August 5th, 2008 by Adam

At PostGlobal, Mark Levine takes a look at heavy metal’s appeal to youth in the Muslim world, and how these metal heads and Islamists have some common ideals, despite being at opposing ends of the cultural and political spectrum. Levine says the growing tolerance of metal, “…is partly because the subjects these and other extreme metal bands deal with - death without meaning, the futility of violence, the corruption of power - correspond well to the issues confronting hundreds of millions of young Muslims today.” Even though metal had been persecuted as a subversive subculture, contemporary Islamists are acting less hostile to metal as both cultural movements, “…look critically at their societies, refusing unquestioningly to buy into the myths and shibboleths put forward by political or spiritual leaders.”

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