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EspañolCHRISTIAN METAL
'Christian metal' is a form of heavy metal music and its many subgenres with Christian lyrics and themes.
Although Christian metal bands have existed since late 1970s, the term "Christian metal" itself was born in 1984 when heavy metal music divided into numerous subgenres. At the same time some people in the metal scene began to jokingly call the Christian metal bands of the 1980s as "white metal" – a pun for black metal, which was a rising movement back then. "White metal" is seldom used nowadays as many see it as a derogatory term and want to avoid its negative connotations to neo-nazism ("white power" etc.).
Christian metal is not a solitary style of music, on the contrary, it comprises almost every subgenre of heavy metal music. Therefore the only notable difference lies in the lyrics. The musicians are believers almost without exception and typically base their lyrics on Judeo-Christian traditions. The lyrical approach depends on bands: some emphasize in pointing out the positive aspects of faith matters, others iterate the teachings of Christ, and part of the bands keep their message gentle and covered in metaphors. Only a minority takes an aggressive attitude towards those who speak against Christianity.[1]
The lyrical style varies depending on culture, denomination, and country. For example, in Northern Europe the bands usually prefer personal lyrical approach, which is seldom meant to "convert" in an aggressive manner. Christian bands almost never deny their conviction, but typically avoid preaching since they do not want that the musical entertainment suffers. Some Christian bands do not declare their conviction at all and only concentrate on the entertainment aspect of music.
Christian metal has its origins in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Jesus movement, which was basically a hippie movement with Christian ideology. It has been said that Christian metal was unavoidable because Christian musicians have always copied secular trends. Larry Norman was the first Christian rock band. The band released ''Upon This Rock'' in 1969 which is arguably the first Christian rock album. The first Christian hard rock group is thought to be Resurrection Band, which was formed in 1972 in Jesus People Milwaukee. Resurrection Band released the hard rock cassette ''Music to Raise the Dead'' in 1974. The Swedish group Jerusalem was formed in 1975 and is cited as another early Christian hard rock group. In 1978 Resurrection Band Released its album ''Awaiting Your Reply'' and Jerusalem released ''Jerusalem (Volume 1)''. Both albums had a notable impact on Christian music culture. To everyone's surprise, ''Awaiting Your Reply'' hit big in the Christian market, and reached #6 on the Gospel album sales charts. ''Jerusalem'' also became an instant hit among Christian listeners, and within the first six months the record sold 20,000 copies in six months, unheard of within the genre of Christian rock in Europe.[2] Later, Jerusalem released the notable album ''Dancing on the Head of the Serpent''. The Canadian progressive hard rock group Daniel Band was formed in 1979 and is cited as one of the first together with Resurrection Band and Jerusalem.[3][4] Daniel Band released the albums ''On Rock'' and ''Straight Ahead'' on the following years.
In the early 1980s there were four notable Christian heavy metal groups: Messiah Prophet, Leviticus, Saint, and Stryper. The Swedish band Leviticus was formed by Bjorn Stiggson in 1982. The band's early releases were glam metal typical of the 1980s style.[5] Their second 1985 album ''The Strongest Power'' was called "One of the best records of the year" by Kerrang!. Saint was compared to Judas Priest Mostly due to the Rob Halford sounding style vocals of lead singer Josh Kramer. Saint are best known for the negativity reflected in their lyrics. Common themes of their early releases include hell, evil, and apocalyptic themes such as the End times. Their most successful album was ''Time's End'' (1986).[5] It is not sure which one was the first, but Stryper was the biggest. Stryper was also the first band to say "Hey, we're Christian metal." Stryper gained attention with their way of throwing bibles with the band logo stickers on the covers at the end of their concerts. In the beginning mostly Christian went to Strypers concerts but soon they reached secular audience.[7] In the 1980s, Christian metal bands closely followed the trends of more mainstream bands, and it was typical that many Christian bands were compared to certain secular counterparts.
In 1984 heavy metal music divided into numerous sub genres and the term "Christian metal" was officially born. During the mid 1980s, the black metal movement was rising rapidly. The Chicago doom metal group Trouble was known to be the first band that was publicly labeled as "white metal" - in contrast of black metal - by Metal Blade Records since their early albums ''Psalm 9'' and ''The Skull'' feature biblical references.[8] It took a year for the metal music subculture to realize that the members of these groups were Christian who actually claimed to believe in Christ: Stryper, although reaching commercial success at that time, received a hostile reception when they played at a Dutch metal festival in 1985.[9] Regardless of this, Stryper helped to popularize the genre[10], as they were the first Christian metal band to reach platinum status on an album. The 1986 album ''To Hell with the Devil'' sold 2 million copies, achieved a grammy nomination and sprang many MTV favorites.[11]
Other notable hard rock, heavy metal and glam metal groups of the 1980s were Whitecross, Neon Cross, Barren Cross, Guardian, Holy Soldier, Sacred Warrior, and Bride.
