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span class="caption" style="width: 298px;">Global reach: Taiwan metal ban Chthonic performed on Saturday at the Hammersonic festival in Jakarta.Attending the Hammersonic International Metal Festival, one can find much evidence to refute the stereotype of a metal fan being a long-haired man playing music that speaks to “satanic” values, although some would of course agree that there is nothing wrong with one being so.

First, playing or liking metal does not always mean having ultra-long hair, although it does look impressive when you are “headbanging”, moving your torso up and down vigorously to the beat.

The men in local band Noxa, for example, were dressed in a clean-cut, sporty style, with short-sleeved t-shirts and shorts. Singer Tonny was even sporting a short, cropped haircut.

Second, it’s certainly not a men’s only world anymore.

Although male eventgoers visibly outnumbered their female counterparts at the festival that was held in Jakarta on Saturday, there were certainly more than a handful of the latter also dressed in black t-shirts and yelling out the lyrics to songs from below the stage.

Local band Dreamer is fronted by a female singer and Taiwanese band Chthonic’s lineup includes a female bass player, Doris Yeh.

“There are more girls in Taiwan who play metal music, or rock and pop. It’s not a rare thing for girls to play in bands in Taiwan,” Yeh said after Chthonic’s set.

Second, there are plenty of colors in terms of lyrics and ideologies. Although some bands and fans of metal do write and enjoy lyrics about satanic rituals, there is a much wider variety of interests among the metal community aside from the music.

Ravel, one of the organizers of the Hammersonic festival, said that themes of metal songs could range from religion to politics.

“There are themes about religion, Satan, violence, murder, anti-God, politics, there’s a lot of them … it may sound scary. But the reason why they sing of those things is because they are dissatisfied with the current situation ... there are metal bands criticizing religion but they still keep their religion. They want their religion to become better,” he said.

Thus, differences do exist. Some metal bands sacrifice animals or use animal blood on stage, while others have members who are vegetarians for ethical reasons. Some are against religion while some champion it, and some don’t touch the subject at all in their lyrics.

Several musicians who played the festival expressed somewhat similar opinions that the fast and hard music style makes it more compatible to lyrics about extreme or “hard” subjects as well, rather than those about flowers or bunnies, for example.

According to Ravel, the Indonesian metal community likely has its roots in the late 1980s from a group of metal lovers who often got together at a spot in South Jakarta and then proceeded to form bands.

“There was only ‘metal’ at first, then came sub-genres such as the black metal community, the death metal community, power metal,” he said.

The variety is potentially endless. So what does metal mean to its fans?

“Metal is hard music, it’s a music with a philosophy and one that becomes a lifestyle … when someone wears a metal t-shirt, you can go around the world and can be greeted ‘Hey, nice shirt dude, I like the band [or] I don’t like the band.’ It’s a brotherhood and a community,” Ravel said.

A metal fan who came to the show in Senayan from the greater Jakarta area said that the music to him symbolizes freedom.

“But I don’t live a scary or extreme life,” he said.

Heri, who came from Kediri for the festival concurred. “I separate my personal life from the music,” he said.

For Chthonic’s Yeh, metal is something that keeps her coming back for more.

“For now I am still addicted to metal. It’s just like magic. I love when you are banging your head on stage and the crowd is banging their heads as well and shouting … I think it’s a very amazing time,” she said when asked whether she will form a group that plays a different genre of music.

— JP/Dina Indrasafitri