Over the course of five decades, metal music has split into many offshoots of diverse subgenres. One of them, black metal, features shrieking vocals and saturated guitars, and usually deals with topics such as satanism, anti-christianity, paganism, and misanthropy in their lyrics and imagery.

Depressive Suicidal Black Metal (commonly referred to as DSBM) is a style of black metal which focuses on the themes of depression, suicide, self-harm, and death. In short, DSBM music focuses on vulnerability in life, which led to some criticisms from black metal purists who consider DSBM’s self-pitying tendencies incompatible with the virility and strength commonly promoted in metal music.

Many musicians who belong to the style reject the term “DSBM”¹. DSBM should be understood as a subjective category, generally named by fans who find in some black metal bands themes they can relate to. It’s a “sub-culture of emotional unstableness (both for musicians and listeners)”, as scholar José Filipe P. M. Silva wrote².

While suicide plays a major, if not essential role, in DSBM, the same can’t be said of self-injury. It’s a frequent theme of course, but many bands also go without mentioning it. For each song referred to in this article, there are dozens of songs which don’t have any reference to self-injury at all. DSBM stems from real life struggle with depression. Depression and mental health issues take many forms, and obviously not everyone who is depressed engages in self-injury. This diversity of symptoms is conveyed through DSBM music. Even though self-injury is not essential to the style, I think a decent amount of people who listen to it do struggle with self-injury, and seek this theme in DSBM music. This article is also of special interest to me: I love metal music, with a soft spot for black and death metal, so the idea of combining two of my interests is very appealing to me. And finally, self-injury is still very taboo, and not many people openly talk about it. So the fact that it’s covered so freely in DSBM offers a rare insight into the private world of people who harm themselves.

Description and aesthetic

DSBM belongs to black metal. See DSBM as a magnifying glass. While black metal overall covers diverse topics such as satanism, anti-christianity, paganism, suicide, death and misanthropy, DSBM only zooms on a few of these topics, like suicide, depression, self-harm and death. As its name indicates, it’s a style of black metal made for and by depressive, suicidal people. Similarly, DSBM takes on the shrieking vocals and distorted guitar commonly found in black metal, but pushes them even further. Songs are often lengthy and monotonous, drawing similarities with depression, which can seem never-ending to those who struggle with it^{3, 4}. Unlike some other metal styles, the screams don’t sound demonic, but rather human: they express emotional suffering in a non-vocal way. One of the most emblematic cases is that of vocalist Nattramn in Death – Pierce Me by Silencer, a major album that contributed to shaping DSBM. The vocals are so impactful that rumor has it that Nattramn was self-injuring during the recording, which is likely not true but nevertheless gave the band a mysterious reputation⁵.

DSBM’s fascination with such dark themes is not only featured through music, but is also conveyed through the aesthetic and the public behavior of musicians. Many DSBM album covers feature images of self-cutting or suicide³. Some consider the cover of the bootleg album The dawn of the black hearts by the black metal band Mayhem as a key event which introduced self-harm to the aesthetic of the overall genre. The image depicts the 1991 suicide of Dead, Per “Pelle” Ohlin, the vocalist for the band (who was also known to cut both on stage, and on at least one occasion with vocalist Tompa during a party)^{3, 6}. But the use of the photograph appears to me to have another meaning. The band’s early members were very critical of the commercialization of metal, particularly death metal which they considered not true to metal’s values. The use of such a shocking controversial photograph could have been a strong rejection of the mainstream and social norms, and a reaffirmation of the amorality of black metal⁷.

