ELEVATING THE METALHEAD UNIFORM

I'm listening to the new Maruta record, Remain Dystopian, and it's quite fucking good. If you get down with a little deathgrind, you could do much worse. Before moving to LA, I was the vocalist in a death metal band. We recorded a bunch of songs and played a bunch of shows in a bunch of bars for a bunch of dudes. It was fun. But now I own too many black t-shirts. Like this one: 

Take that, the Establishment!

Spend enough time in the metal scene and patterns emerge, allowing for a few generalizations to be made. An example: contrary to the expectations of our culture at large, I've found metalheads to be some of the most sensitive, empathetic people around. Making or listening to aggressive music, like metal or hardcore, does not necessarily correlate with being an angrier-than-normal person. 

Although, in my case, it does.

Another fair generalization is that the metal community is a bit limited when it comes to fashion, sticking to a basic uniform comprised by: 

• A black band t-shirt (violent or shocking imagery always a plus)
  
• Dad jeans or cargo pants/shorts (khaki is good, camo is better) 
• Practical sneakers or work boots. 

*Patch-covered vests,  black leather jackets, and chrome skull jewelry are encouraged, but not required*

Case in point: my former band, Xenosis, circa 2012. So metal \m/

Metalheads tend to favor function over form. Fashionistas they are not. So I will now offer my humble suggestions to elevate this basic uniform to #menswear status. First up, the black t-shirt:

Haven sells this loose-fit tee from nonnative for 136 USD. And while that's a fair amount of guap to drop -- considerably more than you spent on that sweet Cattle Decapitation shirt -- you get a well-made piece of clothing, crafted in a lightweight cotton/rayon blend, with a convenient chest pocket in which you can store your lighters and spare skull rings. Now, onto covering your nads: 

These Upcycled Custom Cargo Pants from Maharishi are about as upscale as cargo pants get. They're made from recycled vintage US Army cotton. They've even been "blessed in India with saffron incense to cleanse them of all military associations". Yup. And they do it for all their 'Upcycled' pieces. 

Realistically, most of your metalhead peers will glance at these Junya Watanabe cowhide leather high tops and assume they're Chucks. Oh, but how wrong they will be. At 232 USD, these sneakers are an expensive flex, but can you really put a monetary value on that warm feeling of superiority that having nice things confers on you? No, the answer is 'no'.

Listen to Maruta's Remain Dystopian here:

And check out my old band's record here: