A groundbreaking book exploring how metal music uses medieval Hispanic epic themes and how this engagement carries complex cultural and political implications.

Challenging the common view of metal music as just a form of Western pop culture, this innovative book draws attention to medievalizing epicism, a distinctive strand within metal that evokes the medieval and the epic in both aesthetics and sensibility. While often shaped by fantasy literature, cinema, and more recently, video games, this fascination with the medieval has deeper roots in nationalist ideologies. Through a rich exploration of Spain and Portugal’s transitions after their period of authoritarian rule, this book reveals how medievalizing epicism plays a key role in shaping nationalist and ethnocentric discourses, fascist narratives, and official efforts to foster patriotic sentiment, and how metal bands confront these origins.

Drawing on an impressive breadth of scholarship and a deep knowledge of metal music culture, Amaranta Saguar García skillfully weaves together diverse reference points without losing focus or clarity. This book invites both scholars and music fans to reflect more broadly on how metal music imagines and reuses medieval heritage.