10 | MARCH 16 • 2023
PURELY COMMENTARY
guest column
A Rabbi’s Guide to Extreme Metal
I
know the title of
this article is kind of
surprising, and if you
don’t know me, sounds like
the beginning of a joke. Even
if you do know
me, it might
sound funny. I
am a middle-
aged rabbi
who teaches
meditation,
does yoga
and is, on the
exterior at least, pretty calm,
if not placid. I have the
range of facial expressions
of a cat, which does not
correspond with the cliché of
the headbanging metal fan
wearing a heavily patched
denim jacket with the sleeves
cut off and a permanent
sneer.
I have been a metalhead
since I was 12. There was
a segment on the news
warning families about the
dangers of the band Black
Sabbath, and they played a
little of their music. It was
magic. Power chords, weird
imagery and drums that
went right through. I was a
pudgy, husky clothes, glasses-
wearing nerd. It was the
sound of how to transcend a
boring and mundane life.
I then heard Led Zeppelin
IV and Rush. Geddy Lee of
Rush was not just Jewish, but
the child of a survivor, like
me. Then, of course, there
was Kiss, which featured
not just one, but two Jewish
boys. The music gave me the
strength and adrenalin to
get through some difficult
moments.
My interest in metal
remained as I got older, but
I developed an interest in a
lot of other kinds of music
as well. Two things brought
me back to listening to
metal, particularly in its most
extreme forms. The first was
becoming a rabbi. The other
was the death of my parents.
I have been a rabbi since
I was 28 and have officiated
at more funerals than I ever
would have imagined. I have
seen more death and dying
and have spent more time
in cemeteries than the most
grizzled metal musician.
I am almost 60 now, and
it never gets easier. I don’t
want it to get easier because
that would require becoming
jaded and closed off. I
promised myself I would quit
the day that happened.
My father died in 2018,
and my mother died in 2022.
Their lives and my life with
them were complex; at times
uplifting and life-affirming,
at times not, as many family
relationships are.
Extreme metal music
has helped me navigate the
emotions of being involved
in the worst moments of
people’s lives and my own.
It is one of the few forms of
music that looks at death and
not away from it. It confronts
our fears and anxiety and
gives words for it. It provides
catharsis, not solipsism. It
is often a tough and brutal
listen, and it rarely reveals
itself at once, but with
patience it can take feelings
that have been long pushed
down into my soul and bring
them into the light of day
and give feelings of hope and
redemption.
It is not for young kids,
and it might not be the place
to start if you are currently
in great emotional distress.
If you are seeing a therapist,
I would discuss it before
exploring the discography.
DEATH, DOOM, THRASH
AND BLACK
There are several categories
of extreme metal, but most
fall into the categories of
death, doom, thrash and
black, with lots of subsets
and overlaps of each. They
tend to vary in speed and
atmosphere, some blazingly
fast and others funereally
slow, some bleak and others
uplifting. I will give one
example of each.
Chuck Schuldiner, whose
father was Jewish by birth
and whose mother was
Jewish by choice, was one
of the most influential
musicians in the metal world.
He started a band called
Death, which is one of the
reasons this variety of metal
is called that. He dealt with
deep and painful existential
issues and questions of what
it means to be human, and
constantly evolved musically
and intellectually.
The music is fast and
technically challenging. He
passed away from a brain
tumor at a young age, but
his music continues to be a
deep influence on younger
musicians. Some of the
music is explicit and gory. It
is not for young kids, and I
would not start with his early
music.
Anthrax is a thrash band
whose longtime guitarist is
Scott Ian, who has spoken
publicly about his being
Jewish, and even was part
of a show called Metal and
Matzah. Thrash tends to be
loud and fun, with lots of
headbanging and mashing,
though it can also be very
political. I listen to it mostly
in the gym.
Doom is much slower
and much more connected
to death and loss in an
KOBER/WIKIPEDIA
continued on page 12
Rabbi Aaron
Bergman
Israeli band
Orphaned Land
at the Tbilisi
Blitzkrieg Fest
2014