Like: Sci-fi, some fantasy, Philosophy, Political statments I agree with, Rebellion, Fighting, Revolution, Epic apocalyptic stuff, lyrics I can't understand but sound good, history, mythology, probably more.

Dislike: Satanism, Gore, Racism, Poorly written or cheesy lyrics. Lyrics about "thrashing" or "posers" (I like thrash bands but this is a personal pet peeve, creative lyrics are good).

Oh man, this truly made my morning. Bursted out laughing, spraying coffee to to laptop.

You have a point you know, it doesn't have to violent. Maybe they should update that song's title to something more pc, to really get their gentle message across. Making knife-assisted love, perhaps?

EDIT: And just as a reminder, the lyrics in question. Totally un-misogynistic story about a young man waiting to eagerly to be with his sweetheart.

No escape from your fate
Destined to be mine
Every night I wait to see
In the night, watching
Stalking your every move
I know when you're alone
All alone
Tied tight to the bed
legs spread open
Bruised flesh, lacerations
Skin stained with blood
I'm the only one you love
I feel her heart beating
My knife deep inside
Her crotch is bleeding
She liked the way it felt inside her
Fucking her, harder, harder
She liked the way it felt inside her
Fucking her, harder, harder
Stick it in
Rip the skin
Carve and twist
Torn flesh
From behind
I cut her crotch
In her ass
I stuck my cock
Killing as I cum

I'm not a particular fan of Impaled Nazarene, but I always thought their list of Lyrical Themes on the Archives is the best thing ever: Satanism, Goats, Nuclear Warfare, and Sex. That's pretty goddamn metal right there.

Imp Naz is pretty sick, indeed

Anything that takes itself too seriously generally sucks. There are few metal musicians who can write something serious worth reading (and a lot of those that can wouldn't waste that on metal lyrics), but goofy satanism/beer jokes/absurd violence can make something more fun to listen to.

Case in point (using satanic lyrics as a point of reference). Good lyrics (Chapel - Satan's Rock 'n' Roll):



Bad lyrics (Deathspell Omega - Sola Fide I):

^ no accounting for taste then haha. First one is quasi retarded. Guess I like serious things - I'm really not into overtly humorous lyrics. I like a lot of Orthodox satanic lyrics though. Similarly, I enjoy the twisted inverse gnosticism of various "anti-cosmic" bands. Also strident nihilism/destructive lyrics a la Puissance, Niden Div.187 etc, "death worship" lyrics.

I really have grown to hate "brrr, it's so cold, look at the forest and trees" nature lyrics, as well as "cultural" pagan lyrics extolling the virtue of whatever backwoods eastern european hillbillies wrote them. As I get older I become more and more dead-set in my conviction that Black/Death metal is the manifestation of Satan through death and destruction, and consequently the aura of urban decay, spite, bitterness and hatred strikes more of a chord with me than any amount of national-romantic sentiment.

Really sounds like I'm a "barrel of laughs" eh. But I'm not a stereotypically dour BM try-hard at all. I just have strong opinions about this. I like metal to be ugly and not about beautiful/uplifting subjects.

Dislikes: Most Brutal Death Metal lyrics annoy me. I don't like songs about rape. Just don't find it entertaining, and it's been done WAY too much anyway. Gore bores me to tears.

Also, any vegan shit. Deny your true nature all you want, but I'm not seeking dietary advice from a bunch of yellowed hippies with bad teeth.

Likes: Anything written by Dio usually puts a smile on my face. Also, I prefer my satanism Mercyful Fate style as opposed to Watain style, although either is fine. Political lyrics (by their nature usually stupid extreme on either side of the left/right fence) make me laugh for some reason. Always enjoyable to hear some metal dude trying to be a poli-sci professor.

yes, yes. I like your taste.

I don't really mind lyrics about anything as long as they're good, or rather, non-stupid...

What I don't like is when bands use their music to push their ideology and unacceptable ideas such as religion, racism, misogyny...etc...

Wait, so how do you feel about anti-religious lyrics, or lyrics against racism or misogyny? Is that not "pushing their ideology" on you?

I strongly dislike partying lyrics. Doesn't matter what kind - alcohol, drugs or alike. The same goes for gore. It doesn't matter if its well written, I still can't bring myself to enjoy these kind of lyrics. I also dislike lyrics dealing with a musicians hobbies. The best example is how Dave Mustaine has written a few songs about car racing. Just doesnt work for me.

I think fiction can work at times but I really dont appreciate all the J.R.R. tolkien stuff alot of melodic metal bands do. a part of it might be that I have a hard time to appreciate his writings from the very beginning.


