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Comment by slantyyz | Hacker News Reader

I was sold with the opening sentence "I wrote my dissertation on this very topic..."

I don't read dissertations and I'm not even a huge metal fan, but the idea of a dissertation on metal subgenres just sounds interesting to me.

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There's a guy, Sam Dunn[0], who is an anthropologist and metal head. He did the documentary movie Metal: A Headbanger's Journey[1] and later the documentary series Metal Evolution[2] on VH1 Classic. If you're interested at all in the topic, they're definitely fun to watch, a good way to find some new music, and learn a bit more and think more about what's going on with the music. Personally, I found the episode on Shock Rock to be my favorite.

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Dunn

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal:_A_Headbanger%27s_Journe...

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Evolution

"Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult" is a great introductory book on early black metal scenes around the world. Most black metal works focus on the Norwegian scene (Mayhem/Burzum/Darkthrone primarily), but Evolution of the Cult has chapters on Rotting Christ from Greece, Sigh from Japan, the Les Légions Noire bands from France and a whole host of others.

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Metal-Evolution-Dayal-Patterson...

had to double take that book title. I assumed they would have gone with "kvlt" instead of "cult"

I would read that, for sure.

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