Back in the day, bands that had women in them were more of a precious commodity than ubiquitous without notice. In the rock world, we had women like Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett, and Blondie holding it down with the masses. Despite the late ‘90s and early 2000s giving us releases from legends like Lacuna Coil and Evanescence, metal especially has always been dominated by men. White, straight men. And when it came to attending shows back in the day, the audiences (especially the pits) were much of the same, drenched in sweat and an offensive lack of deodorant.
No matter what section of the metal world you’re sitting in, I’d venture to say you’ve definitely seen, heard, or experienced some level of adversity as a non-man at some point. The invalidation; the belief that a woman could never (or at least, rarely) do anything remotely more brutal than bubblegum pop or something hyper-sexualized. There’s nothing wrong with either of those things, but the inherent dismissal of women being able to do anything other than those things, is. A term like “female-fronted” or emphasizing that a band has a “chick” playing any instrument, has usually served as a way to throw some sort of congratulatory shade at a woman doing anything other than what widely we’re accepting of them doing. It’s reductive, especially when we’ve had so many queenpins throughout the years.
Take Maria Ferrero, aka Metal Maria, for instance. She’s been, as she’s said herself, “turning artists into household names since 1983,” and that’s no joke. Maria’s been around the metaphorical metal block working with bands through her company Adrenaline PR and more. But, even though she’s played a large hand in literally all of our favorite names (she literally SIGNED Ministry in the ‘90s, y’all), that doesn’t mean she’s immune to the bullshit. She just doesn’t take it lying down.
“I’ve been around for over 45 years going to shows like Metallica, Plasmatics, Black Flag, Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, and Godflesh. There were barely any other women at shows as fans, let alone as artists on stage taking a leap to share their talent onstage or to become music industry folk. That’s why I pride myself on being a part of the metal music industry at an actual level of importance such as signing bands like Testament and Vio-lence and all as a suburban New Jersey woman, all before I was 21.”
Y’all better put some respect on her name and, for the most part, you have. It’s all the other women in the genre whose, though it has improved, flowers deserve to bloom outside of festival and award seasons.
Many of us, while likely nowhere near possessing as awesome of a resume as Ferrero, started our relationship with metal as angelic, angry little shits looking for an escape. And, since we started so young, we have literal years of worth of chauvinism to reference. That makes it hard NOT to get giddy about seeing another lady actively doing what they’re try so hard to exclude us from doing, so in that sense, using a descriptor like “female-fronted” could be like a somewhat welcomed dogwhistle.
At least, that was more of the case before the internet allowed for you to look up bands yourself, or find people who were able to freely speak on which artists are phenomenal without being bound by the confines of editors or media conglomerates with less supportive agendas and penchants for suppression.
Like Ebonie Butler, better known online as Metal and Coffee. She’s a streamer and music appreciator, since her content focuses more on uplifting voices in metal than outright critiquing them. Her beginnings in metal will likely sound very familiar to many of you gals, and especially us Black ones.
“In the beginning, I was treated like a foreigner in the space. Men used to ask me about the shirt I was wearing because they thought I stole it from a partner or something. And people often thought that I just wanted to be white so bad and that’s the reason I would go to shows. Which I always found funny because who would intentional put themselves in a space where no one looks like them, just to kiss people’s asses and try to be accepted? That shit is so uncomfortable.
“I went to shows by myself for the music. I would find my little corner and block everyone out. A perfect night would be where I was literally invisible and it was just be engulfed in gutturals and blast beats.”
I’d say “engulfed in gutturals” is a fair assessment of what it’s like to be at a show for sure, but it’s not taken as seriously when women try to do it. Now at 38, Butler’s alienation has morphed further into a means of supporting others who’ve gone through much of the same thing.
“The people that have recognized me at shows have been really sweet,” Butler says. “I especially love it when a woman and/or Black follower comes up to me to share how me being vocal online has made them feel welcome in the space.”
Needless to say—since it’s kind of the point of this whole article—that exclusionary energy also extends its grubby little negative hands to the talent sector of the metal world as well. Apparent talent aside, when it comes to women playing in bands, the hands that hold the instrument bear more weight than what they do with it.
Emma Boster, the vocalist of Portland, Oregon-based metalcore band Dying Wish, is a good example of this. Boster’s got some powerful cords in that throat but, especially when the band first started, it didn’t seem like that mattered as much as that it came out of her specifically.
