Headbangers photo book captures fans in action

Danish photographer Jacob Ehrbahn will publish a collection of heavy metal fans rocking out in his new book Headbangers.

Due September 29 via PowerHouse Books, the 128-page project captures portraits of fans taken at European metal festivals in 2012 including Denmark’s Copenhell, Germany’s Wacken Open Air and Sweden’s Metaltown. A selection of the images can be seen at Ehrbahn’s website.

Powerhouse Books say: “Ehrbahn’s camera stops time and captures the surprising and life-affirming moments when the headbangers abandon all semblance of vanity and surrender to the rhythm. Ehrbahn transports us to an intimate world disconnected from time and space — a universe where it’s possible to transcend the frenzy and enter an altered state that brings calm, joy and relief.”

Copenhell festivalgoer Villads Hoffman adds: “It’s about the ecstasy, the ferocity of the music that just becomes one with the body. Metal music is extreme, so your movements have to follow along. This is not just nodding your head a little bit, the entire body has to be involved, it’s about the monster inside.”

Ehrbahn is a Danish photojournalist who has been a staff photographer at the Danish daily national newspaper Politiken since 2003. He is a two-time World Press Photo winner and was named Photographer Of The Year in Denmark for the second time in 2013.

Headbangers is available for pre-order.