Many rock and metal fans were rejected from churches in 1980s. In 1984, California, pastor Bob Beeman saw this problem and soon started the ministry called Sanctuary - The Rock and Roll Refuge. This fellowship brought many musicians together and formed groups such as Tourniquet, Deliverance, Vengeance and Mortal that would soon become ground breaking acts in Christian music culture.
Christian metal soon developed into its own music industry. The first Christian metal label was Pure Metal Records, soon followed by R.E.X. Records. There were requests for a magazine that would cover phenomina of Christian metal music industry. In 1985, Doug Van Pelt answered to this demand and published the first issue of Heaven's Metal fanzine, which soon achieved more popularity and became an official publication.
In 1986, the band Bloodgood opened ways for Christian speed and thrash metal styles with their song "Black Snake". Soon speed and thrash metal bands like Deliverance, Believer, Vengeance and Tourniquet began to appear. They all released their early material on Intense Records, apart from Believer which was on R.E.X. Records. Deliverance was formed in 1985, Believer in 1986, and Vengeance was formed in 1987 and in 1988 year published its first album ''Human Sacrifice'', the first Christian thrash metal album. The group soon changed its name to Vengeance Rising since there was another band called Vengeance in Holland.[12] In 1989 both Deliverance and Believer released their first albums. Deliverance published ''Deliverance'' and Believer ''Extraction from Mortality''. During the same year the band Tourniquet was also formed and in 1990 released the album ''Stop the Bleeding''. The band's unique style brought them fans all over the World and broke new ground. A music video was made for the song "Ark of Suffering", but it was banned from MTV since due to its violent content that pointed out the horrors of animal abuse. In the early 1990s both Believer and Tourniquet, known for their technical styles, caught the interest bigger record labels: Believer was signed to Roadrunner Records and Tourniquet to Metal Blade Records. On their new labels, Believer released ''Sanity Obscure'' and ''Dimensions'', and Tourniquet released ''Psycho Surgery'' and ''Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance''. Deliverance released ''Weapons of Our Warfare'' in 1990. A music video was made for the title track received some airplay on MTV. During the 1990s, an Oklahoman group called Eternal Decision gained attention with its thrash and groove metal style. The 1997 album ''Eternal Desicion'' hit the record stores in the U.S. and 16 other countries, achieving considerable acclaim and providing the band with even more notice.[13]
There were also some thrash groups Europe. The Brittish band Seventh Angel was formed in 1987 and released the albums ''The Torment'' (1990) and ''Lament for the Weary'' (1992). The band was known for its combination of doom metal and thrash metal. Another Brittish group, Detritus also played thrash metal on the 1990 album ''Perpetual Defieance'', but changed to power metal on ''If But for One'' (1993).
A couple of Christian groups played crossover style of punk rock and thrash metal: The Crucified and One Bad Pig. The Crucified was formed in 1984 and the band released ''Take Up Your Cross'' in 1986 and ''Nailed'' in 1987. The Crucufied wa a notable influence on several of the forementioned groups. One Bad Pig was formed in 1985 by Carey Womack and released ''A Christian Banned'' in 1989 they released ''Smash'' on Pure Metal Records and two following albums ''Swine Flew'' and ''I Scream Sunday'' on Myrrh Records.
