New Study Shows Metal Music Helps Listeners Deal With Death

A new study shows that heavy metal music helps listeners deal with the idea of death.

A new study by the Journal of Psychology of Popular Media shows that heavy metal music helps its fans death of the idea of death.

According to the study,

Heavy metal music is often associated with death and dying by nonfans whereas members of this subculture report that listening to metal music is their escape from depression and even helpful against death-related thoughts.

The study had half the participants listen to Slayer's 1986 song "Angel of Death," while the other half listened to an audio book. The researchers then had the participants fill out psychological questionnaires.

Here are the results:

"Two studies investigated whether heavy metal music is able to serve as a cultural worldview buffer against existential anguish by using implicit measurements. In Study 1, we found that fans had no further need to increase their cultural worldview but only if they listened to metal music after the induction of mortality salience. Results of Study 2 revealed that metal music made further support of self-esteem unnecessary for fans whereas nonfans still had the need to increase their self-esteem."

If you want to learn more about "The Memory Remains: How Heavy Metal Fans Buffer Against The Fear of Death" check out the American Psychological Association website.