Cease to Exist

Suicide Silence released a lyric video for a song off of their new album titled ‘Cease to Exist’ and after experiencing the epicness of ‘The Black Crown’ I was all ready for a new experience.  I came to be aware of Suicide Silence via a 10-cd grab bag that I purchased from CMdistro and had no idea what they were all about.  It was a pretty solid album when I started out, then I found ‘Fuck Everything’ and was just in awe.  I found it to be a very inspiring one, more on the catharsis side, and it became an inner mantra for a while; still is to a certain extent.  A few months later I found out that the lead singer, Mitch Lucker, had died in an accident.  I didn’t have enough time to get to know the band that well, but I was still a little bit affected by this as ‘The Black Crown’ had rapidly become one of my favorite albums.

If you’re  a metal head, you know this.  If you’re not a metal head, you don’t really care.
I put all this down because I wanted to illustrate a bit about how I connected to the album and, that I later found out, to Mitch Lucker himself; he was quoted as saying that is album was “my head cracked open and poured onto the paper…” I connected with nearly everything in this album in varying ways; ‘Fuck Everything’ for facing my fears, ‘You Only Live Once’ for doing my best to not waste my time on stuff that doesn’t matter to me, ‘The Only Thing That Sets Us Apart’ for obvious reasons, you get the idea.  There was a lot to like and I identified with a lot of his words.  I bring this up because there is a lot about the metal community that I don’t exactly identify with.

Oh, did I mention I’m a feminist as well? No? Okay, I’m a feminist.  A feminist metal-head.

So anyway, there is a lot about the metal community that I don’t exactly identify with but, the good thing is that, as far as I interpret the essence of the metal culture, I don’t have to perform to some standard of ‘metal-head.’  I haven’t known many who shared my taste in music, but I still haven’t really encountered any ‘well a true metal-head does____’ most people just want to know if there’s any common bands that you share.  It is easily understood that if you say ‘band _____ doesn’t appeal to me’ most people will take at as it is and move on; some may politely suggest that  it may take some time to get used to ‘Band _____’ and recommend an album.  That said, there are genre’s of metal that tend to be on the extreme side of the extreme side of metal.

For those that don’t know, there is a massive web of metal genres that intersect and inspire others and break apart and pioneer, and it is ALWAYS changing.  The metal I tend to like is Melodic Death Metal (MDM) and Folk/Viking Metal (FVM), but I like various bands that represent other genre’s as well; liking the band, not necessarily the genre they represent.  MDM and FVM technically fall in the ‘Extreme Metal’ branch of the web (or tree? I’m mixing metaphors now) which is also home to bands like Cannibal Corpse.  Now, I can respect violent imagery and I can respect the catharsis that it may bring to fans of the genre, however, as a feminist (and as someone who works at an anti-violence, anti-oppression, sexual assault centre) this material does not sit well with me.
Let me be clear on this. It does not sit well with me, so I don’t listen to it.  I don’t really care that it’s out there because I can understand that within the context of that genre, cathartic rage is part of the music.  I know most metal-heads who are fans of the genre have no intention of acting on the messaging contained within; some may even be insulted at the implication.

But I do need to say that as a feminist metal-head who works within the field of sexual violence I know that much of the imagery contained within metal could be VERY triggering and terrifying for a survivor of sexual violence.  While the metal community is tightly knit and tends to be an acquired taste, especially in North America, it’s very hard to accidentally stumble on some music that is explicitly detailing very violence sexual assault.  That all said, within a tightly knit community group think does develop and people can lose their ability to see things from other points of view.

Now, back to Suicide Silence.

Mitch is gone, but the latest album is his words and it is his legacy.  I know he was dealing with addiction and, like all metal-heads, anger and rage was very much a part of his life.  But upon seeing the lyric video for ‘Cease to Exist’ I am very troubled in the direction the band seems to be headed.

You can look it up on youtube if you like (TRIGGER WARNING: Violence Against Women): SUICIDE SILENCE - Cease To Exist (LYRIC VIDEO)

You’ll notice I put a trigger warning in there; consider this a TW for the following paragraph as I will describe some of what is in the video.

The video starts with a man carrying what looks to be a dead/unconscious woman wrapped in plastic over his shoulder.  Immediately I was put off by this as the lyrics of the song are: ‘I would drag myself through a mile of broken glass Just to watch you cease to exist’ so this was NOT a good start considering my lens.  I watched the whole video hoping for a twist that would redeem the imagery that was accompanying the lyrics.  No such luck.  The man throws her in the trunk of his car, drives into the middle of the desert, locks her in the trunk, puts a tube from the exhaust pipe into the car, gets back in the car, and starts the engine.  Essentially, this man is killing himself and leaving the woman to die a slow death via heat exhaustion and suffocation.

I don’t know the context Mitch had in mind when he wrote these words.  Taking the words alone, there are elements of them that I can appreciate/see where someone may be coming from.  I had hoped that the song was written from her perspective as there is a degree of catharsis in a survivor getting the better of her captor/offender.   There are other problems with that narrative that I can discuss later if anyone is interested.  Anger and rage is part of metal, a fan of the music is very much in tune with these emotions, and most metal-heads are dealing with some kind of oppression or hardship that only the music can address.

However, linking this type of imagery to the lyrics of this song is horrific to me.  The video is not imaginary, thousands of women are killed by men in similar ways each year and in mostly all of those instances, it is about male entitlement and male privilege.  This video depicts violence against women as catharsis and as something that people can identify with.  Considering the view points and actions of Elliot Rodgers on May 23, 2014 this video is especially horrific as it is so similar to the context established by the combination of the lyrics and imagery of the video.

Masculinity is linked directly with violence and media does not exist in a vacuum.  Video’s like ‘Cease to Exist’ glorify this type of violence and it plays a part in establishing a culture that sees violence against women as normal.  I doubt Mitch had his daughter Kenadee in mind when he wrote these words.

Will ‘Cease to Exist’ directly cause more men like Elliot Rodgers to kill women, no.
Will ‘Cease to Exist’ contribute to a larger culture that maintains attitudes and beliefs that can be used as justification for violence against women, yes.

Will men like Elliot Rodgers get validation from videos like ‘Cease to Exist,’ definitely.
Metal, to me, is about emotional and intellectual honesty of self and if I’m honest with myself I cannot condone video’s like this nor can I remain silent.

That’s all I got.