Taking inspiration from a press article comparing doom metal and New Age music, I explore individualism and magic in these musical cultures, reflecting on the ‘dirty, soothing secret’ suggested in that article's title. I trace the loosely defined characteristics of New Age music in the limited academic research on the topic, before situating the music in the wider New Age milieu which centres around the epistemological authority of the seeking self among diverse spiritual resources. Then, I examine the claims made about metal in the news article, drawing out themes which also relate to individualism and magic. Finally, I return to the concepts of the dirty, the soothing and the secret, arguing that these are not merely incidental aspects of the mainstream reception of New Age and metal music, but in fact can be understood as contributing to the magical potential of such music for listeners.

中文翻译：

---

肮脏、舒缓、秘密的魔法：新时代和极端金属音乐文化中的个人主义和灵性

从一篇比较厄运金属和新时代音乐的新闻文章中汲取灵感，我探索了这些音乐文化中的个人主义和魔力，反思了文章标题中暗示的“肮脏、舒缓的秘密”。我在关于该主题的有限学术研究中追溯了新时代音乐的松散定义的特征，然后将音乐置于更广泛的新时代环境中，该环境以在各种精神资源中寻求自我的认识论权威为中心。然后，我检查了新闻文章中关于金属的说法，引出了与个人主义和魔法有关的主题。最后，我回到肮脏、舒缓和秘密的概念，认为这些不仅仅是新时代和金属音乐主流接受的偶然方面，