THEORY INTO PRACTICE - A Visual Response

As I began to look deeper into metal culture, I found that a lot of the symbolism used could be considered quite dark - with themes such as death and association with the devil. One could assume that the darker symbolism is to keep it away from mainstream culture as some 'metal heads' see this culture as an escapism from every-day life.

I explored different symbols of death and read about different gods of death from various ancient cultures. This is an area I may return to later on because it really interested me, but it was veering away from my original subject.

Metal culture is centered around the music scene and metal heads often wear band patches and merchandise to show their interest and support of the music. 

Although I churned out a lot of drawings of symbolism and generally things related to metal culture, I still didn't really know what I was trying to say. How was I trying to portray this culture and the people who indulge in it or will this be a project about symbolism in different cultures?

I want to show a contrast between 'metal heads' and mainstream culture and explore why people turn to the metal culture for their escapism of the conformity of every-day life.