In 1990, the Australian group Mortification became the first widely recognized Christian death metal band. Though they played an old style of death metal, on the album ''Mortification'' (1990), very close to its thrash roots, their 1992 album ''Scrolls of the Megilloth'' is still considered classic death metal,[14] and was released in both Christian and secular markets as the band was signed to Nuclear Blast Records. The album was almost as ground breaking as Stryper's ''To Hell With the Devil''. ''Scrolls of the Megilloth'' brought Mortification to the elite of the death metal movement. The band enjoyed notable commercial success with ''Blood World''[15] and eventually became possibly the most successful Christian extreme metal group.[16]
Prior to Mortification the Brazilian band Incubus (later known as Opprobrium) already combined Christian lyrics to death metal on their albums ''Serpent Temptation'' (1988) and ''Beyond the Unknown'' (1990), yet the band was not thought to be exactly Christian. At roughly the same time the band Living Sacrifice was creating thrash and death metal. Their albums ''Nonexistent'' (1992) and ''Inhabit'' (1994) had the deathgrind style to them. Also, Crimson Thorn released the albums ''Unearthed'' and ''Dissection'' in 1990s. In Australia, there was also the most well-known Christian grindcore group that focused on goregrind style, Vomitorial Corpulence. The band released its albums ''Karrionic Hacktician'' and ''Skin Stripper'' in 1990s. The Norwegian death metal group Schaliach gained a notable cult following for its album ''Sonrise'' (1996), which had a slightly more melodic and doomier approach than most Christian death metal albums. Later in Northern Europe, the groups Extol, Deuteronomium, and Immortal Souls began playing post-death and received notable attention.
''Main article: unblack metal''
Horde is widely considered to be the first Christian black metal band. As a one man band with only one release (in 1994), Horde initiated controversy within the extreme metal community, opposing the more common lyrical themes of Satanism and evil. The title of Horde's only release -- ''Hellig Usvart'' -- means "Holy Unblack", which is now often used by Christians to refer to Christian black metal, in order to avoid the negative connotations of the term "black metal".
Antestor existed prior to the release of ''Hellig Usvart'' but their music was a death/doom style (or as they called it, "Sorrow Metal"), and was not yet musically considered black metal. During the early 1990s when the band was known as Crush Evil, Euronymous, guitarist for the seminal black metal band Mayhem, was planning to stop Crush Evil from continuing.[17] However, this never took place.
The Swedish band Admonish was also formed around 1994 or 1995, and is known to be the first Christian black metal band in Sweden. They gained notoriety for calling their style "Christian black metal" publicly on their website. This caused some debate in metal underground and soon one black metal fan started an anti-Admonish website. While the band didn't release anything until 2005, the magazine Metal Hammer called Admonish "One of the leading Christian black metal bands" in a 1990s issue which focused on black metal.[18]
They, as well as Crimson Moonlight and others (such as Divine Symphony), make up today's more polished style of Christian black metal comparable to more mainstream high production black metal bands. However, more traditional and raw low-production black metal bands such as Abdijah, Light Shall Prevail, Offerblod, Arch of Thorns, Flaskavsae, Eligbbor, Bedeiah, Dormant, Firethrone, etc., still exist on record labels such as Sneeuwstorm Produkties and GES Productions, among others.
The German group Seventh Avenue, formed in 1989, was one of more notable Christian power metal bands in the 1990s. They released ''Rainbowland'' 1995, and after that the band was signed to Treasure Hunt Records. Their first release on this label, ''Tales of Tales'', topped at 18 on the Japanese Heavy Metal Charts. The 1998 release, ''Southgate'', was licensed to Megahard Records for release in Brazil, where the band subsequently toured. They released two albums, ''Between The Worlds'' and ''Eternals'', on Massacre Records
Later in the 1990s, the Swedish group Narnia made notable contributions to Christian power metal history. Previously, Christian Liljegren was in a melodic metal band called Modest Attraction which released the albums ''The Truth in Your Face'' and ''Divine Luxury'' before Liljegren teamed up with guitarist Carl Johan Grimmark to form Narnia in 1996 and released the first album ''Awakening'' in 1998. Narnia was later signed to Nuclear Blast Records, Germany, and Pony Canyon Records, Japan, and broadened its popularity.
Later there appeared more notable European groups such as the German bands Chrystyne and Lightmare, and the Swedish groups XT, Harmony, and Heartcry.
The Brittish group Balance of Power was a notable Christian progressive metal band until the album ''Heathen Machine'', as mostly their bassist Chris Dale wrote the more Christian based lyrics. The band was formed in 1995 and released the first album ''When the World Falls Down'' next year, and was picked up by the Japanese label Pony Canyon, and received significant airplay on Japanese radiostations. After Lance King joined them as vocalist, the band released ''Book of Secrets'' in 1998. In the US there were groups like Jacobs Dream, formed in 1997, which played power metal and progressive metal. The band soon released the albums ''Jacobs Dream'' (1997) and ''Theater of War'' (2000).
In 1987, the Swedish group Veni Domine started playing progressive doom metal and released its first album ''Fall Babylon Fall'' in 1992. The album was called a "masterpiece" by some critics.[19] The following album ''Material Sanctuary'' featured a heavier output, however, the band abandoned most of their epic style on later releases.
