Branding

After my tutorial I got some feedback to start looking at where branding fits into my research and started looking into Vance Packard book The Hidden persuaders, which talks about how advertisers  use eight ‘compelling needs’ that could be fulfilled through the product they were selling. The advertiser created the desire from the consumer to want these products, therefore persuading them to buy. It exposed the hidden world of manipulation to sell products. 

At the end of the day heavy metal counterculture is part of a brand, bands that are part of that brand make money from the production of the material so are likely to be influenced by the things above. The controversial nature of the the lyrics and art adds to this branding concept, this is going to be reflected in my work through by using symbolism associated with religion and death. 

A logo is also important when thinking about branding

https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/metalcaptcha-captcha-with-heavy-metal-band-logos/62628/4

Album artist

Kristian Wåhlin 

http://www.kristianwahlin.se/

Michael Whelan

http://www.michaelwhelan.com/

Derek Riggs

http://www.derekriggs.com/

Slayer

Slayer

Slayer have been seen a very controversial band in terms of their art work and their lyrics. I have decided to focus some of the practical work specifically on this band.

Angel of Death Lyrics

Auschwitz, the meaning of pain
The why that I want you to die
Slow death, immense decay
Showers that cleanse you of your life

Forced in
Like cattle
You run
Stripped of
Your life's worth
Human mice, for the Angel of Death
Four hundred thousand more to die
Angel of Death
Monarch to the kingdom of the dead

Sadistic, surgeon of demise
Sadist of the noblest blood

Destroying, without mercy
To benefit the Aryan race

Surgery, with no anesthesia
Fell the knife pierce you intensely
Inferior, no use to mankind
Strapped down screaming out to die
Angel of Death
Monarch to the kingdom of the dead
Infamous butcher,
Angel of Death

Pumped with fluid, inside your brain
Pressure in your skull begins pushing through your eyes
Burning flesh, drips away
Test of heat burns your skin, your mind starts to boil
Frigid cold, cracks your limbs
How long can you last
In this frozen water burial?
Sewn together, joining heads
Just a matter of time
'Til you rip yourselves apart
Millions laid out in their
Crowded tombs
Sickening ways to achieve
The holocaust
Seas of blood, bury life
Smell your death as it burns
Deep inside of you
Abacinate, eyes that bleed
Praying for the end of
Your wide awake nightmare
Wings of pain, reach out for you
His face of death staring down,
Your blood running cold
Injecting cells, dying eyes
Feeding on the screams of
The mutants he's creating
Pathetic harmless victims
Left to die
Rancid Angel of Death
Flying free

[ Angel of Death
Monarch to the kingdom of the dead
Infamous butcher,
Angel of Death

Angel of Death]

I feel like this serves as a reminder for us not to forget the great aortrositys of war and the complete barbaric murders that took place needs not to be forgotten. People say that this is glorifying the nazi behaviours of the second world war but i think that that is very narrow minded view just because a band with anti establishment views sings about the horrors of war does not mean they are glorifying it, look at all the billions of dollars made by hollywood from they war films. It is just the metal version of telling the stories that should be remembered so they are not forgotten then repeated. 

Litle bio about the bands early beginings,
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/slayer/biography

Logos, bio
http://www.metalstorm.net/bands/biography.php?band_id=183&bandname=Slayer
"The band started out playing covers of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden songs, but quickly discovered that they could get attention by exploiting threatening, satanic imagery"

"1985's Hell Awaits refined their lyrical obsessions into a sort of concept album about damnation and torture and made an immediate sensation in heavy metal circles, winning Slayer a rabid cult following".

"Nine studio albums, thousands of live shows and nearly three decades into a career that's made them one of the biggest and most important metal bands in the world, the members of Slayer know exactly what kind of music they make - brutal but beautiful, punishing yet precise. A fresh Slayer record is a thing of terror but also one of trust: You can depend on what you're getting - even if you're unprepared for it."

"That's kind of the running concept here," Araya adds, "but aside from that it's the usual Slayer topics of death, murder and serial killers."


http://loudwire.com/20-facts-you-probably-didnt-know-about-slayer/

Slayer’s 7th album, ‘Diabolus in Musica,’ is named after a sinister-sounding musical interval that was literally banned by religious authorities during the middle ages, and later found its way into the song ‘Black Sabbath’ by the homonymous heavy metal godfathers.

http://www.last.fm/music/Slayer/+wiki
Slayer's musical traits involve fast tremolo picking, guitar solos, double bass drumming, and shouting vocals. The band's lyrics and album art, which cover topics such as death, deviants, suicide, genocide, necrophilia, insanity, Nazism, religion, Satanism, serial killers, and warfare have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and strong criticism from religious groups and the general public. Slayer is best known for speaking through perspective without being necessarily sympathetic to the cause of their inspiration.

Gigs

This is some primary research I did at a gig I went to. The images show some of the images used by heavy metal bands on their merchandise. There is a general theme in terms of use of colour with the use of black, white and reds and and subject matter with use of demonic beings and other things symbolic of hell and the devil. This helped to further affirm the research that I was finding from my secondary sources with the research project dissertation.

The one that is of particular interest the Slayer logo which uses an incomplete pentagram in reverse. I had already started researching the pentagram and its meaning. The use of it upside down seems to hold further significance as something demonic.