We tried protest songs in the early 2000s with the advent of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I imagine you can figure out how well those worked.

As I tried to scan through my playlists to find some recommendations for you, it does kind of ring true that you do cover a pretty wide swath of metal music; even progressive metal, which is what my jam tends to be, will deal with such subject matters.

And I was kind of like you at one time, as well. One of the first metal songs I ever listened to was Ozzy Osbourne's "Black Rain," and Ozzy gets kind of heavy-handed with the lyrics in that one. I hated it at the time, feared how apocalyptic it sounded to me... and then I just... kept listening to songs like it, mostly because the friend I had who played it for me liked that kind of music. To some degree it was because I found other bands that could ease me into the genre more, but eventually I could stomach that kind of music; and now some of my favorite songs talk about things like the apocalypse or revenge or the deathly clutch of winter and whatnot.

It's awful advice to tell someone to just "get over it," because that never works, and is incredibly reductive. But what I do like to mention about music like this is that it's very reflective of what Black Sabbath themselves set out to do way back in the 70s - their music was essentially like showing an audio version of a horror flick. It's supposed to be scary, it's supposed to be dark and brooding and moody (of whatever mood a given artist or band goes for), but the point isn't just to scare the listener; it's to provide catharsis. The feeling of having a lyricist growl or sing out such subject matter makes you feel like you're not alone in worrying about it, that it's a fear you're welcome to have and that it doesn't need to be as hopeless as it might seem. When Tatiana Shmayluk of Jinjer reflects upon how it feels to be an introverted person in "Pisces," the desire to present yourself to others only to get rejected for it... the imagery she uses is evocative, but it comes from a pretty deep place within her. And you can sympathize with that.

If it still scares you, then... that's not something to be ashamed of. There's always, always plenty of music in this and other genres that you can jam to. Recognize, though, that the music is not meant to scare you into submission, or infect you with horrible thoughts - rather, its intentions are to provide catharsis and the drive to move past the desire to be blissfully ignorant of the world and its ills. Because they exist, but we have the power to overcome them, and the music therefore gives that adrenaline you might need.