Eric Smialek researches musical meaning through music analysis and reception studies. His publications appear in Global Metal Music and Culture, Medievalism and Metal Music Studies, The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis, the journal Théologiques, and the forthcoming collections Heavy Metal Music and Dis/Ability: Crips, Crowds, and Cacophony; Music and Genre: New Directions; andThe Cambridge Companion to Metal Music. He serves on the editorial advisory board for the journal Metal Music Studies and is a review editor for the journal MUSICultures.