The Connection Between H.P. Lovecraft and Heavy Metal Music

A lot of people know H.P. Lovecraft as the author of horror classics like The Call of Cthulhu. What many don’t know is that his work has had a huge influence on heavy metal music. In this blog post, we’ll explore the connection between Lovecraft and metal, and how his dark, unique vision has inspired some of the most famous metal bands out there.

The Life of H.P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was an American writer who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction. He was born in 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island, where he spent most of his life. Lovecraft was a sickly child and was mostly home-schooled by his mother and grandmother. He became an avid reader of horror and science fiction at a young age.

His humble beginnings

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on August 20, 1890, to Winfield Scott Lovecraft and Sarah Susannah Lovecraft. His parents had jointly inherited a modest estate from their respective grandfathers, which was enough to support the small family comfortably. His father’s employment as a traveling salesman meant that the family would often move from place to place; as a result, Lovecraft had little continuity in his education.

During one of the family’s frequent moves, to Brooklyn Heights in New York City, Lovecraft contracted an ear infection which led to his hospitalization. While there he suffered from delirium and dreamed up the first stories that would later comprise The Crawling Chaos, one of his earliest fiction works. After his release he returned to school for a brief period before his health began failing again; he eventually stopped attending altogether and became a recluse.

It was during this period that Lovecraft began writing what would become some of his most celebrated works, including “The Call of Cthulhu” and “The Dunwich Horror”. Many of these stories were published in Weird Tales, the leading fantasy and horror magazine of the time. Though not commercially successful in his lifetime, Lovecraft’s work has since gone on to influence some of the most popular authors and artists in the horror and science fiction genres.

His love for horror

Lovecraft was born in 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island, and he lived most of his life in New England. Providence was a seaport town and Lovecraft’s father was a traveling salesman for a wholesale jewelry company. Lovecraft’s mother was Trying to be a writer himself, Lovecraft was deeply inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Lord Dunsany. He often referred to Poe as his “godfather of fright.” While still in his teens, he began writing horror stories and would go on to become one of the most important authors in the genre.

Lovecraft’s tales are often set in dark, decaying places where ancient civilizations once thrived. His characters are often ordinary people who find themselves caught up in terrifying events beyond their understanding. Many of his stories have been adapted into films and television shows, including “The Dunwich Horror,” “The Call of Cthulhu,” and “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.”

Lovecraft died of cancer on March 15, 1937, at the age of 46.

His untimely death

On March 15, 1937, at the age of 46, Lovecraft died in Providence from cancer of the small intestine. Despite frequent gastrointestinal difficulties dating back to childhood, he had suffered few major illnesses; the cancer was only diagnosed a few weeks before his death. He declined surgery, saying that it would be futile and that he preferred to spend whatever time he had left with his friends.

In the last years of his life, Lovecraft’s health declined steadily. By early 1936, he could no longer work on fiction and drifted into Savin Hill, where he wrote essays on Weird Fiction for Weird Tales magazine. In mid-1936 he wrote “Supernatural Horror in Literature”, which surveyed horror fiction from 1765 until his own day.

The Birth of Heavy Metal

H.P. Lovecraft was an early 20th century writer who is mainly known for his horror fiction. He was influenced by many writers before him, but he also had a unique style that has inspired writers and musicians for generations. One of the genres that he has influenced the most is heavy metal music.

The early days of metal

In the early days of metal, many of the genre’s pioneers were heavily influenced by the work of horror author H.P. Lovecraft. Bands like Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden wrote songs inspired by Lovecraft’s stories, and their lyrics often dealt with elements of the supernatural. As metal grew more popular, its connection to Lovecraft faded somewhat, but there are still many bands today who carry on the tradition of writing about monsters, madness, and the occult.

The rise of metal in the 80s

With the help of Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath defined metal in the 1970s. Sabbath’s success inspired many other British bands to start creating metal music of their own. In the 1980s, metal went from being an underground genre to becoming a mainstream phenomenon. This is when bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden rose to fame.

During this decade, metal also became more aggressive and harder-sounding. This was partially due to the development of new technologies, such as distortion pedals and double-kick drumming. But it was also due to the influence of heavy metal’s newest subgenre: thrash metal.

Thrash metal was defined by its fast tempo, its aggressive vocals, and its use of distorted guitars. It was pioneered by bands like Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer. These bands tookmetal to a new level of popularity in the 1980s. And they continue to influence heavy metal music today.

The metal scene today

The metal scene today is very different from what it was in the early days of the genre. In the early days, metal was all about hard-hitting riffage, shredding solos, and fist-pumping anthems. Today, however, there is a much wider range of styles within the metal genre. While some bands still stick to the tried-and-true formula of heavy riffs and shredding solos, others have incorporated elements from other genres, such as punk, industrial, and even classical music. This has led to the creation of subgenres such as black metal, death metal, and power metal.

The Connection Between the Two

Although H.P. Lovecraft was writing over half a century ago, his work has had a profound influence on the heavy metal genre of music. Many of the themes and ideas present in Lovecraft’s stories – such as cosmic horror, man’s insignificance in the universe, and the struggle against evil – are also present in heavy metal. In this article, we’ll explore the connection between H.P. Lovecraft and heavy metal music.

The influence of Lovecraft on metal

Lovecraft’s novels, short stories and novellas have had a profound and lasting effect on metal, with his themes of cosmic horror, racial antagonism and physical degeneration informing the music and lyrics of many bands.

Lovecraft’s work has been a particular influence on black metal, with Venom’s first album Black Metal being inspired by his story “The Dunwich Horror”. Other black metal bands to reference Lovecraft in their work include Emperor, Mercyful Fate and Watain.

More broadly, Lovecraft’s work has also been cited as an influence by a number of other metal bands including Metallica, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Megadeth and Dream Theater. His themes of cosmic horror and the insignificance of humanity in the face of a hostile universe resonate with many fans of metal music.

The influence of metal on Lovecraft

Lovecraft was an extremely influential writer in the horror genre, and his work has had a significant impact on heavy metal music. There are a number of key elements in Lovecraft’s stories that have been adopted by metal bands, most notably the idea of cosmic horror. This is the idea that there are things in the universe that are so vast and so powerful that they are beyond our understanding, and that any contact with them would be horrifying. This is a key theme in the work of Lovecraft, and it has been taken up by a number of metal bands who use it to create a sense of fear and dread in their music.

Another important element of Lovecraft’s work is the idea of madness. Lovecraft often used madness as a way to heighten the sense of fear in his stories, and many metal bands have used this same device. Many metal songs deal with themes of mental illness and insanity, and this is often done in order to create a sense of unease and terror in the listener.

Finally, Lovecraft’s work is also notable for its use of gross-out horror. This is the type of horror that focuses on gore and violence, and it is something that has always been popular with metal fans. Many metal bands have used elements of gross-out horror in their music, often to great effect.

So, if you’re a fan of heavy metal music, then you owe a debt of gratitude to H.P. Lovecraft. Without him, the genre would likely be very different than it is today.