By Mike Templeton
The Urban Appalachian Community Coalition brings to light artistic and cultural endeavors that may not fit expectations when it comes of Appalachian culture. Some of our articles on popular culture have led us well beyond the older styles of music and art. After offering a blog article on Appalachian hip-hop, it seems appropriate to present a window into Appalachian heavy metal. You may not have guessed but there is indeed something called Appalachian heavy metal. Archdruid Grulog, whose true identity remains mysterious to me, maintains a webpage on all things metal. If metal is your thing, this is a great resource. I am absolutely certain that all metal-heads will find things to argue about on Archdruid Grulog’s page.
A huge mark in Grulog’s favor is the introductory matter on the page about Appalachian heavy metal. The first order of business is to take on and smash the stereotypes of Appalachians that are quite familiar to all of us. These same stereotypes lead to the kind of thinking that would make people predisposed to be shocked by Appalachian heavy metal. Grulog also provides a brief discussion of the poverty and exploitation that has impacted large parts of the Appalachian region. These social conditions play a part in some of the forms Appalachian metal has taken in recent years, and some detours into this kind of subject matter are appropriate to a discussion of Appalachian heavy metal.
Grulog’s page on Appalachian heavy metal will give you a cross section of some of the musical groups currently working out of the region. This section is careful to break things down into their respective subcategories. Heavy metal is not a singular phenomenon, and it has multiple subgenres. For example, Twilight Fauna from Tennessee is a good example of the subgenre called Black Metal, according to Grulog, but they also express some features of traditional folk music. Grulog describes them as a great fusion of “American folk music with Atmospheric Black Metal” that carries a “distinct focus on the stories/history of the region.” I gave them a listen on the Twilight Fauna Bandcamp page. The song “Tavern Hill” begins with traditional banjo and acoustic instrumental that slowly incorporates other instruments. Honestly, this fusion of traditional styles with the Black Metal genre produces something genuinely hypnotic and not at all what I expected in a metal band.
Other selections under Grulog’s Appalachian metal list are more in line with what one would expect from heavy metal, especially us geezers who go back to beginning with Black Sabbath and probably peaked under the reign of Iron Maiden. A band like Twilight Fauna is driven as much by the long lineage of heavy metal as they are by the deep investment they have in Appalachian culture. In an article in 100 Days in Appalachia, Paul Ravenwood of Twilight Fauna explains that they are driven to write music that speaks of who they are and the world they are from. As Ravenwood explained, “We have to be political. It’s hard to drive past a place that used to be a mountain that is now a mudhole, or watch as people sit in trees to stop pipelines, and not be. It’s a part of me.” These bands use the complexity of style that heavy metal affords them to express experiences that are uniquely Appalachian. Heavy metal is a truly international musical form. It reflects the parts of the world where it is created, and Appalachian heavy metal is no exception to this.
One of the things I find striking about nearly all these Appalachian heavy metal bands is their deep attachment to the natural world. This is something one would expect from Appalachian artists in general, many coming from places that are so immersed in nature. But heavy metal, for the assault it can often present to the senses, is a musical form that often reflects an almost Romantic-era attachment to nature. Dempsey Mills, of the band Vials of Wrath from Maryville Tennessee, explains that his inspiration comes most often from being in nature. In a 2018 interview for Vice Magazine, Mills explained: “I take a lot of hikes if the weather permits, and if not, I just go out and drive around in the mountains.” He goes on to point out that for people who are born and raised in the Appalachian region, inspiration from the natural landscape is deeply engrained in who they are, and this could hardly escape the notice of artists of all kinds. A band originating closer to home would be Kentucky’s Panopticon whose sound and lyrics have “managed to take Black Metal’s fixation on nature and give it a very Appalachian slant” according to Grulog. Profits from Panopticon’s live album from 2021 were donated to disaster relief after the tornadoes from that year. Although the band recently moved to Minnesota, they remain tied to their Appalachian homeplaces, and their music continues to express their Appalachian life and culture.
I will allow that heavy metal is not everyone’s cup of tea. But for people who do love that pile-driving sound of metal, Appalachian heavy metal is one more avenue to follow, and the young people who are creating this unique musical hybrid do not disappoint. Heavy metal has always been demanding. It does not rely on the old blues-oriented three chord riffs and repetitive lyric formulas that define so much rock and roll. The musicians who go the way of heavy metal are quite serious. Speaking as a rock and roll guitar player, I can tell you that these people are among the finest musicians in the world. Bringing this kind of virtuosity into a style that blends Appalachian cultural and musical styles with the complexity of heavy metal is no small accomplishment. It is well worth your time to look into these bands and listen to what they have to offer. Perhaps the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition is one of the last places you would look to for some ideas for heavy metal, and we are happy to surprise. Appalachian heavy metal holds up with any style of metal anywhere in the world.
Michael Templeton is a writer, and independent scholar. He is the author of The Chief of Birds: A Memoir published with Erratum Press and Impossible to Believe, forthcoming from Iff Books. He is also the author of Collected Apoems, forthcoming from LJMcD Communications and the awaiting of awaiting: a novella, with Nut Hole Publishing. Check out his profile in UACC’s Cultural Directory. He has published numerous articles and essays on contemporary culture and works of creative non-fiction as well as experimental works and poetry. He lives in West Milton, Ohio with his wife who is an artist.