Functions of Gore

[Helmholtz]

Hedonistic poetry mocks social taboos, and in essence mocks the idea of a universal standard. The fact that someone is horrified because you mock an idea, and does not merely have a physical reaction to the situation, that is what is being mocked. When we mock such things, we praise life as it is, and betray a desire to form the ideal around life itself, not around what is purely relevant to human beings. I know you may think that there are better mediums for the idea, but the point of art is not to convince someone that what is being mocked is wrong, or that the mockery itself is right. The art is merely attempting to communicate the mockery, and its subtle implications, itself. The listener is left with the decision of what is wrong or right, that's a consequence of art being clear in its message, but maintaining moral ambiguity.

``The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.
The lust of the goat is the bounty of God.
The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God.
The nakedness of woman is the work of God.``

[Reginald Gillette]

@ Wolfgang, Leperchaun, and Deadite: those all sound on-point. 

Also, upon further meditation, extremely gory lyrics seem to be a logical conclusion of Metal concepts.  (I mean 'logical' in the sense of inevitable/determined.)  I suppose that some artists would HAVE to be driven to dive deeper into pre-existing tropes of Heavy Metal.  That they are repulsive to me, and not at all liberative, may just be a matter of predilection.
 

A human living in a developed country is in absolutely unique habitat(compared to all other animals) as he virtually never sees dead individuals of his own species(except through pictures/video). When observing the matter from this perspective, death metal lyrics(at least those of Autopsy) seem very profound. This alienation is also a reason for the increase of popularity of vegetarianism(the denial that killing & eating animals is innate for humans).

That seems especially real.  A long time ago, I lived up in Nepal for 4 months, and already saw all sorts of bloodshed: corpses engulfed in flames at Pashupatinath; a sacrificial bull held down by 6 men while another man sawed into its throat, blood literally erupting a meter into the air; even down to my host 'cousin' holding a duck, slitting it's throat and taunting his nephew with that geyser of blood, later soaking the body in water to loosen the feathers, and ultimately dissecting it and cutting the heart open to show me its green interior.

I wonder if, in that kind of society, a mutilative Death Metal would be possible, to the degree that gore is casual, common, and thusly not very outlandish or brutal. 

In another direction, I saw somewhere that certain Death Metal heads must play it, to stop them from actually murdering people. 

[Wolfgang]

"In another direction, I saw somewhere that certain Death Metal heads must play it, to stop them from actually murdering people. "


Interesting, I'd buy this if more older band members started committing murders once DM just wasn't enough anymore.

[lord.aspie]

I think it's silly trying to intellectualize this. Most bands used "gore" as a theme because of a loss of what to include in the lyrics, same goes with the overtly "satanic" bands. Although I suppose a minority had some kind of conceptual purpose behind the gore, like Carcass (even though they were coming from a leftist and vegan direction - super homo).

[Wolfgang]

That's a valid point. Sometimes I get the vibe the lyrics sheet is filled out after the shit is recorded for some of these bands.

[Veritas]

I think it's silly trying to intellectualize this. Most bands used "gore" as a theme because of a loss of what to include in the lyrics, same goes with the overtly "satanic" bands. Although I suppose a minority had some kind of conceptual purpose behind the gore, like Carcass (even though they were coming from a leftist and vegan direction - super homo).

Just because the bands didn't have any conscious intellectual/conceptual intent doesn't mean that it can't be validly analysed that way. It's art, after all.

[Wolfgang]

Art and Waco Jesus are mutually exclusive concepts.