“I’ve been screaming in a band for almost ten years and the amount of times I’ve heard ‘I don’t usually like when girls are in bands but I like your band’ is seriously disheartening. I fear that people think women being in bands feels like a trend to some people. There isn’t as much violence around being a woman in the scene as there used to be and in that way it has gotten better. But I think there is still a lot for us to unpack and work towards treating women in bands equally.”
From the stage to the pit to the page, women’s presence in metal have been treated like a trope. Like the red-headed stepchildren of metal’s family tree, if you will; an afterthought of consideration and appreciation in terms of talent, no matter how evident. Recently though, metal in general has been getting more recognition on a larger scale, like Gojira’s visually stunning 2024 Olympics performance, or Knocked Loose’s Jimmy Kimmel performance from that same year. Still, those accolades have by and large been reserved for metal men, save for Poppy’s 2021 Grammy nom for “Bloodmoney” and Spiritbox’s 2024 and 2025 nominations for “Jaded” and “Cellar Door,” respectively (though Poppy was also nominated along with Knocked Loose for “Suffocate” last year as well). While women being in bands has always been a thing, appreciating them has risen in popularity, especially with names like Poppy and Courtney LaPlante gaining such household recognition.
The positive shift surely isn’t lost on Boster:
“The overall vibe is much more positive but there are still a lot of nasty comments (which I don’t read anymore). I think the biggest thing I’ve noticed lately is our expectation of perfection is a different standard than our male counterparts. We are expected to be pretty and in good shape as if our job is to appeal to the male gaze and not play breakdowns. We also are criticized vocally far more than men who scream. I think overall the popularity of women in bands is responsible but I also think what’s really critical is how MANY women are in known bands as opposed to a decade ago you could almost name them on one hand.”
Now that publications are getting better at using different descriptors and expanding the repertoire of who they cover in general, the bias is thankfully becoming slightly less discernible. That doesn’t mean we’re in the clear yet though, so normalizing women’s presence in the genre should always be a priority. I know I, much like Butler, will continue to scour the ends of the internet in search of what’s good:
“I think it’s slowly becoming less shocking to see women in metal although I still personally get excited when I see it. We are still a minority so effort still needs to be put in to bring us to the forefront. I think the media has been doing a better and better job with diversifying the bands they highlight instead of just sticking to the most popular women in the scene. It’s all about doing the work and not being lazy about seeking it out in underground music.”
With all that said, what will the next decade of metal look like for us ladies? Well, on the assumption that the world even still exists by then, hope for continued recognition really rests in what’s going to maintain as a society in general—acknowledging that we’re ALL in this together, as hokey as I know that definitely sounds. Creativity can thrive in solitude, but teamwork really does make the dream work, or however the saying goes.
And, to be a team, you have to be inclusive not just of all genders and identities, but of all races, too. As a Black woman who writes about metal, and has for over 15 years, it sucks that this entire discourse is one I’m still having to partake in. Let’s keep it a buck though—it sucks that we’re still having conversations about rights, equality, and recognition at large, in general. Butler agrees.
“I think as long as we continue to realize that acceptance of all people in the genre will lead to growth and true community, we will continue on the ups and boot all those ugly ass Nazis out.”
That, and staying open-minded while still acknowledging how closed off metal started at its core. You can’t change form without looking at how you formed in the first place and part of that, at least in this context, involves developing and maintaining a willingness to accept our differences. Being “different” from the norm is what this music was all about in the first place, right? To Boster, that answer is yes, of course.
“I think what’s important is that we don’t lose sight of the roots of metal and hardcore as a movement of some kind to be the antithesis to modern society. As long as we can maintain that mentality in the balance of growth I think we’ll head in an inspiring direction. Ideally we would see an equal representation of all kinds of people across the board so that we wouldn’t need to emphasize when someone looks different than the usual cis white male.”
For Ferrero, that future involves expanding the boundaries of your expectations and creative approach. Metal has always been homogenous in looks and lately, in sound, and you can’t call for change if you’re just trying to do the same thing as everyone else.
“I feel like it’s deja vu. Too many bands releasing music. Too big of a lack of support by labels and managers since they’re more interested in what they’ll make versus what they’ll invest in to get a different return…Too many artists trying to be like other bands or have similar careers. The magic happens in the unexpected. The uniqueness is what rewrites new directions. Why label it? Why say ‘female-fronted?’ Why say ‘post-hardcore?’ Can’t it just be blank and androgynous? Here it is, just go listen.”
Just go listen.