I do however like philosophical and deeper lyrics. This goes for several different subject matters - personal feelings, religion, mythology, history, politics etc. If the lyrics are well written and work well within the song I can appreciate them even if I do not agree with what is being sung. Therefore I have no problem with well thought out political lyrics no matter which side they might come from. However, if I tend to agree with the lyricist they do of course become more enjoyable.

I hate lyrics that are light-hearted, happy and shit. It goes all like "lets fuckin' party till the dawn" and is pisses me off beyond belief. I want my metal to make a point, and these party lyrics are no different than pop and rap lyrics. Fuck bitches, get money, amirite? Aside from this topic, most metal lyrics are mediocre at best. The pseudo intellectual ones are just pathetic, but well at least they try. I dont really care about lyrics unless they are REALLY good, like Lord Worm lyrics. There is sick, evil vibe from them that isn't just forced in there, but feel like written by someone actually mentally sick, they are very convincing. Just look at it:

Likes: Norse themes..other medieval history type themes..war..any and all psychedelic stuff that goes with that music.

Dislikes: for the most part gore..overly esocteric pseudo-intellectual drivel..satanism..and 'anti'- anything be it politics or religion.

Always some exceptions of course but that covers about what i look for if the music goes appropriately along with those subjects.

No need to be that patronizing, man. I'm just asking. My english is poor, so I'll try my best to explain:
I'm studying to be a lawyer, and right now I'm working on a paper on free-speech, and this is one of the topics that often comes up: "this lyric/videogame/movie is harmful? should the law protect it?"
You need to see the context. These lyrics are written by a stoned high-school dude and perfomed by the most inofensive and chilled out dudes out there (if you saw the CC dvd you'll know what I mean).
The same thing happens with Angel of Death, the Slayer song. It's nazi? It's celebrating the holocaust? Well, if you read it and don't take the context, well, then yes, it is. I mean, "Forced in like cattle you run, stripped of your life's worth", fuck, then yes, it's nazi, and yes, it's celebrating the holocaust. But come on, I don't believe that Lombardo, Araya, King and Hanneman are a bunch of anti-semitic nazis.

I'm sure that there is true misogyny and true fascism and racism out there... but there's none in Cannibal Corpse, or in Slayer. These lyrics can't be truly harmful in anyway. It's just for the shocking image. Assuming that would open a can of fucking dinosaurs.

Anything that gets too preachy politically or religious ticks me off. I don't mind descriptive lyrics from a certain point of view (like urban decay, war, greed etc.) but there is a line to were it sound like you're trying to convert people. I come to metal to get away from that bullshit, not get reminded of it. That's really it, I don't really care if it sounds cool/can't understand it.

Only a jew would read the Slayer lyric about the Holocaust. They're too worried about people talking similar topics to turn the page.

Also, I don't see the problem on people celebrating the holocaust thing on metal lyrics. Its a quite fitting issue on extreme metal. Its not like those artists are killing jews today. People like to sing about vikings taking shores and raping people or the gore lyrics that are pretty much common, so what's the problem with massive killing? Cause they are jews its forbidden but for mere christians to die is ok?

Couldn't agree with you more on that. I always find that I gravitate more to the occult themed bands, regardless of genre (I'm lumping the Orthodox black metal stuff in with that). Occult themed lyrics certainly aren't the main thing I look for in a band, but it certainly predisposes me to like a band a bit more than I perhaps would if they had lyrics about other subject matter. Twisted/insane/genuinely unsettling lyrics can be enjoyable for me as well, but it's all about context and how they fit with the overall sound of the band. The lyrics on Khanate's self titled are a good example of this done right. I'm also fond of medieval type themes, but only if they're written well and suit the music.

It's often a much more effective way to evoke emotions/imagery by leaving some things open to interpretation, than it is to be overly direct. I'm not generally a fan of lyrics that deal with: politics, gore, stereotypically 'emo' themes ("No one loves me wahhhhh" type stuff), relationships (too often coupled with the 'emo' stuff), drinking, drugs, pro christianity (to the point I really can't stand to listen to most christian bands),etc. That said, I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find lyrics I like in each of those categories. It's not what you say, it's how you say it applies really strongly for me regarding lyrics.

The whole "Hail Satan, fuck Christianity" theme has been done to death and there is hardly anything about those lyrical themes that I could ever find interesting. Most of the time its so banal and and done in such a stupid manner that it's downright embarrassing. As others have said, the whole gore thing is overdone and boring. I'm sure it was pushing the envelope and seemed more "dangerous" back when bands first started doing it, but like the "hail Satan/fuck Christianity" schtick, it has become jaded and uninteresting.

