A new study from researchers at the University of Graz indicates extreme metal fans process disgust in visuals differently to nonfans, with noticeably lower disgust reactions and greater amusement when confronted with grotesque imagery. The online experiment found fans rated disgusting artworks, grotesque album art and disturbing photos as less repulsive than nonfans, while also enjoying the aesthetics more in certain contexts.
Disgust is a basic emotion evolved as a cue to avoid disease and decay, but the study suggests the morbid appeal of extreme metal extends beyond mere tolerance. Extreme metal, the umbrella for subgenres such as death metal and grindcore, often foregrounds gore and decay in lyrics, imagery and band art. The authors point to a growing body of evidence that fans derive joy and empowerment from such material, a phenomenon linked to a trait called morbid curiosity.
The researchers placed the new work within a broader theory of how people experience art, using the Vienna Integrated Model of Art Perception. This framework suggests five possible emotional outcomes when viewing art: boredom, surprise, being moved, negative confusion, and insight. The study also explored whether humour plays a role in how disgust-related content is processed.
Participants were recruited mainly from university campuses and online forums, yielding 79 extreme metal fans and 208 nonfans. After statistical matching by age and gender to ensure comparability, the final sample comprised 74 extreme metal fans and 74 matched nonfans, with an average age of around 30. The metal fans were required to name at least one extreme metal band to confirm their status.
All participants completed questionnaires assessing general interest in art, preference for complex or ambiguous artwork, and everyday disgust propensity. They were then randomly assigned to view one of two sets of eight images (16 images in total), each image shown in a random order. The images included two disgusting artworks, two extreme metal album covers with names removed, two everyday gross photographs and two scrambled neutral images. Following each image, participants rated their reactions on multiple scales covering the five art perception outcomes, as well as how humorous they found the picture. They also rated familiarity and disgust on separate scales.
Disgust ratings revealed notable differences between groups. Extreme metal fans reported far lower levels of disgust for the artworks, album covers and gross photos than nonfans. In contrast, ratings for the scrambled control images were nearly identical between groups. Fans also expressed a greater liking for the grotesque imagery overall.
“We were able to replicate the results from our previous study, again showing reduced disgust reactivity to disgusting content in extreme metal fans,” Wabnegger noted. “This suggests that the effect is relatively stable. Moreover, these findings are striking because they show that, under certain conditions, an emotion that is typically strongly aversive can be experienced in a markedly different, and even enjoyable, way.”
In terms of the five art-perception pathways, the two groups did not differ reliably on boredom, surprise, being moved, or insight. They did diverge on negative confusion, with extreme metal fans reporting less negative confusion for artworks, album covers and gross photos. The fans also reported higher amusement, rating the imagery as more humorous: artworks 0.62 points more humorous and album covers 0.68 points more humorous on a 5-point scale, with smaller differences for the other image types.
“The effects we observe are moderate in size, but robust and consistent across different types of disgust-related stimuli,” Wabnegger said. “This means that extreme metal fans do not simply differ from non-fans by a tiny, trivial margin; rather, there is a reliable shift in how they emotionally and aesthetically respond to disgust-containing content.”
The study’s findings align with the idea that extreme metal fans actively reframe dark material rather than passively absorbing it. Merrick Powell, who studies fans of violently themed music and led a 2022 morbid-curiosity study, said the results fit well with theories that fans treat extreme content as something to reappraise rather than simply fear or repel. “I think the most important takeaway is that it aligns with theories of extreme metal fans being active agents in reappraising extreme content even extending to the visual medium associated with the music,” he told PsyPost.
The authors note that extreme metal culture often employs tongue-in-cheek exaggeration, citing examples such as the Czech band Gutalax, which builds album art and live shows around toilet humour. This familiarity with grotesque tropes may help fans view repulsive art as playful or harmless norm violations, allowing laughter where outsiders feel unsettled.
“Relative to non-fans, extreme metal fans do not experience disgust primarily as something revulsive; instead, they often feel it differently—as something exciting, fun, and part of an aesthetic experience,” Wabnegger said. “In this sense, they are ‘in the game’: they engage with disgust-related themes as playful, aesthetic elements rather than as purely aversive content. Our work shows that context can transform even ‘disgusting’ material into something enjoyable, highlighting how emotional experience can be reshaped.”
Powell added that this shared sense of absurdity is central to the subculture and may differentiate extreme metal fans from standard theories of how people safely engage with dark art. “One thing that extreme metal and other ‘extreme’ music genre fans report is knowing and realizing the music is often ridiculous and over the top, which is a key appeal,” he said. “Hence, it is often seen as funny or absurd, whereas people who are not part of these subcultures often do not realize this is the response or reaction that the in-group fans may have. It can be a bit like ‘being in the joke.’ This is where it might differ from some of the other prevalent theories about typically negative emotions and art, such as Menninghaus et al., Distancing-Embracing model, but we would need to do more to know!”
The authors discuss several possible explanations, including the Distancing-Embracing model among other frameworks, while acknowledging that their findings could reflect a particular context where harmless norm violations become funny. They emphasise that lower disgust does not mean fans are emotionally blunted; rather, disgust-related content may be experienced as more fun or entertaining within an aesthetic frame.
Limitations include the single-time-point design, which cannot establish causation, and a participant pool with a higher proportion of men in the metal-fan group, reflecting the genre’s demographics. The study used still images, rather than dynamic music videos or live performance, and future work could explore longitudinal effects and combined audio-visual stimuli.
Looking ahead, Wabnegger said: “Looking ahead, we aim to investigate the role of humor in the perception of disgust-related content.” He added that the findings suggest extreme metal fans may not only tolerate such content but interpret it as playful or amusing.
Beyond understanding music subcultures, the researchers hinted at broader clinical relevance. “Disgust plays a central role in several mental disorders characterised by heightened disgust reactivity, such as OCD. If humor can modulate how disgust is experienced—turning aversive material into something more playful or manageable—it might offer a promising additional tool for interventions, for example by integrating humorous or ‘gamified’ elements into exposure-based treatments,” Wabnegger noted.
The researchers concluded that emotional responses are strongly shaped by context, expectations and shared cultural norms, and they suggested that the findings contribute to a broader understanding of how people engage with extreme content. “And finally, as an avid extreme-metal fan myself: listen to metal!” Wabnegger quipped in closing remarks.
The study, Gore, Guts, and Giggles: Aesthetic Processing of Disgust Stimuli in Extreme Metal Fans, was authored by Albert Wabnegger and Anne Schienle.
