Love: an energy running through the world which unites every living soul, or your brain dosing you with the same hard drugs it produces when you pound a Resse’s? For ages, artists from all walks of life have tried to distill the essence of being in love with someone, and metal is no different, with Phil Anselmo, Pete Steele, and Psychostick penning desperate anthems to the Great Indoor Fight. But which metal songs about love are really powerful, and which ones are a lot of self-aggrandizing bullshit about a relationship in which the singer was secretly the problem?
Thankfully, as a belated Valentine’s Day present, love is in the air on our latest episode of our heavy metal talk show Last Words. This week, hosts hosts Katy Irizarry (Season Of Mist), Doc Coyle (Bad Wolves/Ex Man Podcast), and Zeena Koda (Everything’s Political Podcast) talk romance, bromance, and necromance with Santos Montano, drummer for extreme metallers Old Man Gloom. And while the band’s sound might not be the usual fare one plays for their beloved from under a balcony (though maybe they should), Santos has some interesting takes on what constitutes romantic metal — and discusses how he set up a singles mixer at Roadburn one year.
“Roadburn has this aura about it,” says Santos. “They take it really serious, the curating of the music. It’s very moody and forward-thinking…from a music standpoint, it’s awesome! They choose great music, and it’s not just the same old really popular nearly-retired band headlining…and that annoyed me, because it wasn’t fun!”
We won’t give away what Santos did next, but trust us, you want to heart it. Check out the latest episode below:
And for the full, uncensored hardcore love-in of this episode, make sure to check out the Last Words podcast in all its romantic glory:
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Words by Chris Krovatin
