Music Therapy: Heavy Metal Strangely Promotes Peace and Calmness

If you want to calm down, consider listening to some heavy metal music.

A new study conducted in Australia found that heavy metal and other types of "extreme music" could have a soothing effect. For this study, the researchers from the University of Queensland recruited 39 participants who regularly listened to "heavy metal, punk, hardcore, and scream" music. The participants were between the ages of 18 and 34.

The team first induced anger, which took 16 minutes, and then asked the participants to either listen to 10 minutes of the music of their choice or sit in complete silence for 10 minutes. The music that the participants listened to included Manowar, Slipknot, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Morpheus Descends, Danzig and Rage Against The Machine.

The researchers found that when they induced anger, levels of hostility, irritability and stress all increased. These levels decreased significantly after the participants listened to music or sat in silence.

"Listening to extreme music may represent a healthy way of processing anger for these listeners," said the study authors. "The findings indicate that extreme music did not make angry participants angrier; rather, it appeared to match their physiological arousal and result in an increase in positive emotions."

Lead author Leah Sharman added, reported by the Telegraph, "When experiencing anger, extreme music fans liked to listen to music that could match their anger. The music helped them explore the full gamut of emotion they felt, but also left them feeling more active and inspired... We see a lot of media headlines that blame certain types of people who listen to certain types of music such as heavy metal for societal problems such as drug use or anger problems. We wanted to see if this sort of music has an influence on people's lives. It does - it makes people feel less hostile and more calm. It did not make them more angry - the music is quite physiologically arousing and can act like a cathartic release and can help to let emotions out."

The study was published in the journal, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.