{"id":82879,"date":"2018-08-20T13:00:53","date_gmt":"2018-08-20T18:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/?p=82879"},"modified":"2018-08-20T12:50:34","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T17:50:34","slug":"the-sound-of-courage-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/the-sound-of-courage-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sound of Courage, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

In our previous installment<\/a>, we spoke of moral courage<\/a> regarding both artist and consumer, and its place in the great landscape of communication in human society.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We discussed the nuance of its application and the situational relativism<\/a> with which it must inevitably be applied across the course of our lives, and even revisited one of the more shining examples of courage in art from the previous century. But as upstanding citizens, we know that we cannot simply be content to rest on the times of yore! We know that only shame is destined for those who dare think that the greatnesses of the past can never be achieved again in new ways, and sad is the spirit of he or she who takes not inspiration from those who came before, but instead carries only a sense of defeated resignation and unwillingness to step forward for fear of failure by comparison!<\/p>\n

For it is the year 2018, which by all reaches of the imagination is a uniquely enlightening, bizarre and equally unsettling time to be alive, and one in which the arc of our fates seem to be subject to violent and sudden change mid-trajectory, acted upon equally by both self and forces beyond. In such a time I believe it is as important as ever to harness the true strength of art in showing us the unseen, forgotten or otherwise ignored truths of our own selves as seen from without, whether be they personal, social, spiritual, political or biological. For like it or not, our need for clarity of perspective increases in parallel with the exponential tsunami of information we are now expected to handle properly on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

\n

1. Nervosa \u2013 Downfall of Mankind<\/em><\/h3>\n

Despite being the oldest of the extreme metal styles, thrash metal is probably the most flexible in terms of its lyrical content and what could still be considered easily accessible and accepted as safely ‘in genre’: everything from partying, rocking out, pollution, war and political allegory have at one point been the norm within this rowdiest of genres. But in the midst of this so-called re-thrash movement, where many bands seem to have an eagerness to make specific stylistic nods to bygone decades rather than fully embrace the reality of now, Nervosa is a powerful exception.<\/p>\n

Their songs \u2018Raise Your Fist\u2019 or \u2018Kill the Silence\u2019 sound like standard-fare homages to rocking out and being loud and reckless, until you dive into the no-frills lyrics, the former about protests and celebrating political activism, and the latter a song of encouragement and unity in regards to victims of sexual assault and cultural norms, which is visited again with equal viciousness in the ripping \u2018Cultura de Estupro\u2019 (Rape Culture).<\/p>\n

As a small aside from a student of themes in modern media messaging, this song and video in particular exhibit a rarely shown perspective in that the song is explicitly encouraging, humanizing and directly addressing the victims of sexual assault. No vague elements are added to make the song seem applicable to a wider audience, no couching the topic in loose spiritual metaphor or diluting the message to make it more palatable: this song sets a laser sight on a single target and unleashes a blaze of fury, while everyone else are invited to take a back seat and observe slack-jawed from the sidelines. And all this while channeling the pummeling precision of Doc-era Vader<\/strong> through an explosive mix of blistering blasts and bone-crunching headbangs.<\/p>\n