Despite their earlier work adhering to some aspects of neo-nazism, Australian one-man-band Abyssic Hate became one of the first to feature graphic visuals that depict self-injury along with the common DSBM monotonous sound. The cover of the 2000 album Suicidal Emotions features a shirtless man with his chest and arms covered by laceration scars³. Established and minor bands alike now use this imagery on their covers, such as Shining’s Livets Ändhållplats, Trist’s Zrcadlení melancholie, Life is Pain’s Bloody Melancholy, Nihilistium’s Punishment in the Abyss of Self Hate, Self Inflicted Razor Cutting by the band Sorry…; to only name a few. The use of black and white self-injury pictures on album covers has become a common trope. Many covers look extremely similar, and while it’s easy and quick to design and adhere to the style’s visuals, the shocking value that was initially sought after is disappearing. This habituation to self-injury is not exclusive to DSBM. Mayhem’s vocalist Maniac used to cut on stage, but stopped doing so when self-harm went from being appalling to becoming appealing. As he explained (although I can’t locate the original source of this quote), “[w]hen we realized that the cutting had become a phenomenon people came to watch, I quit doing it”⁸.

Others use self-injury as an inherent part of their creative process. French artist Maxime Taccardi uses his own blood in his painting. He created numerous album covers, including some for DSBM bands Shining and Psychonaut 4. But in his case, self-mutilation is very distinct to pathological self-injury, as he explained in the French magazine Rituel in 2024 (translation by me)⁹: “To slice my wrist, I use razor blades or very sharp knives. Then, I dip the brush directly into the wound, which becomes in a way an open door to my subconscious. The pain experienced through mutilation is a part of the process and adds great sense to the purpose of the work. It’s not about promoting self-harm as a cry for help, but rather to express yourself in a more tangible way about the relationship between the body as a dying entity and the world in perpetual motion. It brings life to painting, it makes it an organic entity that is determined by the laws of mortality. Indeed, the blood tends to change color as it oxidizes with air. So I add a protective varnish to preserve the paintings, which enables them to keep some kind of vibration. This process is fascinating and remains a semantic aspect of this practice”. This strong meaning associated with self-injury is reminiscent of that of Kim Carlsson, which I’ll cover later.

Self-injury in lyrics

Because of the shrieking, most DSBM lyrics are unintelligible, and can only be understood if read. As we’ve seen above, the core emotions are conveyed through sound, and text only serves as a minor support. Still, lyrics are filled with references to self-injury, primarily to cutting, and more rarely to burning:

• Psychonaut 4 – Pain Dealer: someone has their hands “covered with scars and cigarette burns”

Lyrics express the use of self-harm as a coping mechanism to escape negative emotions. Some songs deal with loneliness and refer to self-harm as a substitute for relationships: 

• ColdWorld – Tortured by Solitude: “Tortured by solitude / I bleed and bleed / Tortured by myself”
• Forgotten Tomb – Disheartenment: a lonely persona feels the urge to injure himself during “another night alone”. His “only friend remains this knife”
• Forgotten Tomb – Scars: “blood streams” as the persona falls “again into loneliness”
• Make a Change… Kill Yourself – Chapter IV: “the knife seems too kindly”

In many DSBM songs, the personas resort to cutting to exteriorize their suffering, but that isn’t always enough to feel better:

• Nocturnal Depression – Home Asylum: “they get the knife as the inner suffering explode out”
• Forgotten Tomb – Alone: “Trying to push away the need to harm myself / I feel is growing deep inside of me / I feel I will have to carve this pain upon my skin”
• Forgotten Tomb – Disheartenment: cutting is an attempt to “objectivate this hate”
• Shining – Ännu Ett Steg Närmare Total Utfrysning: “In the despair of frustration I cut my flesh” (translation)
• Make a Change… Kill Yourself – Chapter III: “cut as deep as my everlasting pain”
• Mutiilation – Bitterness Bloodred: “all the scars drawing my body won’t never release me from grief”, meaning self-injury is not enough to remove suffering
• Woods of Desolation – The Leaden Sky Thorn: “another scar as meaningless as a tear to an ocean”

Most songs mention cutting as a method for self-injury, perhaps because it leads to bleeding, which is a recurrent theme both in songs but also in real life: almost half of people who engage in self-injury attach importance to the sight of blood. Many songs feature a parallel between blood resulting from self-injury, and tears:

• Forgotten Tomb – Scars: “When I cry into darkness and my scars release blood”
• Totalselfhatred – Carving: the “body weeps in its beauty” as “the blade runs”

Blood can also be a symbol of life, but interestingly, in DSBM songs, self-injury is rarely a clear suicide attempt, nor is definitely non-suicidal. It seems rather to be on a spectrum, in which suicidality can gradually increase, or be left to chance.

