Medievalism, Popular Culture and Politics in Metal Music: The Case of Hispanic Epic Themes

This groundbreaking book challenges the common view of metal music as a simplistic form of Western pop culture, and draws attention to medievalizing epicism, a distinctive strand within metal that evokes the medieval and the epic in both aesthetics and sensibility. While primarily shaped by fantasy literature, cinema and, more recently, video games, this fascination with the medieval has deeper roots in nationalist ideologies. Through a rich exploration of the appropriation of the Western Middle Ages by nationalist and ethnocentric discourses, fascist narratives and official efforts to foster patriotic sentiment, this book reveals how metal bands confront these origins, particularly in post-Franco Spain. Drawing on an impressive breadth of scholarship and a deep knowledge of metal music culture, Amaranta Saguar García explores how metal music engages with medieval Hispanic epic themes and how this engagement carries complex cultural and political implications. Her book invites both scholars and music fans to reflect more broadly on how metal music imagines and reuses medieval heritage, and how this affects the inclusivity and self-fashioning of the scene. Amaranta Saguar García is a scholar of Hispanic medieval literature and metal music, trained at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain, and at the University of Oxford, UK, with academic experience in Germany, France and Spain. Medievalizing epicism - defined as a style or sensibility that evokes the medieval and the epic—has been a hallmark of metal music since its inception. In this regard, metal is not unique among forms of Western pop culture; its fascination with the medieval owes much to the influence of fantasy literature, cinema, and later, video games. Yet medievalizing epicism also plays a key role in shaping (ethno)nationalist ideologies, fascist narratives, and alt-right discourse, as well as official efforts to foster patriotic sentiment. As such, it is often entangled with sexism, racism, nationalism, and exclusivity - elements that frequently echo in metal’s lyrics, imagery, and album art. This book examines how metal engages with these tensions through the specific lens of medieval Hispanic epic themes. It explores whether and how metal bands deal with the problematic associations that medievalizing epicism can carry, and what this means for the broader metal scene. By exploring these intersections, Amaranta Saguar García invites readers to reflect on the cultural and political dimensions of metal’s medieval epic imagination. This Open Access publication is funded by the research project PoeMAS: POEsía para MÁS gente. La poesía en la música popular española contemporánea (PGC2018-099641-A-I00, Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades de España).