Lori Burns is Professor of Music at the University of Ottawa. Her interdisciplinary research, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, merges musical analysis and cultural theory to explore representations of gender and sexuality in the lyrical, musical, and visual texts of popular music. She co-edited The Pop Palimpsest (2018), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Video Analysis (2019), Analyzing Recorded Music (2022), and the Routledge Handbook of Progressive Rock, Metal, and the Literary Imagination (2025).Ciro Scotto is Professor of Music Theory and Chair of the Music Theory Department at Ohio University. His research in music theory includes creating compositional systems, producing analyses and theoretical models of the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, and rock music, especially in the area of timbre studies. He edited The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis: Expanding Approaches (2019). Besides his theoretical work, he is an active composer, and is currently composing a series of works titled Between the Hammer and Anvil for electric guitar and percussion, to be released by Ravello Records.

• List of Contributors List of Figures List of Tables AcknowledgmentsContentsIntroduction: Appreciating, Understanding, and Interpreting Metal Music CompositionLori Burns and Ciro ScottoPart I. Structures1. Perspectives on Harmony in Early Heavy Metal: Chords, Modes, Functions, and TextureEsa Lilja2. Recognizing Tonal Momentum and Echoes of Past Styles in Riff TurnaroundsStephen S. Hudson3.What is a Riff? A Structural Definition and its Analytical Consequences for Process and Form in Heavy MetalCiro Scotto4. Mutually Exclusive Two- and Three-Part Forms in Heavy Metal SongsNolan Stolz5. Compound Bridge Sections in Rock and MetalMichael Dekovich6. Unfulfilled Expectations: Theorizing on Terminally Anti-Climactic FormZach Simonds7. Conceived Through an Act of Catharsis: The Phenomenological Allure of the BreakdownOwen Morawitz8. More than Moshing: Structure, Convention, and Innovation in Extreme Metal BreakdownsJohn Muniz9. Half-Time, Standard-Time, and Double-Time Feels in 1980s Crossover ThrashDavid Easley 10. Systematic Onslaught: The Aesthetics and Functions of Blast Beats in Contemporary Extreme MetalDennis William Lee11. Blackened Textures: Black Metal’s Sonic Complexity During the Second and Third WavesWolf-Georg ZaddachPart II. Expressions and Techniques: Instruments 12. Traditional Instruments in Global Folk MetalOlivia R. Lucas13. Primordial Percussion: Drumming in Six Influential Metal AlbumsJose M. Garza, Jr.14. Paradigms of Guitar Performance Practice and the Language of Metal MusicMark Marrington15. Metal Guitar Techniques as Timbre, Form, and SpeedCalder Hannan16. The Evolution of the Bass Guitar in Metal Music: Its Function in Performance and Compositional StructureShvan Kaban17. Keys to Hell: Synthesizers from Early Death Metal to DeathcoreTyler OsbornePart III. Expressions and Techniques: Voices 18. “All Shall Scream”: Transposable Lessons from Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine for Growlers ChoirEric Smialek19. Song of the Siren, Cry of the Warrior: An Exploration of Song Structures and Female Vocal Techniques in Power MetalSuzanne Strauss20. Thine Voice is Oh So Sweet: Gothic Metal and Vocal Timbre DiversityVik Squires Donnelly21. Nu Metal’s Influential Vocal Composition: Tension and Release in the Music of Korn, Incubus, and Machine HeadClare King22. Beyond “Beauty and the Beast”: The Evolution of Gendered Clean-Harsh Vocal Pairings in Metal MusicLori BurnsPart IV. Productions23. Imagining Future Extremes on the Record Player: Time Axis Manipulation as a Theory of Extreme Metal Creativity and HistoryFlorian Walch24. Masters of Reality: The (De)construction of Reality in the Production of Metal MusicNiall Thomas25. Fragmented and Distributed Production Practices in 21st Century Metal Music: From the Studio to the Bedroom (and Back Again?)Steven Gamble and Lewis Kennedy26. Electronic Drums in Industrial Metal and Continuing Practices in Contemporary Metal MusicNeyssensas Manuel27. Guitar Pro or DAW-based Software for Metal CompositionFulya Celikel28. Black Metal and the Sonic Search for NatureDavid Hemery29. Contemporary Approaches to Metal Music Production: Traditional Heavy Metal, Death Metal, and MetalcoreJan Herbst and Mark Mynett

Lori Burns is Professor of Music at the University of Ottawa. Her interdisciplinary research, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, merges musical analysis and cultural theory to explore representations of gender and sexuality in the lyrical, musical, and visual texts of popular music. She co-edited The Pop Palimpsest (2018), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Video Analysis (2019), Analyzing Recorded Music (2022), and the Routledge Handbook of Progressive Rock, Metal, and the Literary Imagination (2025).Ciro Scotto is Professor of Music Theory and Chair of the Music Theory Department at Ohio University. His research in music theory includes creating compositional systems, producing analyses and theoretical models of the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, and rock music, especially in the area of timbre studies. He edited The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis: Expanding Approaches (2019). Besides his theoretical work, he is an active composer, and is currently composing a series of works titled Between the Hammer and Anvil for electric guitar and percussion, to be released by Ravello Records.

• List of Contributors List of Figures List of Tables AcknowledgmentsContentsIntroduction: Appreciating, Understanding, and Interpreting Metal Music CompositionLori Burns and Ciro ScottoPart I. Structures1. Perspectives on Harmony in Early Heavy Metal: Chords, Modes, Functions, and TextureEsa Lilja2. Recognizing Tonal Momentum and Echoes of Past Styles in Riff TurnaroundsStephen S. Hudson3.What is a Riff? A Structural Definition and its Analytical Consequences for Process and Form in Heavy MetalCiro Scotto4. Mutually Exclusive Two- and Three-Part Forms in Heavy Metal SongsNolan Stolz5. Compound Bridge Sections in Rock and MetalMichael Dekovich6. Unfulfilled Expectations: Theorizing on Terminally Anti-Climactic FormZach Simonds7. Conceived Through an Act of Catharsis: The Phenomenological Allure of the BreakdownOwen Morawitz8. More than Moshing: Structure, Convention, and Innovation in Extreme Metal BreakdownsJohn Muniz9. Half-Time, Standard-Time, and Double-Time Feels in 1980s Crossover ThrashDavid Easley 10. Systematic Onslaught: The Aesthetics and Functions of Blast Beats in Contemporary Extreme MetalDennis William Lee11. Blackened Textures: Black Metal’s Sonic Complexity During the Second and Third WavesWolf-Georg ZaddachPart II. Expressions and Techniques: Instruments 12. Traditional Instruments in Global Folk MetalOlivia R. Lucas13. Primordial Percussion: Drumming in Six Influential Metal AlbumsJose M. Garza, Jr.14. Paradigms of Guitar Performance Practice and the Language of Metal MusicMark Marrington15. Metal Guitar Techniques as Timbre, Form, and SpeedCalder Hannan16. The Evolution of the Bass Guitar in Metal Music: Its Function in Performance and Compositional StructureShvan Kaban17. Keys to Hell: Synthesizers from Early Death Metal to DeathcoreTyler OsbornePart III. Expressions and Techniques: Voices 18. “All Shall Scream”: Transposable Lessons from Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine for Growlers ChoirEric Smialek19. Song of the Siren, Cry of the Warrior: An Exploration of Song Structures and Female Vocal Techniques in Power MetalSuzanne Strauss20. Thine Voice is Oh So Sweet: Gothic Metal and Vocal Timbre DiversityVik Squires Donnelly21. Nu Metal’s Influential Vocal Composition: Tension and Release in the Music of Korn, Incubus, and Machine HeadClare King22. Beyond “Beauty and the Beast”: The Evolution of Gendered Clean-Harsh Vocal Pairings in Metal MusicLori BurnsPart IV. Productions23. Imagining Future Extremes on the Record Player: Time Axis Manipulation as a Theory of Extreme Metal Creativity and HistoryFlorian Walch24. Masters of Reality: The (De)construction of Reality in the Production of Metal MusicNiall Thomas25. Fragmented and Distributed Production Practices in 21st Century Metal Music: From the Studio to the Bedroom (and Back Again?)Steven Gamble and Lewis Kennedy26. Electronic Drums in Industrial Metal and Continuing Practices in Contemporary Metal MusicNeyssensas Manuel27. Guitar Pro or DAW-based Software for Metal CompositionFulya Celikel28. Black Metal and the Sonic Search for NatureDavid Hemery29. Contemporary Approaches to Metal Music Production: Traditional Heavy Metal, Death Metal, and MetalcoreJan Herbst and Mark Mynett

