![Olympics show golden age of metal music](https://www.portugalcolonial.pt/media/shared/articles/ec/f2/9a/Olympics-show-golden-age-of-metal-m-327222.jpg)
-
Nissanka leaves Sri Lanka in sight of third Test win over England
-
Kendrick Lamar to headline 2025 Super Bowl halftime show
-
Thousands defy roadblocks in rally for Pakistan ex-PM Khan
-
Roglic wins record-equalling fourth Vuelta
-
Russia advances in east Ukraine, launches deadly air strikes
-
Cowboys quarterback Prescott agrees record $240 mln extension
-
Swiss double in Paralympic wheelchair marathons, Dutch women retain basketball title
-
New 'Beetlejuice' creeps its way to top of N.America box office
-
South Africa captain Kolisi leaves Racing 92: French Top 14 club
-
Funeral for slain athlete Cheptegei in Uganda on Sept 14
-
Dolphins star Hill arrested on way to season-opener
-
Smith hits back after England collapse against Sri Lanka
-
Weather delays final regattas in Louis Vuitton Cup
-
Venezuela's Gonzalez Urrutia: from placeholder to opposition pointman
-
Marquez thanks rain for San Marino MotoGP win as leader Martin pays for gamble
-
Boeing, union reach preliminary deal to avert Seattle-area strike
-
Neuville wins Acropolis Rally to close in on world title
-
Venezuela's opposition figure fled to Spain to save 'his life'
-
Trump, Harris tied on eve of televised presidential debate
-
Paris Paralympics the greatest ever, say former Olympics executives
-
Pope exit revives Sri Lanka's hopes in third Test against England
-
Gunman kills 3 Israelis at West Bank crossing as Gaza war rages
-
Marquez wins San Marino MotoGP as leader Martin pays for rain gamble
-
Greece to hike fee for cruise passengers to Mykonos and Santorini
-
Carsley's 'refreshing' England overhaul launches new era
-
Swiss double in wheelchair marathons on final day of Paralympics
-
France's Le Pen urges Macron to hold referendum to break deadlock
-
Typhoon Yagi weakens, toll rises to 14 in Vietnam
-
India's Randhir Singh elected Asian Olympic chief
-
Under pressure, UN winds down 'unique' Iraq probe into IS crimes
-
'Proud' athletics great Weir calls time on marathon Paralympic career
-
'Brave' Afghanistan can beat anyone, says skipper ahead of NZ Test
-
Vaughan warns England against 'taking the mick' after Sri Lanka collapse
-
England's Moeen Ali retires from international cricket
-
Japan's Hirata holds off inspired Smyth to win on Asian Tour
-
China's Paralympic domination fails to ignite enthusiasm back home
-
Sporting a feathered headdress, Pope finds 'Eden' in Papua New Guinea
-
Super Typhoon Yagi toll rises to 9 in Vietnam after landslide
-
Indonesian villagers dress corpses in ritual for the dead
-
Williamson expects 'phenomenal' Root to keep breaking records
-
The end of Olympic escapism for gloomy France
-
Amy Adams gets real about motherhood in 'Nightbitch'
-
Venezuela says presidential opposition candidate has left country
-
Women ride Pakistan's economic crisis into the workplace
-
Wallabies 'fell of cliff' in loss to Pumas, says coach Schmidt
-
Child abuse scandals hang over pope's East Timor visit
-
Biden team, end in sight, keeps hope on Gaza truce despite setbacks
-
Sabalenka dedicates US Open to family 'who never gave up' on dream
-
Venezuela takes diplomatic jab at Brazil in spat over election
-
Multiple people shot along highway in US state of Kentucky
![Olympics show golden age of metal music](https://www.portugalcolonial.pt/media/shared/articles/ec/f2/9a/Olympics-show-golden-age-of-metal-m-327222.jpg)
Olympics show golden age of metal music
A thundering performance by thrash metal band Gojira at the Olympics opening ceremony shows how much the demonic-sounding genre has entered the pop culture mainstream.
The head-banging foursome gave a unforgettable performance on the balconies of the historic Conciergerie palace along the banks of the Seine on Friday night with a song evoking the guillotine executions of the French Revolution.
They were joined by opera singer Marina Viotti, for "Ah! Ca ira" ("Ah! It'll be fine"), based on the famous revolutionary song of the 1790s.
Viotti was still riding high from her appearance in front of more than a billion TV viewers when AFP spoke to her on Monday.
"It's dizzying," the 38-year-old French-Swiss mezzo-soprano said.
Viotti has dates coming up at Milan's La Scala and the Paris Opera, but she is no stranger to metal, having performed with groups Lost Legacy and Soulmaker.
She was overjoyed to bring the music to a wider audience.
"I've read comments on social networks saying 'I never listen to metal but, this one, it's great, it gave such energy to the show,'" she said.
She hopes it will help change the image of metal and finally rid the genre of its "Satanist" or "violent" cliches.
A surprise inclusion in the Olympics show, Gojira are a French band that have won over metalheads around the world with their pulverising guitars and earth-shattering drums.
"It's crazy, a very nice surprise and a world first for metal," said Corentin Charbonnier, a doctor in anthropology and a French researcher on metal music.
"Right now, we're living in a golden age for metal," he said.
Charbonnier helped curate France's largest-ever exhibition about the genre at -- of all places -- the Paris Philharmonic, which is running until September 29.
Metal is usually traced back to English group Black Sabbath in the early 1970s, merging with glam in the form of Kiss around a decade later and finding its textbook form with US band Metallica in the 1980s and 1990s.
It is now a fully established genre even in France, with a dedicated festival -- Hellfest -- that attracted around 240,000 fans to its latest edition last month.
Metallica headlined the festival for the second time in three years.
"What is interesting in the current revival of metal culture is that some want to be recognised and others want to stay in the shadows, in the counter-culture," Charbonnier said.
The Olympics show has perhaps made it harder to stay niche -- Gojira saw their Spotify streaming numbers jump by 282 percent in France over the weekend, and 129 percent worldwide.
"Some people worry that we risk losing the essence of the music" if it grows too mainstream, Viotti said.
"But, in my eyes, we must move in the direction of union, gathering, sharing, building bridges."
F.Moura--PC