1. Introduction Jan-Peter Herbst; 2. Get your double licks on route 666: the sonic evolution of heavy metal across five unholy decades Andrew L. Cope; Part I. Metal, Technology and Practice: Personal Take I. Russ Russell: 3. Mapping the origins of heaviness between 1970-1995: a historical overview of metal music production Jan-Peter Herbst and Mark Mynett; 4. Technical ecstasy: phenomenological perspectives of metal music production Niall Thomas; 5. Not from the mind but the heart: the metanarrative of being in a metal band Hale Fulya Çelikel; 6. Timbral metrics for analysis of metal production: then, now and what next? Duncan Williams; Part II. Metal and History: Personal Take II - Brian Tatler: 7. Mesopotamian metal: learning from the past through metal music? Peter Pichler; 8. Sparta and metal music's reception of ancient history Jeremy J. Swist; 9. Viking metal: obsessed with the past? Imke von Helden; Part III. Metal and Identity: Personal Take III. Yasmine Shadrack: 10. Metal Identities and Self-Talk: Internal Conversations of Belonging, Empowerment, Wellbeing and Resilience Paula Rowe; 11. Metal in Women: Music, Empowerment, Misogyny Rosemary Lucy Hill; 12. Refuse/Resist: what does it mean for metal to be transgressive in the 21st Century? Catherine Hoad; Part IV. Metal Activities: Personal Take VI. Richard Taylor: 13. Metal as leisure space and tourism industry destination Karl Spracklen; 14. Dance practices in metal Daniel Suer; 15. Battle jackets: wearing metal identity Thomas Cardwell; Part V. Modern Metal Genres: Personal Take V. Arne Jamelle: 16. On Horseback they carried thunder: the second lives of Norwegian black metal Ross Hagen; 17. Subgenre qualifiers and prescribed creativity in technical death metal Lewis F. Kennedy; 18. From 'Stereotyped Postures' to 'Credible Avant-garde Strategies': The Alchemical Transformation of Drone Metal Owen Coggins; 19. Djent and the aesthetics of post-digital metal Mark Marrington; 20. Contempt-of-core: a reception history of metalcore subgenres as abject genres Eric Smialek; Part VI. Global Metal: Personal Take IV. Malcolm Dome: 21. Metal in the Middle East Pierre Hecker; 22. Asian metal rising: metal scene formation in the world's most populous region Jeremy Wallach; 23. Distortions in the last frontier: metal music in Africa Edward Banchs; 24. What has Latin American metal music ever done for us?: a call for an ethics of affront in metal Musics Nelson Varas-Díaz and Daniel Nevárez Araújo; 25. Pioneers and provocateurs: Australian metal music, distance and disregard Samuel Vallen.