Concerns have been raised that prolonged exposure to heavy metal music with aggressive themes can increase the risk of aggression, anger, antisocial behaviour, substance use, suicidal ideation, anxiety and depression in community and psychiatric populations. Although research often relies on correlational evidence for which causal inferences are not possible, it is often claimed that music with aggressive themes can cause psychological and behavioural problems. This narrative review of theory and evidence suggests the issues are more complicated, and that fans typically derive a range of emotional and social benefits from listening to heavy metal music, including improved mood, identity formation, and peer affiliation. In contrast, non-fans of heavy metal music — who are often used as participants in experimental research on this topic — invariably report negative psychological experiences. Our review considers a comprehensive set of empirical findings that inform clinical strategies designed to identify fans for whom heavy metal music may confer psychological and behavioural risks, and those for whom this music may confer psychosocial benefits.

A listener’s propensity to perceive affect as expressed by music can arise from factors such as acoustic features and culturally learned expectations. Studies investigating the link between musical flow and perceived affective content by means of continuous response measures and a 2-dimensional circumplex framework of affect (i.e., arousal and valence) have given positive results. For example, time series models of perceived arousal in response to Western classical and electroacoustic music reveal a significant predictive influence of acoustic parameters such as intensity and spectral flatness. Acoustic parameters generally provide weaker models of perceived valence. Here we test the hypothesis that a continuous measure of musical engagement can be a significant predictor of perceived arousal and perceived valence, and will enhance time series models of affect based on acoustic parameters alone. Thirty-five nonmusicians continuously rated their level of engagement while listening to 5 Western classical and electroacoustic music excerpts. Grand unweighted mean engagement time series for each piece from all 35 participants were used to model continuous-response time series of perceived arousal and perceived valence. The hypothesis was partially supported: in univariate autoregressive analyses, 1 of the valence and 2 of the arousal models were strongly improved by adding engagement as a predictor; and in a further 2 of each, engagement made a minor contribution. In the remaining 2 models of valence and 1 of arousal, engagement was not pertinent. In multivariate (vector autoregressive) models, relating simultaneously both arousal and valence to acoustic parameters, engagement had a role in every case. It is concluded that listener engagement can play a mediating role in perceived affective response to music.10 page(s

Extreme metal and rap music with violent themes are sometimes blamed for eliciting antisocial behaviours, but growing evidence suggests that music with violent themes can have positive emotional, cognitive, and social consequences for fans. We addressed this apparent paradox by comparing how fans of violent and non-violent music respond emotionally to music. We also characterised the psychosocial functions of music for fans of violent and non-violent music, and their passion for music. Fans of violent extreme metal (n=46), violent rap (n=49), and non-violent classical music (n=50) responded to questionnaires evaluating the cognitive (self-reflection, self-regulation) and social (social bonding) functions of their preferred music and the nature of their passion for it. They then listened to four one-minute excerpts of music and rated ten emotional descriptors for each excerpt. The top five emotions reported by the three groups of fans were positive, with empowerment and joy the emotions rated highest. However, compared with classical music fans, fans of violent music assigned significantly lower ratings to positive emotions and higher ratings to negative emotions. Fans of violent music also utilised their preferred music for positive psychosocial functions to a similar or sometimes greater extent than classical fans. Harmonious passion for music predicted positive emotional outcomes for all three groups of fans, whereas obsessive passion predicted negative emotional outcomes. Those high in harmonious passion also tended to use music for cognitive and social functions. We propose that fans of violent music use their preferred music to induce an equal balance of positive and negative emotions.