by drawing on essential ist , environmental arguments. Ian Christ iesuggests that:

Maybe the boundless energy came from the water - as Ponce de Leonbelieved centuries earlier during his doom ed search for the Fountain ofYouth. In any case the climate was a torrid cauldron for musical agitation,an unholy prom ised land as far from the cool mist of grunge Seattle asgeographically and philosophically possible. (2003,242)

Christie clearly mythologizes the link between music a nd place. But he alsohints tha t there are social and c ultura l differences between Seattle an d Tam patha t may explain th e differences in the tw o cities' respective music scenes.Th e Tampa death m etal scene, Christie suggests, provided an a lternative tothe (m ostly) independ ent "al ternative" music movement tha t wa s hugelypopular in the United States during the early 1990s. "An unholy promisedland," Tam pa (an d more generally Florida an d the southern United States) mayhave served as a breeding ground for youth disillusioned and discontentedwith C hristian values and upbringing. Th is illustrates C onnell an d Gibson'sobservation that "[tlhe idea that a deterministic relationship between placean d culture exists-as musical styles an d sou nds emerge from different locations,and a s musicians relate to their environment-remains powerful" (200 3, 90-91). Given the historical presence of Christianity thr oug hou t Sweden an dthe southern United States, this suggests the need for further research intothe linkages between religion, place, a nd th e development of music scenes.

Death metal musicians from Tam pa a nd Gothenburg have contested thenotion that they operate within a local , cohesive, identif iable scene. Forexample , Jensen of the Gothenburg-based ba nd Th e Haun ted com mentsthat "some people call us death metal, some call us thrash and others evensay we sound Gothe nburg. We don ' t care what people ca l l us as long asthey think w e're goo d" (Perri 20 03 ). Similarly, Peter Wichers, guitarist withSoilwork (also from G othe nbu rg), resists the homogenizing effect of beingcategor ized as par t of the G othe nbu rg scene: "Yes , I t h ink the w ho leGothenburg th ing i s over-sa tura ted. I also think it 's over-exag gerated.There 's just too much coming from there. I think the label uses the term


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'Gothenburg Scene' for sales. If a band is from Sweden, they now getpigeonholed into the Go then bur g mold" (Perri n.d.). Wichers' comm entillustrates the effects of mythologizing place by record companies, whichuse place as a strategic tool to attract listeners and to sell product. The"place" of the Go then burg scene is mytho logized, roman ticized, exoticizedand as a result, "made." These examples bring to life Connell an d G ibson'sobservation that "[wlhile some within the music press, record companies,retailers and even local authorities may be keen to promote the growth ofpartic ular local 'sounds, ' performe rs may distance themselves from thekinds of unity, homogen eity and determ inism implicit in these representationsof local culture, and its inherent comm ercialism" (200 3, 100 ).

Wichers' c om men t in particular also points to the processes by whichlocal scenes become "dis-placed"; the processes by which co ncepts such asthe "Gothenburg scene" shed their rootedness in a specific place andinstead refer to a particular s oun d tha t is generated across multiple places.The next section addresses the relationship between the concepts of sceneand sound and raises questions for further research on the discourses thatproduc e and c ontest these concepts.Rethinking Scenes and Sounds

It is important t o note tha t despite the geographical labels applied toclassifications of Dea th Metal, th e classes are now based m ore o n musicalstyle, for styles that originated in particular areas spread far an d widethrougho ut the [United States]. (Purce ll2003, 16)

Throughout this discussion of the Tampa and Gothenburg death metalscenes, I have used the conc epts "scene" and "sound " interchangeably. Indeed,most po pular music research (a nd the texts it examines) tends to collapsethe two terms, and there have been no previous attempts to specificallytease-out the relationship between these concepts. But are scenes andsounds one an d the same ? Is the Tam paIGothenburg scene the same as theTampaIGothenburg sound ?

A close analysis of the Tam pa and Gothen burg death m etal scenes challengesthe com mon prac tice of using scene and soun d to describe similar pheno men a.Rather, in the case of death metal from Tampa and Gothenburg, the conceptof "scene" refers to the local contexts of music making and consumption(bands, gigs, studios etc.) and the concept of "sou nd" describes a comm onset of musical practices that are attributed to a particular locality throughtexts such as fan and m usician d iscourse, music press, an d record com panypromotional materials . For example, the Gothenburg sound refers to a


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group of artists (most, but not all, of whom originate from Sweden) whocombine a particular set of musical styles and technical practices; theseartists have adopted many of the same attributes of the earlier Tampasound (low, guttural vocals, downtuned guitars, rapid-fire drums) but haveadded melodic guitars, more conventional song structures, and, in somecases, clean vocals. Bands that are described as representing the Gothenburgsound originate from a wide variety of localities within Sweden- ncludingGothenburg, Stockholm and several smaller towns - nd more recentlyfrom the United States such as Darkest Hour (Washington D.C.), ShadowsFall (Massachusetts), and God Forbid (New Jersey). Thus, the Gothenburgsound delineates bands with a set of stylistic attributes and not necessarily ashared or common geographic space.

