The Goblet of Shock
Metal, Horror, and Twisted Campfire Tales
By Michael Aronovitz
Plainly, heavy metal is a family business with a dedicated fan base that often provides services simply for the love of the music. Friends and relatives pound the pavement passing out flyers. They mind the store at the merch table and make sure everyone has a beer and a burger after practice. A lot of roadies, especially in the early part of a band’s career, volunteer all the elbow grease. Many opening metal bands are their own roadies, drivers, secretaries, and publicists. I have been volunteering review articles here at Metal Heads Forever since 2016. This all started when I released my third horror novel, Phantom Effect, Night Shade-Skyhorse Publishing. I needed something to tweet about besides my buy-links, but what began as a thinly disguised promotional technique, turned into a gig in itself. I found that I liked writing articles about metal bands. No. Fuck that. I love writing articles about metal bands, especially new ones.
This column is a celebration of the readers of Metal Heads Forever. I want your stories and I want to publish them right here. A lot of Metal Heads play instruments. Why not write a description of your ax or drum set, and then talk about where you are in your journey? Why not tell a cool story about your band even if you are still in the garage? Why not tell the world all about the best concert or festival you ever attended, even if you woke up in a dumpster with the worst hangover of your ever-loving life? Why not talk about your Spotify play lists, or if you’re old school, your vintage record collection down the basement in a pair of orange milk crates under the stairs next to the Christmas shit? Why not review your favorite all-time album, a sentence or two for each cut, next sharing with us all, the hidden treasures you always felt like you were the first to discover?
I know. This is crazy, but fuck it, I am only half done. Next, of course, we have the “horror” angle. Since Black Sabbath’s debut in 1970, metal and horror have been joined at the hip. What is your twisted campfire tale? Do you believe in ghosts? Did some fucked up shit happen when you visited your time/share cabin in the woods two summers ago? Is the lake haunted? Is there a strange silhouette in the driveway? Are there noises coming from the tool shed? From inside the closet? From under the bed? As I said prior, I am a published horror writer, so I would be thrilled to post your ghost story or even a short opinion piece about your favorite horror movie. Mine is Halloween, the original from 1978. How about you?
In all, I want to champion our stories, all of us, the metal diehards. It is a family thing. It’s personal to me. With each new column posting, I will add my own “tale of the week” so to speak, whether it is news about my upcoming horror books, an idea I had about process, or just a positive or negative mini-review of a horror film or new metal album.
So, let’s do this. Please use the email below and send me a story, a narration, a poem, a review. No tale is “too small” or insignificant. Everything counts! Please keep the submissions under 500 words. (For an example of what that looks like, this article post was at about 500 words before this statement here in parenthesis). Short is good. You could even write me a sentence. If you are in a working band and want to advertise your product as well as telling your story, you can give me a pic, a logo, a website address, and/or a buy-link. If you have a horror or music book you’ve published, you can give me the cover art and buy-link if you wish. Just make sure you include a glimpse of your world through the lens of metal, a dread-fest, or both.
Reach Out : mikemetalheadsforever@gmail.com
Michael Aronovitz:
Horror Author, College Professor, and Rock Critic
