corpsepaint means A style of black-and-white makeup used primarily by black metal musicians and fans, intended to make the wearer appear inhuman, corpselike, or demonic. It carries an Arena rating of 1356, earned across 24 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, corpsepaint ranks #57 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #745 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #901 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #907 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words.
Why “corpsepaint” is a great word
A theatrical makeup style using stark blacks and whites to create a deliberately ghastly, deathly, or demonic visage. From the English words 'corpse' (a dead body) and 'paint' (a colored substance applied to a surface), the blunt compound emerged in the late 20th century within the black metal subculture. Unlike 'stage makeup,' a neutral, functional term, or 'kabuki makeup,' a codified art form with centuries of symbolic tradition, corpsepaint is a modern vernacular coinage for a deliberate aesthetic of alienation. It is the ritual smearing of ash and bone-white pigment before a frostbitten performance; it is the cracked, greasy visage glaring from a homemade demo tape sleeve; it is the transformation of the human face into an icon of frost, fury, and negation—a mask that does not hide the self, but reveals the will to erase it.
Etymology
From corpse + paint.
noun
- A style of black-and-white makeup used primarily by black metal musicians and fans, intended to make the wearer appear inhuman, corpselike, or demonic.e.g.“Many black metal musicians dress in black robes and wear exaggerated white-and-black “corpsepaint” on their faces, […]” — 2007, Ronald Bogue, Deleuze's Way: Essays in Transverse Ethics and Aesthetics, Ashgate Publishing Limited, →ISBN, page 45:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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