Seite - 90 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Band 05/02

strong”, “check it out”, and others. The sense of alarm is overwhelming, trans- mitting fear, anxiety, and horror (in lyrics, sounds, and images), aiming by these means to trigger a critical reaction from the listeners. Interestingly, it is rare to hear mention of an afterlife; affection and religious/ hopeful emotions disappear in this music. The promise of redemption (liber- ation from slavery) is, nonetheless, implicit within critical dystopia as the last stage, after action. In dystopian music God is barely mentioned; “religious” rock is rare. Rock takes the semiology from the apocalypse but discards spiritual and theological dogmas. Within neo-apocalyptic cultures there is no resident theol- ogy that might challenge others as contradictory or false, and they lack a corpus of doctrinal contents, rites, and obligations. The musical parameters of many of the songs commented upon above have parallels with standard rock songs, emphasizing lyrics via diverse resources. Broadly speaking the acoustic effects available for dystopian songs are simi- lar to those used in terror and war movie soundtracks: voices screaming, the thunder of bombs, and sudden outbreaks. Other recurring means are minor and diminished seventh chords and also gloomy melodies. The leading voice may whisper or roar, transmitting a specific emotion. Dissonances appear oc- casionally, shocking the listener, generally in combination with visual effects in the video. Powerful low-pitched sounds dominate, in an interesting association between this sound parameter and devastation. Perhaps this is why it is difficult to find apocalyptic music in female voices. A clear example is the Finnish band Apocalyptica, which we met above; it is integrated by four violoncellos, without a single violin or any other lighter instrument. Most of these traits stem from the apocalyptic narrative that spread mas- sively throughout the Cold War, but they come also from rock music’s need to reinvent itself periodically and find new aesthetic channels of expression that maintain or increase its social impact. The coalescence of both causal scenarios has resulted in a fertile production, as we have seen in this study. CONCLUSIONS Critical dystopia in music is a catalyst for social awareness and cohesive pro- gress in the face of a worrying future. It endorses activist citizenship and polit- ical resistance against destruction-apocalypse, in place of passive capitulation. Its foothold is collective fear, which is re-negotiated as a social force that then counters passive dystopia. The conventional opposition between classical and critical dystopia has been called into question because almost all dystopias can be assumed to be critical dystopias, as they encompass strong allegations about the potential dangers of war/abuses of human rights. The formulation alone can call for a reaction by 90 | Javier Campos Calvo-Sotelo www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/2, 69–94