How then do sounds get constructed and promoted?An analysis of theTampa and Gothenburg death metal scenes would suggest that sounds getconstructed through the "representational power" of texts such as themusic press and record label websites (Bennett 2000,24). Using the conceptof sound as a device to "mythologize" and "exoticize" particular localities,these sources play an effective role in attracting fans and potential con-sumers. This process illustrates Connell and Gibson's argument that"[slpecific 'sounds' are also bound up in wider processes through whichplaces are mythologized: a fetishisation of localities" (2003, 110). Promotinga sound is thus a marketing strategy to endorse artists and sell products.The marker of a sound provides a convenient shorthand for a set of musicalcharacteristics to guide fans.ConclusionThis paper is part of a larger project to document the history of heavymetal music and c ~ l t u r e . ~eath metal constitutes one particular sub-genrelsubculture of heavy metal. The larger genre (or "metagenre") ofheavy metal consists of a vastly diverse and complex set of styles and practicesthat has been one of the most important - et relatively intellectuallyneglected- enres of music in contemporary times. This paper is thus asmall piece of a larger project to track the history of heavy metal that alsoincludes a documentation of its relationship to place.

In this paper I have sketched an approach to understanding the complexrelationship between scenes and sounds. While scenes generally refer to localcontexts (or nationallglobal networks) for music production, consumption,and exchange, sounds are linked to place through a process of mythologizingor, using Gupta and Ferguson's phrase, "imagining."While most deathmetal fans around the world may not have access to the Gothenburg scene(e.g., venues for performance, radio programs, local "hang-outs: rehearsal


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or "jam" rooms, music shops, and recording studios) they can access theGothenburg sound through recordings of artists (CDs, MP3s, DVDs) who mayor may not be ac t~d l l yrom Gothenburg. If we adopt Lawrence Grossberg'scharacterization of a scene as "usually defined less by a sound than by asocial style andlor set of social relationships and allegiances" (2002, SO),then we need better tools to analyze how and why sounds are constructed.My analysis suggests that sounds travel through recordings and the proliferationof artists who adopt elements of a sound, but who are not situated within a"core" local scene (e.g. the Gothenburg scene).

Using the examples of Tampa and Gothenburg death metal scenes andsounds, I have also argued that these concepts are constructed and contestedby a range of discourses, particularly those of musicians, record labels, andmusic press. Thus, popular music researchers are charged to criticallyaddress the multiple discourses that inform the construction of scenes andsounds, and the relative power and impact of these discourses. What is atstake in the production and contestation of scenes and sounds? My analysissuggests that the concepts of scene and sound do not originate purely at thelevel of the social or technological (e.g. through a critical mass of artistsfrom a particular locality or the presence of prominent recording studio).Rather, texts play a powerful role in seducing listeners to consume particularsounds. Listeners are not necessarily passive consumers in this process;indeed, death metal fans are highly knowledgeable and finicky about themusic (Purcell2003). But in the case of death metal, the concept of soundappears to say more about th e interests and motivations of the music pressand record labels than categorizations produced by fans of the genre. Thisdiscussion identifies the complex ways in which discourses shape theproduction, consumption, and exchange of popular music within andacross localities.


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1 Purce ll(200 3) provides detailed discussion of death metal history, lyrical content, and fan culture.2 There are several excellent sources on music scenes including Connell and G ibson (2003),

Harris (2000), Olson (1998), and Shank (1994).3 For full- length discussions of heavy metal m usic and culture see Walser (1993) and Weinstein (2000).4 Space does not allow for a thorough discussion of black metal music and culture.

See Moynihan and S~ der lin d 1998); Baddeley (1999); Beckwith (2002); Steinke (1996).5 Harris (2000 , n.d.) has written extensively on the global spread of death metal and its

manifestations in "peripheral" local scenes.My paper focuses on what Harris has called the"core" scenes of death metal.

6 For other specific examples, see Enslaved "Frost," Empero r "Anthems to the W elkin atDusk," and Dark throne "A Blaze in the Northern Sky."

