Me, Metal and Magic🤘

Many friends died on the way
Only few of us survived
But I would gladly
Take their place
In Odens hall up high

And, She would often ask, “Why metal?”, She might have never realized that metal wasn’t just a music genre, it meant more; to me it has been a philosophy, something spiritual and an antidepressant of sorts. Although, I wouldn’t come across to be someone who is into metal music, I never kept my hairs long and don’t carry a persona which would bring to attention the kind of music I am into, but metal music over the years has played a role in shaping me.

2003, was just another year and the 15 year old in me had just started to discover the magic that metal was; I had grown up listening to a lot of old school rock and roll: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Velvet Underground and the likes and the transition to metal did feel like a sea of change. The tempo, the notes and the lyrics nothing like what rock and roll would resemble. Initially, it was my quest of being cool; being different and trying something that others generally wouldn’t but with time it did get me hooked.

From trying thrash to heavy metal and black to death; I chanced upon something that would go on to act as a soothing balm in days to come; melodic death metal. The lyrics were deep, the music and the tone much subtle and the growls could be tried once in a while. It was then, that I discovered Amarth. They would sing about Odin and Thor and the songs often had a deeper meaning than one could actually imagine; rooted in the Viking age and telling tales from the Norse mythology. The sound might throw a fit on someone who isn’t a metalhead, but whoever loved and understood the true context of it would definitely fall for it’s magic.

It has been more than a decade and a half and Amon Amarth are still going strong, still keeping my chaos at bay. When the call of the monsters from my within grow louder, the growls of Johan Hegg ensures everything is drowned and there prevails sanity. And, with age catching up on me; the lyrics now seem to mean even more; depicting all the reasons my struggles are for, all my sanity and my sense is somewhere connected to me plugging the earphones and listening to the band I hold so close to my heart. It’s metal, it’s music, it’s meaningful and it’s magical. The desire to hold on, to hang on and to overcome; still burning bright; the dream to one day watch Amarth perform Under the Northern Lights is somehow keeping me alive 🤘

Many years we have been away
Many oceans we have roamed
Now the North Star
Guides us on our way
As we are headed home…

(Song: Under the Northern Star; Amon Amarth)

P.S: Amon Amarth did sing about my Northern Star, makes me love the band a little more.