Heavy metal is a world of weird contradictions. For those of us devoted to it, the music is life-saving, while others hear nothing but worthless noise. It’s a scene that champions the outsider, yet the majority of people who make and listen to it are cis-het white men. And, as passionate as we metalheads are about their favourite bands, some of us like to gatekeep and ‘protect’ them from a broader listenership.
We love metal, although sometimes it feels impossible to understand. So, we sought enlightenment from Robyn Ward, better known as The Metal Therapist. She’s a content creator with 39,000 Instagram followers, but more importantly for us, she’s a practicing therapist with eight years experience. She discovered heavy music in her early teens, when her friends took her to a local rock and emo club in Wigan, which is around the same age that many people start to enjoy metal.
