This is a documentary series where we try to understand the complexities of eccentric dark rock/metal and punk, or what we call ‘heavy music’. You know the kind right? Loud, guitars and shouting, lots of shouting – the kinda stuff your nan would probably call ‘the devil’s music”. Yeah, let’s get to the bottom of this for good.
We admit it. Heavy music is simply not our thing. For some reason, it has just never clicked. We can listen to Black Sabbath, maybe go as far as pop-punk in our angst-filled puberty years, but we, and many of our readers we imagine, struggle to ‘get’ Iron Maiden or Metallica. And so, it all remains a bit of a mystery. Why the makeup? Why the shouting? Why this 🤘? Why? Why?…
Well, we thought that rather than retreating to our music-taste-superiority complex – like a lot of people do – we would let those that make ‘heavy music’, explain their passions to us and you. In this ever freer and accepting world, to disregard that which we can’t understand is simply not an option. Hopefully, we can help you move past the stigmatism and stereotypes that have laden this music and unearth your inner darkness.
In our first week, we chatted to a band called Cyrpitus, that’s Latin for “the sound of breaking bones”, charming. It came to them like most musicians say things do, through the day-to-day, those little bits of conversations that make you think “shit that’s good,”; “When I was in high school I was taking a wilderness first aid course and my teacher had randomly come up to me one day as we are learning about fractures and such and says “You know what a sick name for a metal band would be? Crypitus is the sound of breaking bones” I was sold immediately.”
Many struggle to understand what people find appealing about metal music. They may ‘get’ angry jazz, or even a bit of Punk at a push, but the idea of people screaming to some other style of loud guitar music oddly seems to melt their mind. Their ignorance often results in blanket stereotyping of the genre as some demonic shouting, but is that really what it’s all about? Is it that simple?; “metal is unique in that it’s passionate music, with a passionate message. It branches out into so many different sub-genres that it stays interesting. It can be about Vikings or space stuff or killing people… but, metal is generally more technical [also] than most mainstream music.”
Being misunderstood really got me thinking at the start of this however, what other problems do a young metal band face?; “small-town living has always been tough, the sea of musicians is sparse and that alone makes the creation of music tough… There weren’t really many playing the genres of music I wanted to learn from when I started out… I spent a lot of time playing along to music in my room just practising and getting better. If anything, I guess it’s given me the opportunity to be unique…”
But, how do you even get into this sort of stuff in the first place? Surely it’s not through parents? Right? Well believe it or not, as our parents might be Abba freaks or Pink Floyd Geeks, there exists Metal parents; “My father was a metalhead when I was a wee little brat. I used to bang my head into the front of my car seat to the metal coming from the tape deck. I had a drum set made of mop buckets and bakeware when I was just barely out of diapers. It runs in my blood.” Although I imagined them pushing a pram with Boudica wheels, or giving their kids blood instead of milk, they, in fact, walk, talk and act in many of the same ways as ours do. In all honesty, It must take some serious passion to take a break from cleaning up your child’s soiled Nappy, with listening to Metal. I respect that.
In fact, quite a lot about what some people think is such an odd scene of music is well… normal. If you thought it was all about sleeping in a coffin or having pagan rituals, well you’d be pleasantly surprised. For example – just like anybody else – Cyrpitus have hobbies; ” I really enjoy fishing and hunting and long walks in the water and boating in the woods… Duck season is about to start and I’ve been catching big fish all summer so I couldn’t be any better.” Whinding down from a hard day really doesn’t sound much different; “I like spending time outside a lot… I like to go for walks and hang with my family and friends and, I read a lot of fantasy and comics.” They are people under that black and spiky facade.
And, Just like what singing pop might mean to a child, or what singing Sinatra might mean to an old bloke at his wedding anniversary, Metal means more than simply sound. It’s energy and power, a feeling of breaking out of the every day and escaping to another – granted much darker – world. And, fundamentally, the music is still about catharsis; “[when] I get angry at humans I feel inspired to hit things with sticks and drumming satisfies that impulse.”
So, our time with Crypitus is up. We’ve learnt a few things about metal already; metal-loving fisherman exist, the smalltown music scene is still a problem, and metalheads have the same passion for creating powerful music as anybody else. Though it’s got a bone-breaking quality, its really just as much – if not more – a method of escape as any other style of music. Those that play it are angry and turn that anger into creativity and music. That my friends is how any of the best music is created. Emotion-action-music.
What will happen to Crypitus now?; “This year is beginning to wind down for us. We have a few shows left around New England. We just released our first album, “Ill World (That’s What You Get).” So we’re going to spend most of the cold months promoting it on the internet and then take it on the road again in the spring… Other than that we plan on working on some new tunes for you!”
Support Crypitus on their Bandcamp HERE, their Facebook HERE, and Youtube HERE.
