It is common to hear heavy metal music fans and musicians talk about the "metal community". This concept, which is widely used when referencing this musical genre, encompasses multiple complex aspects that are seldom addressed in traditional academic endeavors including shared aesthetics, musical practices, geographies, and narratives. The idea of a "metal community" recognizes that fans and musicians frequently identify as part of a collective group, larger than any particular individual. Still, when examined in detail, the idea raises more questions than answers. What criteria are used to define groups of people as part of the community? How are metal communities formed and maintained through time? How do metal communities interact with local cultures throughout the world? How will metal communities change over the lifespan of their members? Are metal communities even possible in light of the importance placed on individualism in this musical genre? These are just some of the questions that arise when the concept of "community" is used in relation to heavy metal music.
Introduction: Heavy Metal and the Communal Experience - Nelson Varas-Diaz and Niall Scott Part 1: Entering the Communal and Conceptualizing Collectiveness Chapter 1: Communities of Metal: Ideal, Diminished and Imaginary - Deena Weinstein Chapter 2: Absurd Communities of Misanthropic Paradox Destruction: You Play and Well Destroy the House! - Niall Scott Chapter 3: Talking Metal: The Social Phenomenology of Hanging Out - Esther Clinton and Jeremy Wallach Part 2: Strengthening Community Chapter 4: Ride between Hell and Paradise: Imaginaerum as Mental Anchoring Place for the Global Nightwish Fan Community - Toni-Matti Karjalainen Chapter 5: "Were in this Together and We Take Care of our Own": Narrative Constructions of Metal Community Told by Metal Youth - Paula Rowe Part 3: Communities in Contextual Interaction Chapter 6: Porous Communities: Critical Interactions between Metal Music and Local Culture in the Caribbean Context - Nelson Varas-Diaz, Sigrid Mendoza and Eric Morales Part 4: Tensions within the Communal Experience Chapter 7: Exploring the Language and Spectacle of Online Hate Speech in the Black Metal Scene: Developing Theoretical and Methodological Intersections between the Social Sciences and the Humanities - Vivek Venkatesh, Bradley J. Nelson, Tieja Thomas, Jason J. Wallin, Jeffrey S. Podoshen, Christopher Thompson, Kathryn Jezer-Morton, Jihan Rabah, Kathryn Urbaniak and Mei-Ra St. Laurent Chapter 8 : What Did the Norwegians Ever Do For Us? Actor-Network Theory, the Second Wave of Black Metal and the Imaginary Community of Heavy Metal - Karl Spracklen Part 5: Expanding the Community beyond Previously Thought Borders Chapter 9: Do Metal Scenes Need Retirement Homes? Care and the Limitations of Metal Community - Keith Kahn-Harris Chapter 10: A Shared Madness: The Joint Ownership of Heavy Metal History and Studies - Brian Hickam