Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references.

Chapter one. Introduction, context and methods -- Chapter two. The old nationalism and masculinity: historical review -- Chapter three. Populism, nationalism and masculinity today: a review chapter -- Chapter four. Theories of leisure and music; and music, identity and place -- Chapter five. Iron Maiden: true stories of men at war -- Chapter six. Manowar: true metal warriors -- Chapter seven. Bathory and Viking metal -- Chapter eight. The Norwegians as 'authentic' Vikings: enslaved, Windir and Wardruna -- Chapter nine. Pagan metal in Eastern Europe -- Chapter ten. Finnish folk metal: raising drinking horns in mainstream metal -- Chapter eleven. English heritage black metal and the equivalents in Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire -- Chapter twelve. Challenging hegemony? Darkestrah, and Zeal & Ardor -- Chapter thirteen. Conclusions -- References -- Discography.

Metal is a form of popular music. Popular music is a form of leisure. In the modern age, popular music has become part of popular culture, a heavily contested collection of practices and industries that construct place, belonging and power. The arrival of Donald Trump in the White House has shown that angry white men still wield huge social and cultural power in this new century. The aim of this monograph is to explore metal music - might be seen as leisure spaces that resist the norms and values of the mainstream; but also how they might also serve to re-affirm and construct those norms and values. In particular, this book is interested in how forms of metal might work to re-imagine masculinity, race, nation and class in an intersectional way through the myth of warrior masculinity and blood and soil. This monograph explores the history of the myths, and the reaction by fans to the music. The focus is extended to bands that use the warrior-nation myth in places and countries beyond the global North, and in ways that challenge or subvert hegemony.

Print version record.