• Make a Change… Kill Yourself – Chapter IV: “this is the border between life and death”
• I’m in a Coffin – Finally Happy: the song also expresses this uncertainty of life and death, by mentioning the cycle of suicidal thoughts and depression. “Blood shows me I’m alive”, thinks the persona, before being dragged into ruminations “alive too long, I must die…”
• Forgotten Tomb – Disheartnement:”, the persona cuts to “try to find a way out from this state of suicidal urge”, but only a few verses later, adds “another cut lacerates my flesh, sometimes I think it will be the last”. Cutting is both a way to resist suicidal thoughts, and a possible way to commit suicide
• Hypothermia – Del I: from the album Rakbladsvalsen (Razor waltz) which is entirely dedicated to self-injury used as a blood ritual, the persona is aware of this blurred frontier between suicidal and non-suicidal self-injury, and wonders “would an incision further make the pain go away or just make it worse?” (translation)

Embodying self-injury

Several musicians have also turned to cutting on stage, such as Kim Carlsson from the aforementioned bands Lifelover and Hypothermia, or Niklas Kvarforth from Shining.

Kim Carlsson’s history with self-injury and his openness regarding the topic allow us to get a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the depiction of self-injury in DSBM. He dedicated two videos about the topic on his Youtube channel to share his personal experience with cutting, which spans over two decades. Carlsson strongly rejects the use of self-harm for entertainment. “I sincerely completely reject the stereotype of a metal musician cutting just for the sake of it or I’ve never done it actively as some kind of entertainment and that’s why I very early on, made that very active decision to not implement it in anything that happens on stage”, he explains. “I can count definitely on one hand from over a hundred concerts where it has happened on or near a stage”¹⁰. 

Carlsson argues that since his teenage years, cutting has always been connected to the idea of creating or learning something. He has used cutting as a meditation method and, at some point in his life, got into the bad habit (as he describes) of using it for self-discipline, but now prefers to avoid it. He warns it’s easy to stagnate in the behavior, and finds healthier strategies to deal with his situation and encourages others to similarly find alternatives, such as talking with others, walking in the forest, or working on a project. Finally, he adds that scars can be associated with positive things, while not being a positive thing per se, which can help people who suffer from self-injury better accept their scars^{10, 11}. This suggests that while dealing with dark themes, DSBM might not necessarily cause harm to its community.

Reception

Metal music has always been the target of judgment and misunderstanding from the mainstream media and public opinion, which have frequently accused it of generating violence and driving young people to suicide. Yet, such accusations have never been confirmed by researchers and clinicians^{3, 12}.

Some fans of DSBM admit that the style is potentially triggering to some, as it desensitizes, and sometimes glorifies or romanticizes self-harm, they have explained on a SubReddit dedicated to the subgenre. Yet, this is far from being a unanimous opinion within the community, and many respond that it is society or mental illness which leads people to self-harm, as opposed to simply an album cover or a song. They believe such harsh themes are an integral part of DSBM and extreme metal as a whole, and that listeners are responsible for willingly accessing graphic content found in the scene. Others add that DSBM’s entire point isn’t to give moral advice, but rather to explore misery and pain, and that self-harm is no different from other topics frequently found in other styles, such as drug abuse or violence¹³. Indeed, metal music has always explored the darkest aspects of human nature, but it isn’t necessarily unhealthy¹². 