The whole pseudo intellectual thing can be interesting from time to time, but often times it comes off as being extremely pretentious rather than deep.

Social/political commentary can be very good lyrical content if the person writing the lyrics actually puts some thought into it, instead of using predictable cliches and doesn't become preachy.

One lyrical theme that will never be boring to me is history.

yay or nay?

That's a valid point (I'd argue one of the differences is in the "too soon" aspect, among others), however:


This isn't. Please don't do that.

That was kinda my point. It's not like Barnes or Webster go out in women-beating rampages or anything.

For the record, I'm not jew

Morrigan: point taken.

Thing is that I dont think "art" should be censored unless the exposure directly inflict a measurable damage, like killing or beating the shit out of someone cause your own work as an artist compells you to do so - like Barnes fucking a girl with a knife.

Exactly. We're on the same page.

Another example would be Sonata's Don't Say a Word, IIRC, it is about some dude who kills his girlfriend because she cheated on him, or something, the chorus goes like "open your blue eyes, tell me that you love me, whore"
Kakko actually doing that is "damage" singing about that, eh, it's just his artistic persona, if you will

Good: Genuinely angry/sorrowful/hateful/joyful lyrics, lyrics that make it obvious that the writer feels passionate about whatever the lyrical subject is.

Bad: Political, satanic, pseudo-philosophic, occult, hedonistic, Lovecraftian, Tolkienesque, or Norse Mythology-referencing lyrics that are obviously there just because the author feels that their audience expects metal lyrics to be about those subjects. Certain genres are worse about particular topics than others (black metal with pseudo-philosophy and Norse Mythology, thrash metal and grindcore with politics and hedonism, death metal with Lovecraft, and power metal with Tolkien, to name a few glaring examples).

Also, I sometimes enjoy it when bands do positive and happy lyrics like Helloween or Edguy.

That's a dumb idea. Why single out a single denomination instead of targeting the faith as a whole? Lyrics that say something like "Methodists can go fuck themselves" would be fucking retarded.

I was thinking more along the lines of making the lyrics more interesting than "methodists can fuck themselves." More like attacking particular points made by particular denominations in a very philosophical manner.

It might very well end up sounding "stupid" if it was done, but no more stupid than a lot of the other metal lyrics out there.

At the very least it would be DIFFERENT instead of the same old christian bashing over and over again.

That sounds dangerously close to something like "we shouldn't censor it until someone gets killed", but I understand the point you make about "measurable" damage. It's a touchy subject: where to draw the line - if we are to draw one at all.

Considering art will always be influenced and an influence of/to its social environment this is not something we should take lightly. If some band wants to write a song glorifying and/or promoting an act that would be harmful to its listener and his/her surroundings (say, murder or hateful discrimination) they are free to do so, but shouldn't be condoned of its consequences. The problem, freedom of speech and all, is how would they be made to pay for it, as fines or jail only attack symptoms of the true underlying problem: somehow, we have people promoting hateful or harmful messages and people who are too easy to influence and defend the message those lyrics have.

This is a problem inherent to society that we might not ever be able to fully resolve, but I just think that its a bit sad that at least in this little chunk of it called metal negative escapism and violence is somehow better than social issues and positivity. I mean, I like melancholic and "depressive" music (death/doom, gothic, etc.) as it helps me cope with bad moments and can inspire introspection and appreciation for things in life that maybe otherwise I wouldn't. And I also understand violent lyrics and music can feel like a rush of energy and actually boost your mood. All these things have their place and can be done well, with a bit effort. But the quantity of mediocre antisocial/gore/demons/hate themed metal bands have is a bit worrying in my opinion.

At least most of what I've read of this thread makes me think I might be just worrying too much
Or just rationalizing my disdain for those pseudo-misanthropic, pseudo-satanist, power metal haters.

The problem with 'targeting the faith as a whole' is (a) that Christianity is extremely diverse, and lyricists do not necessarily understand this (Slayer's "Jesus Saves" comes to mind again) and (b) lyricists sometimes have a really pooor understanding of the tenets of Christianity, so their 'attacks' can be laughably incompetent or bizarre (Deicide). More thoroughness would be good.

I usually avoid gore, humor and irony, partying, cheese and "metal brotherhood" lyrics. Which means I'm fucked because I quite enjoy old school Manowar.

