Phrygian Heroes, Nation and Distortion. The Battle for the Flatted Second as a Musical Sign in Spanish Heavy Metal

Abstract

Despite its unusualness in the Anglo-Saxon rock music canon, the Phrygian mode is a stylistic element that is widely used in heavy metal. In particular, the flatted second degree of the scale (supertonic) (b2) has been discussed in relation to its appropriation from masculinity in heavy metal and its use as an element of tension and dissonance in these repertories, sometimes associated with a sinister style and with doom. This article discusses inter/hypertextual and transphonographic processes based around the Phrygian mode, the minor second and the flatted second in heavy metal music in Spain. A variety of representations of this melodic and/or harmonic structure are presented, from imaginaries about the Andalusian, Spanish, Arab and flamenco style in music that connect these musical forms with exoticism and orientalism, to its use as a stylistic marker of heavy metal without explicit territorial evocations. This musical sign, constantly reappropriated within a complex network of meanings present in popular songs recorded by heavy-metal bands, constitutes a first level in the enunciation of diverse patrimonial narratives. In this article, these aspects are linked to the construction of discourses around national identities in Spain and the recreation of imagined communities based on historical myths and national heroes, from the exaltation of figures such as El Cid to the evocation of the past of Al Andalus.