Rainbow corpse paint
Abstract
This text explores what happens when black metal corpse paint, traditionally styled in black and white, meets colour, or, what I term rainbow corpse paint. I build on the history of masking and faciality in extreme and black metal music and on experimenting with queer/ing black metal corpse paint by pointing to some of its manifestations in recent years, and try to retroactively highlight and historicise rainbow corpse paint as an artistic means questioning black-and-white dualism. A special focus is put on the manifold ways in which the human face and colours interrogate each other, and finally, a discourse on painting the face as a form of articulating human pain is offered.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Music History and Culture
Fashion and Cultural Textiles
Arts and Performance Studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Journal for Cultural Research
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 122–140
- Publication date
- 2 January 2026
- Language
- EN