But I don't think it's the most important thing. Here are things lyricists should focus on:

1. The whole thing must fit.

Doesn't matter what you wrote if it's not sang with conviction. The vocal melody should also compliment your text and the music support what's being said. It's very simple to explain like that but it's an art in itself to nail this and definitely the most important thing.

2. You have to feel it

I think the big mistake some people make is to try and fit into genre stereotypes. Maybe you're very much into early thrash or satanic black metal. But if your whole life revolves around pounding bar sluts, drinking Budweiser and making sure your muscle car shines, it might be a good idea not to try to write political lyrics or talk about a love for Satan which is entirely fictional. Your lyrics should fit with who you are. Don't try mock-up spiritual lyrics if you're not spiritual. Don't write tough-guy groove metal stuff if you're the school nerd who gets beaten and so on. If the whole band is INTO what's being sang, the bonus is you've got a higher chance to achieve point number 1 as well. Base it on your experiences and your identity.

3. Formulation

It's not just *what* you write about. It's *how* you write it. You can do great anti-christian lyrics just like you could do great pro-christian lyrics or agnostic lyrics. You can also do bad ones. I think a lot of lyrics feel like first drafts. Sometimes your lyrics might be too literal, other times it's the other way around and it's just meaningless poetry. I don't care if I don't agree with what you write about or if it's not my favorite topic. I don't enjoy preachy stuff. Your message can send a message without being a message.

With that being said, I can enjoy a good metal song, even if the lyrics are bad. But it does hinder my capacity to enjoy. Manowar's Holy War is very much like that for me. Amazing song, stupefyingly retarded lyrics that really detract from the experience.

I'm generally okay with gore lyrics-- I find them a bit overused and boring, but they're not a deal-breaker. Misogyny and rape is a lot less acceptable to me-- not only are they also significantly overused in the realms of brutal death metal, slam, and especially deathcore, but frankly, whereas some gore lyrics I might find interesting, the typical 'fucking and dismembering a slut' misogynistic rape lyrics just irritate me and I don't find them remotely interesting. And half the time they just sound like the musings of a sexually frustrated eighth grader writing shit in his math notebook about how he 'pounds sluts with my huge cock' because he can't get laid. Also, anything titled '[Metal, Iron, Whatever] Bitch'.

I'd say generally with regards to lyrics, I prefer those that deal with more of a psychological matter, or those of a philosophical bent.

Don't care about what the lyrics say, just care how they sound. Vocals are just another instrument to me in metal.

o.k. let me rephrase that - I don't like it when bands use their music to push unacceptable ideas and ideologies such as religion, racism, misogyny...(unacceptable to me, that is)

I suppose the reason why I prefer tongue-in-cheek lyrics is that the vast majority of lyrics which aren't so simply come across as dumb, especially considering lyrics are barely the best medium to put across a serious message, and when lyrics are about horror fiction etc it comes across as trying too hard to write something 'serious' but still be metal. In addition, there's a serious dearth of classic horror fiction compared to other genres and there's only so much Lovecraft, Poe and the like that one can tolerate before it becomes just as cliche as satanism.

The problem with that is that you can talk everything you want but it's the listener who take the decision of making the message its own. I mean, it's music; it's not like the musicians themselves force people believing in Satan or compells people going to their houses to rape women and dismember them or kill christians or jews. There's so much shit going around in everything (tv, radio, literature, internet, etc) to blame it for the weakness of vileness of people who channels their own evil and/or their lack of personality thru a band's lyric.

One of my fav bands is Arghoslent. I think their lyrics are well written despite the subject they portay but I don't go on the street trashing blackmen for that, just like I don't rape women with a knife when I listen CC. One of my bandmates is black and he fucking loves Arghoslent; he even laughs a lot singing along the songs, like the 'On sweating backs of nigger slaves' line on 'Quelling the Simian Surge'.

If people seriously think lyrics are a huge influence on the behavior of their listeners, especially in terms of crimes, then the 99% of metal musicians should be in jail, as well as every rapper on the world who promotes killing your foes or fucking women like they are toys for us and, damn, many rock bands and so on.

Wait a second here, so you are actually a METAL HEAD but you DON'T believe in freedom of speech and are for censorship?!?!

Not only should we "not censor something unless someone gets killed"....we should DEFINITELY not censor something no matter HOW many people get killed and we feel like blaming the music or entertainment on it.

I am COMPLETELY anti censorship and the point is that NO BODY but the person who commits a violent crime is responsible for it.

If a person listens to metal with gory lyrics, or for that matter watches a gory movie, and then commits a violent act, then that person is simply fucked up plain and simple and they were probably going to do it anyway.

