Has Metal Found a Home at Eurovision?

We won’t be watching Eurovision on Saturday as usual. It’s an embarrassing parade of cheesey upbeat Euro-poppers or pleadingly shite ballads. That’s why it’s so popular in Germany.  But is it really so?

The Guardian has suggested that Eurovision is actually a perfect fit for Metal.  Metal fans certainly love a good singalong, especially when we are all aresholed at Download, and in terms of OTT theatre, no one does it better than Metal. We have Kiss, Rammstein & Maiden after all.

And if you think about it, nearly every Eurovision has had a metal entry, although these often become embarrassing acts of self-parody. Remember Lordi who actually won for Finland in 2006?

This year there are actually two metal acts: Australia’s Voyager, who play, er, synth-meta,l and Germany’s Lord of the Lost, who are a more compelling sounding “industrial glam-metal”.

While the music may sound a little cold on Spotify, check out the videos on YouTube and it’s a whole different ball game. Colorful backdrops and outrageous costumes make for considerable spectacle.

Things started to change with Eurvision in 2010 when Turkish rap-metal band Manga earned second place. We suspect their fireworks helped a lot.

Then, in 2021, Italian band Måneskin won the contest with a decent glam rock number, while Finish nu-metalers Blind Channel finished sixth. Since then Finland has mobilized both Käärijä (2023) and veterans the Rasmus (2022). There’s clearly a trend. May Metal’s bombast, spectacle and honesty does work well in this context?

But it raises questions for those of us that take our Metal very seriously. Would rock music be better off keeping out of the way of such mainstream nonsense? Is Eurovision a credible a showcase for proper music?

But this just in…… Croatia’s Let 3, a punk band with flamboyant stage attire and an anti-war anthem, are the first act from Semi-Final One to pass 1 million views on YouTube following the show.

So maybe we will be watching Eurovision on Saturday. It might be the new home of Metal.