Out of the various musical genres, few are as direct in their efforts to translate the suffering and misery of life into sonic energy as death metal. Frequently, those bursts of brutality come in the form of some long-haired, leather-clad dude with heavy eye make-up scream-singing about the death sound, but occasionally, the art form draws in someone with some real angst to express.
Take, for example, the story of Inge Ginsberg, a now-96-year-old poet, composer, Holocaust survivor, and newly minted metal singer, who’s spent the last few years honing her skills as a metal singer/rapper, too. Ginsberg—who’s appeared on show’s like Switzerland’s Got Talent, venting her thoughts on life, death, and the fight against the tomb—was the subject of a New York Times piece this week, with an accompanying doc video laying out her life story.
And even if she can’t quite go full Cookie Monster voice anymore, there’s no denying the fact that Ginsberg’s lyrics—and her energy, and her life story—are sufficiently brutal to stand up with the heavy metal greats. We can’t imagine anyone else with more right to grab the mic and throw up the horns.