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Heavy, Holy, and Homey: The Role of Religious Imagery in Heavy Metal Album Covers
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- Author / Creator
- Soares Espindola, Mariana
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This thesis offers an iconographical analysis of the album cover of Temple of Shadows by Brazilian power metal band Angra, situating it within the context of heavy metal visual culture. It argues, through a post-colonial lens, that instead of focusing on religious blasphemy, violence, and confrontation, the cover of Temple of Shadows uses religious iconography to communicate a message about the band’s cultural identity and negotiate membership in the international and domestic heavy metal scenes. This argument is a response to Marcus Moberg’s critique of the metal studies literature on the relationship between metal and religion, which tends to favour the topics of Satanism and moral panic, simplifying the subject and reinforcing stereotypical understandings of this ontological relationship. The thesis also offers directions for possible further research on the topic from a visual culture perspective.
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- Graduation date
- Spring 2023
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Arts
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.