Welcome to Pitchfork’s monthly metal column, where we’ll guide you through the genre’s new music and various happenings with an eye towards a specific theme. This month’s theme is community. Below you’ll find five metal bands that speak to the power of unity in their music.

From its earliest days, metal was built as a community. It’s a genre created by people who felt left out by an increasingly glamorized and watered-down era in rock music; a haven for those who felt voiceless and unrepresented. Like many communities, it can quickly turn into a clique (or in certain subgenres, a mob). That’s a symptom of its closeness and stubborn, sometimes dangerous, adherence to tradition. But as it has aged and gone in and out of fashion, many metal communities have remained tightknit and, in some cases, more embracing of new ideas.

Whether it’s a foundational metal label expanding into different genres or Ozzfest incorporating wedding ceremonies, metal in the 21st century has found creative ways to achieve harmony through heaviness. The internet has also helped the genre harken back to its early days of tape-trading, with new bands spreading their music widely, unbounded by financial or regional limitations. For better or worse, no matter your interests, you can easily find people looking for exactly the same things as you, from novelties like black metal that sounds like video games and power-metal renditions of Disney songs to much more dangerous territory. While metal spawned some of the most insular communities in music, it has also been one of the most historically alienating—particularly to outsiders who don’t fit in with its assumed description of “outsiders.”

In recent years, many members of the metal community have used its uniting principles to not only to address the genre’s problems, but also to make changes for the better. Since 2014, Chase Ambler of Deafest and Paul Ravenwood of Twilight Fauna have been issuing compilation albums through their Black Metal Alliance to promote charities voted upon by contributing acts. Among the beneficiaries of their *Crushing Intolerance *series have been IRQR (Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees) and Women on Waves. The label stresses “equal rights for all life,” but the music values pure death above all else. It shows that metal doesn’t have to sacrifice its escapist principles to promote real world issues: how you can fight for solidarity while listening to a song called “Hang My Remains from the Crescent Moon.”

An Out Recordings is another gem in the community, run by New Zealand’s Anna Vo. Vo identifies An Out as anarchist, queer, feminist, and anti-racist, and they prioritize extreme music from marginalized groups. The label’s most recent release, Ragana’s You Take Nothing, is one of five highlights from this month: music that builds on the genre’s power for bringing people together, without turning a blind eye to those who have been turned away.

Ragana - You Take Nothing

The fourth album from Oakland duo Ragana, You Take Nothing is a slow, pulverizing tour de force from band members Maria and Nicole. Along with the heavy pulse of Nicole’s drums—which alternate between black metal blast beats and stately post-rock sprawl—Maria can conjure possessed rage within the tiniest spaces. On the title track, that brief moment between “take” and “nothing” is where all the magic happens: the tension in her voice rises as the music comes crashing down around her. There’s no time to brace for impact—her words hit harder with each repetition.