This book explores the enigma of class in heavy metal, challenging existing accounts that have dismissed the genre for its classed cultural limitations. It engages with the key ways in which heavy metal is often seen as a profane expression of a-political and anti-religious feelings. While others have argued that heavy metal's embrace of chaos, biblical doom, and the triumph of evil, this book is the first that examines the genre's musical and lyrical expressions, arguing that the genre can be translated to express a language of class that is coded for the voice of the historically oppressed and marginalized.

Andy R. Brown is Senior Lecturer of Media and Cultural Studies at Bath Spa University, UK. He is one of the original creators of the field of metal studies and a founding member of the International Society for Metal Music Studies. He has given three keynote talks and is the co-editor of Heavy Metal Generations (2012) and Global Metal Music and Culture (2016).