Lori Burns is Professor of Music at the University of Ottawa. Her interdisciplinary research, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, merges musical analysis and cultural theory to explore representations of gender and sexuality in the lyrical, musical, and visual texts of popular music. She co-edited The Pop Palimpsest (2018), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Video Analysis (2019), Analyzing Recorded Music (2022), and the Routledge Handbook of Progressive Rock, Metal, and the Literary Imagination (2025).Ciro Scotto is Professor of Music Theory and Chair of the Music Theory Department at Ohio University. His research in music theory includes creating compositional systems, producing analyses and theoretical models of the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, and rock music, especially in the area of timbre studies. He edited The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis: Expanding Approaches (2019). Besides his theoretical work, he is an active composer, and is currently composing a series of works titled Between the Hammer and Anvil for electric guitar and percussion, to be released by Ravello Records.

• List of Contributors List of Figures List of Tables AcknowledgmentsContentsIntroduction: Appreciating, Understanding, and Interpreting Metal Music CompositionLori Burns and Ciro ScottoPart I. Structures1. Perspectives on Harmony in Early Heavy Metal: Chords, Modes, Functions, and TextureEsa Lilja2. Recognizing Tonal Momentum and Echoes of Past Styles in Riff TurnaroundsStephen S. Hudson3.What is a Riff? A Structural Definition and its Analytical Consequences for Process and Form in Heavy MetalCiro Scotto4. Mutually Exclusive Two- and Three-Part Forms in Heavy Metal SongsNolan Stolz5. Compound Bridge Sections in Rock and MetalMichael Dekovich6. Unfulfilled Expectations: Theorizing on Terminally Anti-Climactic FormZach Simonds7. Conceived Through an Act of Catharsis: The Phenomenological Allure of the BreakdownOwen Morawitz8. More than Moshing: Structure, Convention, and Innovation in Extreme Metal BreakdownsJohn Muniz9. Half-Time, Standard-Time, and Double-Time Feels in 1980s Crossover ThrashDavid Easley 10. Systematic Onslaught: The Aesthetics and Functions of Blast Beats in Contemporary Extreme MetalDennis William Lee11. Blackened Textures: Black Metal’s Sonic Complexity During the Second and Third WavesWolf-Georg ZaddachPart II. Expressions and Techniques: Instruments 12. Traditional Instruments in Global Folk MetalOlivia R. Lucas13. Primordial Percussion: Drumming in Six Influential Metal AlbumsJose M. Garza, Jr.14. Paradigms of Guitar Performance Practice and the Language of Metal MusicMark Marrington15. Metal Guitar Techniques as Timbre, Form, and SpeedCalder Hannan16. The Evolution of the Bass Guitar in Metal Music: Its Function in Performance and Compositional StructureShvan Kaban17. Keys to Hell: Synthesizers from Early Death Metal to DeathcoreTyler OsbornePart III. Expressions and Techniques: Voices 18. “All Shall Scream”: Transposable Lessons from Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine for Growlers ChoirEric Smialek19. Song of the Siren, Cry of the Warrior: An Exploration of Song Structures and Female Vocal Techniques in Power MetalSuzanne Strauss20. Thine Voice is Oh So Sweet: Gothic Metal and Vocal Timbre DiversityVik Squires Donnelly21. Nu Metal’s Influential Vocal Composition: Tension and Release in the Music of Korn, Incubus, and Machine HeadClare King22. Beyond “Beauty and the Beast”: The Evolution of Gendered Clean-Harsh Vocal Pairings in Metal MusicLori BurnsPart IV. Productions23. Imagining Future Extremes on the Record Player: Time Axis Manipulation as a Theory of Extreme Metal Creativity and HistoryFlorian Walch24. Masters of Reality: The (De)construction of Reality in the Production of Metal MusicNiall Thomas25. Fragmented and Distributed Production Practices in 21st Century Metal Music: From the Studio to the Bedroom (and Back Again?)Steven Gamble and Lewis Kennedy26. Electronic Drums in Industrial Metal and Continuing Practices in Contemporary Metal MusicNeyssensas Manuel27. Guitar Pro or DAW-based Software for Metal CompositionFulya Celikel28. Black Metal and the Sonic Search for NatureDavid Hemery29. Contemporary Approaches to Metal Music Production: Traditional Heavy Metal, Death Metal, and MetalcoreJan Herbst and Mark Mynett