#102 – In Hot Pursuit Of Vikings

The LGBTQ+ heavy metal podcast welcomes Tom's friend (and former guest) Benjamin into the co-host chair for one week only, to discuss how George from Deafheaven and Johannes from Cult Of Luna helped provide the male role models they didn't see elsewhere, and how that helped them come to terms with their gender identity.Also, there's a brief discussion about how a Fever Ray show made Benjamin see some trans parallels (and also what Fever Ray has to do with the metal crowd), and digressions for potato waffles and an infuriating trend amongst hipster hairstyles.Plus there's the usual visit to the Hate Crew Gaybar, where Chrysalis by Finnish heavy psychedelists Polymoon, and A Violent Truth by Kentish shouty/smashy metallers Allfather, both go into the jukebox.

Hell Bent For Metal favourites Amon Amarth are back under discussion again, this time explaining why breakthrough song 'The Pursuit Of Vikings' makes them think about coming-out experiences, something gay men are surprisingly comfortable discussing that most folks aren't, and, er, Destiny's Child.It's a surprisingly well behaved Camp Classic (by HBFM standards, anyway), but maybe it's because it's the summer and the cricket season in Britain, but Matt and Tom are in surprisingly thirsty form. And not just for Pimm's.This week's visit to HCGBs sees Matt put Plagueboys by Finnish post-punks Grave Pleasures into the jukebox, while Tom's plumped for Saturnian Bloodstorm by Lamp Of Murmuur… although you could be forgiven for thinking it's by someone else, according to the guy picking it.

Hell Bent For Metal speculated in episode #99 that Hellish Form's new album Deathless may be heavily talking about LGBTQ+  – and, especially, trans – themes. And when HBFM asked Willow Ryan from the band about this, the confirmation naturally demanded that they invite Willow back to talk about this.This week, Tom sits down with Willow to talk the surprisingly hopeful (well, by funeral doom standards, anyway!) message behind Deathless. Perhaps inevitably, the conversation takes in trans persecution, the toxic media narratives on both sides of the Pond surrounding the trans community and trans healthcare, and the involvement of ultra-conservative Christianity in both.While there are some heavy,  less than optimistic elements to the discussion, and while politics is an unfortunately necessary topic for part of it, there is also plenty of love and hope found within it all.

Hell Bent For Metal seldom needs much reason to see something metal as hella gay, actually, but even by those standards, singalong stoner anthem 'St Peter' by British band Black Spiders is an easy target.Tom and Matt manage to find multiple ways it sits firmly in their areas of experience, and none of them are subtle or difficult to deduce. Who takes which interpretation, however, is not what you might expect.This week's visit to the Hate Crew Gaybar sees two albums for the jukebox. First up, Matt picks The Loss Of Beauty by Italian purveyors of melodic blackened misery Shores Of Null. And in a radical yet predictable change of pace, Tom plumps for The Awakening by prog-power masters Kamelot.And it's 100 shows not out for HBFM.

Hell Bent For Metal host Tom has been back to Roadburn to host another panel about queerness in heavy music, and reports back on how the festival's efforts to make themselves a welcoming, inclusive place have clearly, visibly paid off.The show's been on hiatus due to a bereavement, with Roadburn being the one bright light in the dark. And while the panel (which featured Body Void, Pupil Slicer, Backxwash, and OvO) was a great moment for queerness in heavy music – and Tom personally – it wasn't the only reason that was the case, as the hosts discuss.There's also a rundown of the musical side of a unique festival, including unexpected joy found in Sangre de Muérdago and Oiseaux-Tempête (spelling FAO Matt), and the more expected highlights of the four days in Tilburg.Plus this episode's visit to the Hate Crew Gaybar sees Heimdal by Enslaved and Deathless by Hellish Form added to the jukebox.

The vast expanse and crushing weight of 'Stillness' by post-metal/everything band Inter Arma seems an unlikely Camp Classic, but Hell Bent For Metal have somehow found a way to see not one but two entirely separate ways in which that song speaks to their gay sides. Brace yourself.This show's visit to the Hate Crew Gaybar sees Suffocating Hallucination by Primitive Man/Full Of Hell, IX by Host, and Voices In The Sky by Brymir added to the jukebox.Plus rambling digressions on conservative Republican politicians with amusing names, new euphemisms for intimate waxing, and why there are so many words for "river" in England. Y'know, the usual.

Hell Bent For Metal give 'Carbon Based Anatomy' by queer metal royalty Cynic the Camp Classic treatment, and explains why that song speaks to their queer sides. And no, it has nothing to do with the sexualities of the band members.This week's visit to the Hate Crew Gaybar sees Matt put Den Tapte Krigen by Bizarrekult in the jukebox, before Tom goes full meme, and puts in At The Gates Of Dusk by Ultar, Anthronomicon by Ulthar, and All That Has Never Been True by Ultha. And if you can follow which one is which, well done.Plus Matt tells us about going to see Leprous and getting a little emotional, and there's a promise about something important the show will do as soon as it can.

Hell Bent For Metal returns from a health-imposed break, and begins by explaining what they've been up to in the interim, starting with a trip to see an unusual Clutch show in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.The Camp Classic this week is 'Split My Tongue' by evil-sounding Swiss black metallers Schammasch, from their 2014 album Contradiction. And while Matt's initially not got a clue what Tom's on about (standard), he quickly gets on board with how lyrics seemingly about Satan might relate to the queer experience.Plus this week's visit to the Hate Crew Gaybar sees Woe by An Abstract Illusion, The Coral Tombs by Ahab, and Sky Void Of Stars by Katatonia go into the jukebox. With a little help from Phil Collins. Yes, that one.

When two-thirds of Mountain Caller were on the Hell Bent For Metal, Tom described them as a majority queer band. Max Maxwell, the band's drummer, is on the show this week to explain why the "majority" bit of that statement wasn't precisely true. It's an extended chat that also takes in the imposter syndrome that comes with being newly out and trying to talk about your queerness.Plus Emma Wilkes (of Kerrang! and other places) joins Tom to put four very different albums in the the Hate Crew Gaybar's jukebox. They are Celebrity Therapist by The Callous Daoboys, Morbidity Triumphant by Autopsy, Love, Death And Decay by Stake, and Pagans Rising by Hexed.

The gayest straight man in metal, Abhi Ahluwahlia, returns to Hell Bent For Metal. Matt's unwell (get well soon), so the music journalist turned broadsheet journalist is back for a show heavily focused on two of his favourite things: nu metal and deathcore.First up, Abhi and Tom remember 'All In The Family' by Korn, the alcohol-induced rap battle between Jonathan Davis and Fred Durst (of Limp Bizkit) that includes more homophobia than your average English football match. It's a moment that was not helpful to at least one gay kid who heard it at a fairly delicate stage of development – and one that Korn themselves have since disowned.This week's Camp Classic is 'The Past Shall Haunt Us Both' by All Shall Perish, the now-defunct deathcore band who once had the world at their feet. And while it's a fairly small section of the song that Tom's honed in on as being relevant to queer experiences, that doesn't stop a fairly long, sensible (yes, really) conversation happening about it.Plus this week's additions to the Hate Crew Gaybar jukebox are Patient Number 9 by Ozzy Osbourne, Data Renaissance by The Algorithm, and Dedication to Flesh by Spite.