Ballarat's heavy metal community is banding together to encourage more conversations and research into mental illnesses.
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The heavy metal music festival Beyond Black starts at 5pm on Friday at The Eastern, and will raise funds for beyondblue, with 16 heavy metal bands on the lineup.
Organiser and musician Liam Frost-Camilleri the major gig was really about "talking about mental health and the connection we very much have between heavy metal musicians and difficulties with mental health".
He said a wave of hard rock musicians who had taken their own life in recent years, including Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington, made the need for connection in the metal community all the more important.
"Some people feel judged in a certain way because they've got a few piercings or long hair," Mr Frost-Camilleri said.
"But most of the people that go (to metal gigs) or are in these bands are like me and have professional jobs ... so it's the misunderstanding they really struggle with.
"But I think if you have a disposition towards depression or have experienced trauma throughout your life, you might identify with metal a lot more than anyone else, because what you're doing is exploring those extreme emotions of sadness and aggression."
But heavy metal is shown to have a positive effect on the mental health of its fans.
A study from Sydney's Macquarie University last year found that metal music was "giving rise to positive experiences such as power, joy and peace" in hard rock lovers when they listened to it, according to study authors Bill Thompson and Kirk N. Olsen in The Conversation.
Mr Frost-Camilleri said he encouraged people in the scene to "use heavy metal as one of your tools in your toolbox to help exorcise those emotions".
He said the event supported beyondblue because it is "researching and trying to affect policy" in the mental health space, to give more people access to often-expensive services.
The annual event has raised more than $5000 for the mental health charity since it started in 2017. With such strong demand for Beyond Black - there have been calls to take the gig interstate - the event is taking over the Bendigo Hotel in Collingwood on Saturday night.
Bands ready to rock the Eastern include Dreadnaught, Blunt Shovel and The Eternal. All 16 bands are donating their time.
"Bands called me to say they really wanted to be on the bill, but I had no more room," Mr Frost-Camilleri.
"The community support and togetherness we feel around Beyond Black is really quite strong."
Lifeline 13 11 14.
