I was actually thinking of doing something with 5-6 different guitars,(including bass) each one recorded differently, with keyboards to round out what needs something extra. I have a four movement concept in mind, some of it already written, each movement references the rest but I haven't had all the details sorted out yet.

Hasn't this always been the case, in all music? This is why discussions about imagery/lyrics/politics/philosophy or sociological analysis of "the metalheads" seem trivial to me. The only things that matter in the end are the notes on the page or coming out of the speakers. If composition is what matters, then music analysis is of great benefit and things like politics or the crimes of the second-wave BM scene are unfortunate distractions.

So to answer the OP's question, I read academic works on classical/academic/art music frequently and find them useful more often than not. I don't see how this kind of analysis could be anything but good for any style of music. That said, non-musical analysis (i.e. writings from philosophical/sociological/etc perspectives) rarely interests me and I worry that it serves as a distraction from the music itself.

Conservationism complaining that heavy metal could objectified and turned into kitsch is years late. And even if it wasn't late: Shock! Horror! It is inevitable anyways! But it is amusing.

For the OP: Some people who listen to heavy metal and can write coherent sentences got old and in the last 15 years the respect by music journos/critics/academics has grown enormously. That's not to say it doesn't have stigmas, some deserved, but that this is increasing is no surprise to me. Look at all the adulation given to Jeff Hanneman after he drank himself to death. That was a dude in Slayer. Slayer!

Absolutely this is a good thing, every person is entitled to listen to and appreciate any genre of music, and it's always nice when it's not an article on Lady Gaga, Skillrex, LMFAO, etc....

I read an article in a newspaper recently about how heavy metal is the most similar genre of music to classical. Good read and an interview with a little-known musician from my country. If the academic who was also interviewed said something thinly-veiled to the effect of "metal is horrible noise with no purpose" etc. that article doesn't get written the way it does, no way in hell, the mainstream media loves a good story first and foremost. Academics can enjoy metal, this is art after all, but you certainly don't have to be an academic to enjoy the music.

Good publicity is...well... good. Some would argue any publicity is good publicity, I wouldn't go that far, but this trend is nothing to worry about OP.

Yes, to some degree. It's just much easier now. Just about anyone can make a death/black/grind record in their bedroom and have it sound like Sunlight Studios, Colin Richardson, etc. Thus there are a lot of imitators!

I just gonna paraphrase Fenriz here and say you like metal because you like metal, not folk music or classical.

I have to agree with that. It should never lose its "metal-ness." Although nu-core, tek-deth, metalcore, deathcore, jazzcore, etc. already have.

Right here, man!!!

I just got off of work, and I'm drinking a beer. Today I listened to some Nasty Savage, Savatage, and Liege Lord! Eighties is the way to go. I'll keep the professors' approval for my college assignments! Hahaha!!

Dude, jazzcore is just avant-jazz musicians fooling around with grindcore song structures, there's no "metal" to it, not does it really claim to be.

There are a number of metal bands playing lite jazz disguised as metal. Whatever they are, then.

EDIT: genre-wise. I don't mean personally, e.g. "hipsters" or "anal bathyscopes."

uspm is a higher form of art than most supposedly "erudite" music.
because riffs.
you know

If I want art, I'll look at a Dore picture. Metal is metal is metal.

nothing is more artful than headbanging to helstar