A lot of the people I know that listen to death or black metal are very scientific - physicists, mathematicians, etc. I've always figured people are attracted t

A lot of the people I know that listen to death or black metal are very scientific - physicists, mathematicians, etc. I've always figured people are attracted to the music for two reasons - Firstly because they tend to be social outliers. As kids, smart and a little awkward. Much like the music. It's not for everyone and it gives you a sense identity and a group to belong to. Secondly because it's challenging to listen to. Like, but somewhat moreso than most genres, you have to spend time figuring the music out. As my mother would say "every song sounds the same" - except it doesn't. There's super complicated time signatures and riffs and everything else. And even if it's not (as) musically complicated, it's just not easy compared to pop tunes on the radio. It's another challenge to work out and make it accessible. And when you do, it's like understanding a world that most others don't (perhaps like coding, or maths, or science). Anecdotally, metal crowds seem to be far more lovely and polite than most. The Cannibal Corpse show I went to a few years back was remarkably so compared to a lot of the punkrock or hiphop shows I attend...