Metal: Misunderstood?

Dubai might not seem at first glance to be an obvious place to have a heavy metal gig, why? because Heavy Metal is often (misleadingly) associated with rebellion and is a 'dark' art, especially in a generally conservative Middle East. triplew.me looks at the genre, talks to visiting German band Hatred and highlights the fact that this opinion towards the genre isn’t a new phenomenon.

Now known generally as ‘metal’ and covering an array of fearful-sounding sub-genres such as black, thrash, grindcore and mathcore to name a few, the genre has a loyal, growing and generally youthful following (in this region), and is almost becoming a community in its own right.

triplew.me has been pleasantly surprised at the depth, quality and talent emerging from countries such as Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on the metal scene via the Makshoof Music competition.

Metal bands often have to lurk within their own sub-culture, performing limited shows (sometimes risking arrest) and always distrusting of authorities that might at any time stop a performance.

But if you think that's just confined to the Middle East, think again. Not two decades ago, bands that might seem ‘tame’ against a backdrop of current metal genres, think Iron Maiden and Motorhead (now considered mainstream), were perceived in a similar light in many ‘western’ cultures.

They were poster-boys of rebellion and distrusted by parents the world-over, a perfect blend to capture teen imaginations and sell millions of albums (back when we still bought albums!), just as The Rolling Stones were before them.

Is the environment today in the Middle East any different for metal fans?

Keen to put our question to the test, we thought we’d get an outsider’s view. Dubai recently played host to the Metal Asylum Festival, a day-long rock and ‘metal’ schedule of performances that showcased a range of genres and performers.

Amongst them were some guests from Germany, thrash metal stalwarts Hatred, who have performed in the Middle East on a number of occasions & who have  recently put out a new album ‘Destruction Manual’.We caught up with ‘Bacchus’, the frontman of the band, to get his take on the Middle East’s heavy metal scene.

When I put it to him that it seems like metal has a bigger loyalty than other genres perhaps because it is so misunderstood Bacchus agrees: “Here, it’s still something [seen as] dangerous, and that's why the clichés still work here,” Bacchus recalls “I’m 30 years old now, and started with metal when I was about 10,  I can remember wearing a metal shirt  walking through the town looking at me, ‘look at this dangerous guy!’ and I was 8-11 years old, now no-one’s interested,” adding “what is dangerous in a t-shirt? It’s just clothes!”

Bacchus emphasises this point by adding “20 years ago, it [metal] was revolutionary in Europe for the youth, [it was] against the government, religion against everything, they wanted to have something of their own, and have a little bit of rebellion,” adding that “the more they became accepted the more they had their own culture [metal] and people left it alone.”

We talk about the troubles that youth and metal fans (and promoters) have in the Middle East and Bacchus says “it’s almost like it’s a big misunderstanding,” furthering “we don’t want to destroy governments, we don’t want to bring down religion, just a little bit of freedom to listen to what you want and see a show.”

When I put it to him that no matter where the youth are they aren’t really that different, Bacchus agrees it’s just a matter of circumstance, “it’s youth, rebellion is a part of youth, but as they grow older they always calm down.”

It’s his last statement though that perhaps puts things into perspective “My job is as a social worker, there’s so many people in social worker jobs who are ‘metalheads’ [fans or musicians], people are generally socially-minded in metal – you need to look beyond the shirt and you’ll find a human who just wants to listen to metal.”

Hatred has a new album out, Destruction Manual, and is touring all over Europe this winter and for the summer festival season.