Post-Millennial's Guide To Metal (And Some Other Stuff)

Going to an underground metal show in a city results in a few recurring factors: First, the venue is generally a small club, with up to 500-600 patron capacity. Second, adjacent businesses and restaurants are flooded with individuals in black graphic tees and patched jean jackets. Third, upon entering the location, one can expect the bands to be setting up their own gear and selling their own merch. The Middle East Club is five adjacent dining and live music venues located in Cambridge, MA that is a hot spot for up-and coming and established groups alike, sporting rock, jazz, metal, rap and many more genres day after day. Of the five performance spaces, I have been to two: The Middle East Downstairs and The Sonia, both of which are below the other three venues. Walking into the Middle East Upstairs for the first time on September 29th, the entrance at the back of the original Lebanese restaurant that serves as the face of the club and organization, what caught my eye were ...

There is something undeniably alluring about abrasive music for me. Loud music of the heavier variety is utilized in many varied ways, however, the most common purpose is the conveyance of anger. When people often think and say that those who listen to metal are just channeling their feelings through music, I concur. Of course metal funnels my anger (or other negative emotions) into a concise music file that plays through my headphones - does classic rock not do this for nostalgia? Or pop for 'happiness?' Though metal also makes me merry - throwing on a prog album by Haken or Caligula's Horse is sure to liven up my day - for me, nothing compares to the euphoric absurdity of cranking my Sennheisers to maximum volume and throwing on a dissonant, destructive and belligerently heavy album; one with vocals that will make your throat sting, guitars that impair your hearing for the days to come, and drums which puncture your eardrums. Mother of Red Light is one of these album...

Sometimes the most revered artwork does not live up to its hype. Michaelangelo's mural above the Sistine Chapel, located in Vatican City, is one of the most admired and esteemed pieces of art in the world, but it did not live up to my expectations in person. A large room filled with noisy tourists is the last thing one would expect when they are to view this majesty, but unfortunately, that is what many (myself included) are greeted with. Explicit signs and warnings to be silent and to take no pictures, you can assume what my experience--and that of countless others--at the Sistine Chapel are like. While the art was fantastic, the atmosphere surrounding it  was not right for the piece to be enjoyed to its fullest. However, other art overperforms in its grandiose and magnitude. Picasso's Guernica, on display in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, is not a painting my younger self would have expected to be so enamored with. Viewing such grotesque and ...