Insidiöus Törment

Insidiöus Törment is a Lichtenstein based heavy metal band, also known as IT, and sometimes misspelled Insidious Torment.

The NWÖHMÜ

Insidiöus Törment is widely recognized as the originators of the NWÖHMÜ - The New Wave öf Heavy Metal Ümlaüt, not to be confused with the First Wave of Heavy Metal Umlaut, which was which was pioneered by bands such as Blue Öyster Cult, Motörhead and Mötley Crüe during the late 1970s and early 80s.

However, during the first wave, the umlauts were not actually pronounced. Among English speakers, the use of umlaut marks and other diacritics with a blackletter style typeface is a form of foreign branding intended to give a band's logo a Teutonic quality. It is a form of marketing that evokes stereotypes of boldness and strength commonly attributed to ancient north European peoples, such as the Vikings and Goths. In this usage, the metal umlaut is never intended to affect the pronunciation of the band's name.

This is the crucial difference between The FWOHMU and The NWÖHMÜ -The basic doctrine of The New or Sëcond Wäve öf Heavy Metal Ümlaüt is that you should only add diacritics to your band name if you're actually going to pronounce them.

In other words, the bands who adher to The NWÖHMÜ are actually trying to prevent the heavy metal umlaut from losing its function linguistically. Some critical observers have claimed that The NWÖHMÜ is not actually a WOHMU (wave of heavy metal umlaut) at all. The argument against the NWÖHMÜ is that if you actually start pronouncing the umlaut, then it's no longer gratuitous - and hence, by definition just a plain, old umlaut and not a heavy metal umlaut. As a response to this critique, Jake "Scream", lead vocalist in heavy metal band Insidiöus Törment, and self-proclaimed spokesperson for the NWÖHMÜ, has made the following argument:

"The First Wave of Heavy Metal Umlaut freed the umlaut from its function -- in Germanic languages, the role of the umlaut traditionally was to make a back wovel into a front wovel. The FWOHMU ended all of this and liberated the umlaut for higher aesthetic purposes! We owe great thanks to the FWOHMU, no doubt about that! But in the process of liberation, sacrifices were made and the unlaut lost its sound! What we are doing with the global Sëcond Wäve öf Heavy Metal Ümlaüt is to bring back the umlaut sound! In the future, everyöne should be able to add diacritics to their everyday speech whenever they like and wherëever they like! You don't need to thank us! The work carries its own rewärd!!" (Interview with Gerd Flänger, Metal Hämmer, March 2005)

Early History

The band had their biggest success in the late 80’s culminating with “The Iron Curtain Tour” in ’89, where they played big stadium concerts in Moscow, Berlin, Gorkij Park, Moldova, and Bratislava among other places. Their biggest hit was titled “Great Cocks of Rock and Roll”. After the fall of the Berlin wall the band tried for success in Western Europe. This ended in failure, after a fall out with the fans, during which the lead singer “Jake the Scream” was infuriated for being taken as kitsch or a comic band, and was quoted saying:

“I’m very unhappy for not being taken seriously. Our music is great art, but people of the west think only western music is great. I’ll not be clown of capitalism!”

After the fall out with the Western European fans, the band withdrew from public for a number of years before making a second bid for success beginning in the late 90’s. The band has called this “The New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal”,with mottos such as “Evil – Sexy” and “Heavy or Die”. The Orange Revolution of Ukraine sparked the band’s Eastern European come-back, as the band played in Kiev every night three weeks straight supporting the protesters. Today the band have a strong fan base in Eastern Europe but are still struggling to achieve recognition in Western Europe, where the band have only attained a cult status among liberals - mainly university students.