Despite these harsh themes, many listeners of DSBM find the style comforting as they know others feel the same³. It’s because they could relate to the lyrics and the style’s imagery that they were initially drawn to DSBM¹³. As the persona explains in Lifelover’s song “Visdomsord”, “it’s a relief to know that others are also suffering”. DSBM therefore can have some therapeutic aspects. While this function is provocatively opposed by some musicians such as Niklas Kvarforth, who maintains the aim of their music is to hurt people^{6, 14}, other artists reject the idea of celebrating mental illness, suicide and self-harm¹. Many DSBM musicians admit to suffering from psychiatric disorders such as depression, suicidal tendencies and self-destructive behaviors. The lyrics commonly stem from their own personal experience and help them deal with the idea of death more easily¹⁵.

Conclusion

There is no evidence that metal makes people depressed, and we might assume that it is the opposite: depressed people are drawn to metal because it deals with feelings they experience¹². Perhaps this could explain the current loss of quality of DSBM. DSBM is a rather beginner-friendly genre. Songs can be easily written in the comfort of one’s bedroom with a looped guitar track and a basic beat from a drum machine. And while these improvised musicians receive little visibility, it might at least be cathartic for them to finally get to express their suffering.

References

[1] Göransson, N. (2020, September 30). Ofdrykkja interview. Bardo Methodology. https://www.bardomethodology.com/articles/2020/09/30/ofdrykkja-interview/

[2] Silva, J. F. P. M. (2017). Depressive Suicidal Black Metal and borderline personality disorder: A journey into the depths of emptiness. In Keep it simple, make it fast! : an approach to underground music scenes. Volume 3 (pp. 167-171). Publicação de Acesso livre.

[3] Coggins, O. (2019). Distortion, restriction and instability: Violence against the self in depressive suicidal black metal. Metal Music Studies, 5(3), 401-418. https://doi.org/10.1386/mms.5.3.401_1

[4] DePasquale, J. (2018, July 26). A Fly Over the Fringes: Depressive Suicidal Black Metal, Past, Present, and Beyond. Invisible Oranges. https://www.invisibleoranges.com/depressive-black-metal/

[5] DopeLord. (2016, February 19). “Depressive Suicidal Black Metal”. Scholomance Webzine. https://www.scholomance-webzine.com/2016/02/article-depressive-suicidal-black-metal.html

[6] Silk, J. (2013). Open a Vein: Suicidal Black Metal and Enlightenment. Helvete, 1, 5-19. https://doi.org/10.21983/P3.0027.1.00

[7] Stubberud, J. (2018). The Death Archives: Mayhem 1984-94. Ecstatic Peace Library.

[8] Kristiansen, S. E. (2016, March 18). MAYHEM To Be Rejoined By Singer MANIAC For SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL Performance. Blabbermouth. https://blabbermouth.net/news/mayhem-to-be-rejoined-by-singer-maniac-for-sweden-rock-festival-performance

[9] Taccardi, M., & Lageat, P. (2024). Maxime Taccardi. Rituel, 64-77.

[10] Carlsson, K. (2019, November 1). On cutting with Kim Carlsson – Part one. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1saOYy2ajY

[11] Carlsson, K. (2019, November 4). On cutting with Kim Carlsson – Part two. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-0InolWJJI

[12] Blott, J. (2021). High spirits: heavy metal and mental health. Lancet Psychiatry, 8(2), 105-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2215-0366(20)30558-7

[13] Reddit users. (2020, June 17). Album covers depicting self harm : r/dsbm. Reddit. Retrieved January 4, 2024, from https://www.reddit.com/r/dsbm/comments/haj6wd/album_covers_depicting_self_harm/

[14] Lundberg, M. (Director). (2008). Black Metal Satanica [Film].

[15] Yavuz, S. (2016). ‘Humörets Bottenvåning’: Suicide in depressive suicidal black metal music [Conference paper].