People who don't have SERIOUS issues are not influenced by music, video games, movies or any other kind of entertainment to commit violent acts.

A band should be allowed, and is allowed in the United States and probably most parts of the world at least, to write about committing the most horrible of atrocities and say racist and misogynist things without being arrested.

Man....so many bands would be in prison if this kind of thing was illegal.

If you want to look at the influences that make people commit crimes you should much sooner look at the parents or caregivers of a criminal and how he grew up, his environment, who he associated with, etc etc, and even then, nobody but the person who commits the crime is responsible.

No body and nothing else that may have influenced him to commit a crime can be responsible unless they actually FORCED him to do it.

Fuck censorship and long live freedom of speech.

LIKES:

-Philosophy

-Legends. Norse mythology never, ever gets old. Slavic and Greek stuff is great, too, as are more recent legendary works like Tolkien's fiction.

-Warfare, though this can get cheesy fast.

-History... provided it's done artistically. History is my favorite subject, but listing off a sequence of events and dates like Iced Earth did in The Glorious Burden just doesn't work well.

-Gothic themes like cathedrals, darkness, werewolves, and Lovecraftian imagery.

-Nature, but only in atmospheric, soothing bands like WittR and Altar of Plagues


DISLIKES:

-Anti-Religious. Satanism is fine, though.

-Nihilism, because I just disagree with it.

-Gore is just dull. It's kind of amusing at first, but it gets tedious after less than an album of that nonsense. If I want gore, I watch a slasher flick.


Overall, my favorite lyrics come from bands like Ulver, Burzum, and Summoning.

Here's my take on this whole freedom of speech thing. You are totally allowed to go ahead and write lyrics that directly or indirectly support shitty oppressive world views and structures. Likewise, I am totally allowed to call you out on it. So yeah, I wouldn't censor bullshit like "Fucked With A Knife" or "Pleasure Slave", but I do have free reign to point out how mind blowingly sexist it is.

@Ill-Starred Son: Heh, I got the feeling that the part about freedom of speech would get misunderstood. My mistake.

What I meant is that, in the extraordinary case a band writes lyrics that promote a criminal or harmful act and could be linked to the act's realization (say, an anti-christian/satanist band writes lyrics explicitly promoting church burnings and influences individuals to do so*), how could they face the consequence of promoting this antisocial behaviour AND still respect freedom of speech? That's a question I don't have a satisfactory answer for. I definitely wouldn't promote censorship as it only attack symptoms and not causes, but rather promote whatever would make us not ever need that kind of measures: Why did the band write lyrics with such a negative message? Why did this negativity bleed over the listeners and may have incited them to a harmful behaviour? It's a complex social/psychological issue, and as important I think it is to ask ourselves and others these questions, it would never get completely resolved. What I can do, as just another individual, is just not listening to them, and expressing my disagreement as Pfunter said. Who knows, maybe this dissatisfaction eventually gets to them and makes them question what their band stands for.

@Kveldulfr: I agree with you. Not because one listens to lyrics about x topic means one believes them. Lyrics could be violent yet if you like the music they would actually boost your mood, or maybe the lyrics are about suicide but might help you coping with your pain through catharsis, for example. There's not a causality relationship between the lyrics message and the listeners behaviour, but they would still be an influence. A tiny influence, but many tiny influences from different sources could add up and affect someone's behaviour, and that's something that, in my opinion, bands shouldn't dismiss.

I just think sometimes (metal) bands don't really give a fuck about their lyrics and go the lazy route of writing what's conventional of their particular scene, and that can speak a lot of themselves: If you don't make an effort with your lyrics, then maybe you don't give a crap about your music, and if you don't, why should I lose my time listening to you when there are many bands out there writing better music and actually have something to say? And by the way, I'm mostly thinking of satanist/gore/etc. lyrics when I say that, as in case you were to half-ass your lyrics these would be "safer" in the male dominated metal scene than, say, writing about your feelings while risking someone calling you sissy or something immature like that. But it does apply to every derivative, faceless, mediocre band.

So, that was my long-winded explanation for disliking the kind of lyrics I dislike

*Yes, I consider church burning to be a completely negative and punishable act, but I get some could disagree. It was just what came to me for an example.

Topics like satanism, war, occultism will never get overdone.

My favorite lyrics are the ones written in languages I don't understand(which means non-English metal, and maybe slower Spanish metal).

Unknown lyrical content sounds cool and mysterious to me for whatever reason. I also enjoy horror story type lyrics. They're cliche'd, but cool when the vocalist can present an imaginative narrative outlook.