7 See also Obituary "Slowly We Rot," Can nibal Corps e "Eaten Back to Life," andMorbid Angel "Altars of Madness."8 See also In Flames "The Jester Race," A rch Enem y "Wages of S in," and Soilwork

"A Predator's Portrait."9 This project, entitled "Metal: A Headbanger's History," is the first comprehensive, multimedia

history of heavy metal m usic and culture.Th e project includes a feature length documentary,DVD set, CD box set and book.

References

All Music Guide. 2003. "Scandinavian Metal,"http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=MISS7O3O5 192201& sql=C11954Ayers, Chris. 2002. "Metal Geography," http://m~.exclaim.ca~index.asp?layid=22&csid1=1066Baddeley, Gavin. 19 99. Lucifer Rising. London: Plexus.Beckwith, Karl. 2002. "Black M etal is for wh ite people," M C : A Journal of Media and Culture 5,no. 3, http://www.media-culture.org,au/0207/blachetal.html.Bennett, Andy. 2000. Popular M usic and Youth Culture: Music, Ideztity an dPl ace . Basingstoke,Hampshire: Palgrave.

Christie, Ian. 2003. Sound of the Beast: Th e Complete Headbanging History of Heavy MetalNew York: HarperCollins Publishers.Connell, John and Chris Gibson. 2003. Sound Tracks: Popular Music, Identity and Place.London: Routledge.


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Grossberg, Lawrence. 2002. "Reflections of a Disappo inted Popular Music Scholar,"Rock Over The Edge: Transformations in Popular Music C ulture. Eds. R. Beehe, D. Fulbrook, andB. Saunders. Durham: Duk e University Press, 25-59.Gupta, Akhil and James Ferguson. 1 992. "Beyond 'Culture': Space, Identity, and the Politics ofDifference," Cultural Anthropolo gy 7, no. l : 6-23.

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Global and Local within the Israeli Extreme Metal Scene," Unpublished paper.Kahn-Harris, Keith. 2003. "De ath Metal and the Limits of Musical Expression," Policing Pop. Eds.Martin Cloo nan and Reeb ee Garofalo. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 81-99.McIver, Joel. 2000. Extreme Metal. London: O mnibus Press.Miller, D. S. 1988. Youth, Popular M usic and Cultural Controversy:The Case ofHe avy Metal.Doctoral Thesis, Austin: University of Texas.Moyn ihan, Michael and Did rik Serderlind. 1 998. Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the SatanicMetal Underground. Venice, CA: Feral House.Olson, Mark J.V. 1998. "'Everybody Loves O ur Town': Scenes, Spatiality, Migrancy,"Mapping the Beat: Popular Music and Contemporary Theory. Eds. ThomasSwiss, John Sloop, and Andrew Herman. Malden MA:Blackwell Publishers, 269-290.Perri, David. 2003. "The Haunted,'' Brave Words and Bloody Knu ckles 75 (December), 6.

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PopoE, M artin. n.d. 20th C entury Rock and Roll -Hem y Metal. Burlington, ON:Collector's Guide Publishing.Purcell, Natalie J. 2003. Death M etal Music: The Passion and Politics of a SubcultureJefferson, NC: M cFarland & Company.Richardson, J. T. 1991 . "Satanism in th e C ourts: From Murder to H eavy Metal,"Satanism Scare. Eds. J. T. Richardsn, J. Best, and D. Bromley. New York: Aldine de GruyterSchreurs, Jason. 2002. "Loud and Proud,"ht tp: //www.mondaymag.com/monday/editor ia l/27~2002/a~s .h~.Shank, Bany. 1994.Dissonant Identifies: The Rock'n'R oll S cene in Austin, TexasHanover, NH: W esleyan University Press.Steinke, Darcey. 1996. "Satan's Cheerleaders," http://users.freenet.am/-mayhem 2/articlespin.htm.Walser, Robert. 1993. "Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness," He my Metal Music.Hanover, NH: W esleyan University Press.


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Wasylyk, Adam. 2003. "Diabolic - Supreme And Total Death,"http:llwww.unrestrainedmag.codstories9.html.Weinstein, Deena. 2000. Heavy Metal: The Music and Its Cu lture. Second Edition.New York: Da Capo Press.Wikipedia: The Free E ncyclopedia. 2003. Gothenburg. http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goteborg.

DiscographyAt The Gates. Slaughter of the Soul. Earache Records. Mosh 143CD, 1995.Death. Leprosy. Combat Records. 61-82481, 1988.Immortal.Sons of Northern Darkness. Nuclear Blast Records. 6612-2, 2002.

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