Paramaecium and Ashen Mortality are the two most well-known doom metal bands in Christian metal.[20] Australian group Paramaecium incorporated violin, flute, and acoustic guitars to its atmospheric music on their album ''Exhumed of the Earth'', and continued on adding more symphonic elements on the following albums. What sets Paramaecium apart from other bands in the doom metal scene, is the fact that they are the only Christian death doom band that made it to the top of the genre.[21] Paramecium would influence later Christian bands such as Pantokrator. Brittish group Ashen Mortality was formed after thrash metal band Seventh Angel split up. Ashen Mortality mixed elements of medieval music and goth in their doom metal sound. The critics usually wrote that Ashen Mortalitys overall quality set them apart from competitors. The 1998 ''Your Caress'' was called "essential album".[22] In 2000, the ex-Pentagram guitarist Victor Griffin formed a traditional doom metal group called Place of Skulls, and released the albums ''Nailed'' (2002) and ''With Vision'' (2003).
Christian gothic metal was pioneered by Saviour Machine, which mixed David Bowie type rock-opera and classic metal. Saviour Machine was more popular in Europe, particularly in Germany, than US.[23] After releasing the albums ''Saviour Machine I'' and ''Saviour Machine II'', the band gained attention with its ambitious Legend trilogy. In the 1990s there were three other notable gothic metal bands: Undish, Necromance and Kohllapse, all of them started out in early 1990s playing death metal before developing their gothic metal sound. The Polish band Undish, formerly known as Graviora Manent, released the 1997 album ''Acta Est Fabula'' on Massacre Records and made an European tour afterwards. The German group Necromance released the album ''White Gothic'' and ''Wiederkehr Der Schmerzen'' in the 1990s. The band began incorporating industrial elements on their alter releases. Australian group Kohllapse self-released the albums ''Kohllapse'' (1996) and ''Distant Mind Alternative'' (1999) and gained some attention in secular circles for its unique style that combined darkwave and doom metal.
Currently, there exist Christian metal bands for virtually every sub-genre of metal. Extol has a mixed (and often changing) style, and is popular among both Christian and Non-Christian metal fans. Theocracy, Narnia, Rob Rock, Jacobs Dream, and Divinefire are the most prominent Christian power metal bands. Rob Rock also achieved initial fame as the vocalist for guitar virtuoso Chris Impellitteri's band Impellitteri during the 80's and 90's and then went solo with his ''Rage of Creation'' album. He also performed guest vocals for the heavy metal band Warrior. There are many other notable bands, including Ultimatum, Becoming the Archetype, Temple of Blood, Aletheian, Crimson Thorn, Harmony, Saviour Machine, Majestic Vanguard, Sympathy, Virgin Black, Disciple, and Veni Domine.
Certain Christian metal artists have found mainstream acceptance selling millions of albums to both Christian and non-Christian fans, including P.O.D. and Stryper. Metalcore's popularity is especially based on Christian bands, including such crossover successes as Underoath, Norma Jean, Zao, As I Lay Dying, Still Remains, and Demon Hunter.
In its 2006 In Review issue (February 2007), ''Revolver'' Magazine dubbed Christian metal the phenomenon of the year. Editor in Chief Tom Beaujour interviewed the lead singers of As I Lay Dying, Demon Hunter, Norma Jean, and Underoath (Tim Lambesis, Ryan Clark, Cory Brandan Putman, and Spencer Chamberlain, respectively) as the front-page article for the issue. Tooth and Nail Records, P.O.D., Zao, War of Ages, Still Remains, and He Is Legend were also mentioned.
Several general market metal bands do not identify themselves as a "Christian band" but still use their lyrics to portray God in a positive light. There are some bands, Virgin Black and Klank, for example, who have Christian members but prefer to remain in the general market. Other more notable mainstream acts that feature Christian members are Anthrax (Dan Spitz), Accept (Peter Baltes), Saliva (Josey Scott), Blind Guardian (Hansi Kursch), Helloween (Andi Deris and Michael Weikath), Iron Maiden (Nicko McBrain), Avian (Lance King), Shadow Gallery, Magnitude 9, Dream Theater, Alice Cooper (who himself is a Christian), All That Remains (Philip Labonte), Megadeth (Dave Mustaine and David Ellefson), and Head (ex-Korn). Other bands, such as Killswitch Engage[25] and Linkin Park [26] have members who were raised in Christian homes, thus occasionally using spiritual themes.
