Why Finns Have an Affinity with Metal Music
Finland is a fertile ground for metal music.
The popularity of heavy metal is undeniable here. In Europe, the country reigns supreme in this genre. You can listen to metal music on commercial radio in Finland.
Metal also dominates the Finnish charts.
But why is this extreme form of music embraced so cordially by a nation often described as silent and socially reserved?
Here are two possible explanations.
1. Processor of pent-up emotions
Emotional restraint is an identifiable behaviour pattern of Finnish people.
They are very straightforward and precise when they talk, but they do not easily express their emotions.
Their emotions tend to make an inward journey. Whatever emotions — soft or hard — they feel inside, they keep those inside.
Any overt and grand manifestation of emotion is viewed as culturally inappropriate.
Ida-Katharina Kiljander, one of the lead vocalists of the Oulu-based metal band Mournful Lines, thinks emotional introversion is a form of learned behaviour in Finland and the roots go back quite far in history.
