Hell Bent For Metal fondly recalls that time Rammstein's guitarists kissed on stage in Russia in protest at the anti-LGBT+ laws in the country, as the latest in the show's Side By Side series highlighting times metal musicians stood up as allies.
As well as applauding and thanking the band for the act, Tom and Matt explain that, doing this where they did, it's much more powerful than the same actions in a different place – both because of the impact it could have on queer folks in the audience, because of the potential consequences for the band, and in terms of where public opinion stands on LGBT+ equality in Russia.
Furthermore, there's a discussion about why, coming from this particular band, with the imagery that they've made use of before (such as the cover of 'Herzeleid', for instance), the gesture means a hell of a lot more to them than occasions when some other bands have done similar things, as was previously discussed in HBFM #40.
(And yes, of course they use the subject of Rammstein's imagery as an excuse to talk about the band's infamous phallic foam cannons… and the band's clear interest in that particular piece of anatomy in general. It's a podcast hosted by two queer guys, what else was going to happen?)
The latest in the show's regular series of classic metal songs to be outed as mega gay is "Roots Bloody Roots", as the Sepultura anthem is this week's Camp Classic. And, even for a show that loves looking in fine detail at songs for a level of analysis others wouldn't bother with, there are a surprisingly large list of reasons for their conclusion.
Matt, of course, focuses on the deep and meaningful stuff, dealing with lyrical interpretation that is of obvious relevance to queer folk; Tom, true to form, goes straight for the superficial. But regular listeners probably guessed this already.
There's also some chat about why Sepultura are fantastic, which bits of their catalogue the hosts rate highest, and about why Derrick Green is great bloody great.
There are two entries for the jukebox this week, in an in-depth session in the Hate Crew Gaybar. The first is 'Aphelion', the new album from Matt's less-than-secret obsession Leprous. But does the latest full-length from the Norwegian tech-metal-turned-prog maestros meet with universal approval, or is there a danger of a Hate Crew Gaybarfight? HCGBs security is on standby…
The second jukebox entry this week is 'Differences In Language And Lifestyle', the debut album from Croatian genre-ignorers Moon Unit, who cover so much ground and stick to so few rules it's barely worth even giving an elevator pitch – other than to say they're catchier than velcro.
And yes, Mr Rushton had to be tied down while the first one of those was discussed. For his and everyone else's safety. Expect froth.
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