Certain artists, however, are controversial in that they claim Christianity while playing in bands with anti-Christian lyrics or themes. Tom Araya, Slayer's lead vocalist, claims to be a Roman Catholic despite singing overtly anti-Christian lyrics. Deicide, known for their Satanic and anti-Christian themes, included guitarist Ralph Santolla, another professing Roman Catholic.
Certain fans of metal consider the use of Christian lyrics to be opposed to the "true" purpose of metal, despite the fact that the musical content is hardly any different from secular metal bands. On the other side, certain Christian groups, most notably those in some King James Only denominations, consider all types of rock and metal music opposed to their faith regardless of lyrical content or the lifestyles being led by band members. However, many fans and artists see metal as another genre of music, parallel to such genres as blues, classical, jazz, punk, and hip-hop. These people claim that the instrumentation of the music is simply a medium, agnostic to a worldview, while the person creating the music as well as the lyrics being presented provide the message. Therefore, Christian metal is created when Christians compose metal music in a way that reflects their faith in Christ.
★ List of Christian metal bands
★ Unblack metal
★ Heavy metal music
★ List of Christian music videos
★ Facedown Records
★ Flicker Records
★ Bombworks Records
★ Mono Vs Stereo
★ Raging Storm Records
★ Rivel Records
★ Solid State Records
★ Harvest Earth Records
★ Endtime Productions
★ Nightmare Records
★ Intense Records
★ R.E.X. Records
★ Tooth & Nail Records
1. White Metal Lahtonen, Jussi
2. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, , Mark Allan, Powell, Hendrickson Publishers, 2002,
3. Heavy Metal Jesus Freaks - Headbanging for Christ, , Dan, Kapelovitz, Mean Magazine, 2001
4. Christian Metal History
5.
6.
7. Christe, Ian (2003). ''Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal''. Pages= 196. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-380-81127-8
8. Interview with Trouble Citation: "It was Metal Blade. Back then they called all of it ´Black Metal´, y´know, Slayer, Danzig, etc., all those bands, they are ´Black Metal´, so I didn´t grow up believing in all that crap and I think that people didn´t believe in it either. It was a question about marketing your band in some way, so I had to do it. So I did this. Metal Blade called us as a “White Metal band” and I just wished they didn´t." (Vocalist Eric Wagner comments on Troubles white metal tag.)
9. Christe, Ian (2003). ''Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal''. Pages= 204. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-380-81127-8
10. Headbangers, , Mark, Hale, Popular Culture, Ink., 1993,
11. Top Ten Songs by Stryper
12. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, , , Powell, , 2002,
13. Eternal Desicion Mesquita Borges, Mario
14. Mortification - Scrolls of the Megilloth Review
15. Mortification Biography, Australian Music Online. Amo.org.au
16. Interviews by Gary Garson and Peter Schultz, translations by J. Grym, additional notes by Mape Ollila. Maailman metalli: Australia. Article about Australian metal today in the biggest Finnish metal site Imperiumi.Net (in Finnish).
17. mayhem Interview Eithun, Bård G. "Faust"
18. Admonish Interview Morrow, Matt
19. Veni Domine - Fall Babylon Fall Melzer, Alexander
20. Ashen Mortality - Your Caress Spencer, John
21. Paramaecium Panagiotou, Kostas
22. Ashen Mortality Quispel, Aldo
23. Eric Clayton Talks Vanderpoel, David (1997)
24. As I Lay Dying Get Sick of Metalcore Harris, Chris and Wiederhorn, Jon
25. Lights in a Loud Place
26. Linkin Park: One Step Closer
★ .
★
★ http://www.forthebattle.co.uk/ - UK Forum for Christian Hard Music
★ Andy's Dungeon of Extreme Christian Metal Christian metal links.
★ GrrrRecords.com Grrr Records is the Label of Resurrection Band, Glenn Kaiser and Many More.
★ MetalForJesus.org Comparisons of Christian Metal to Black, Death, Heavy and other Metal genres
★ Reign Radio Streaming Christian Metal
★ Full Armor of God Broadcast Radio Show featuring Christian Metal
★ DanielsMusic.com Concert Photography
★ Godcore.com Christian Music Database
★ KingdomMetal.com Christian Metal Bands, Info, News, & More
★ http://www.cdreporter.de/ - Webzine featuring News and Reviews about Christian Rock and Metal Bands
★ ChristianMetal.net--online Christian metal radio stations
★ http://jesushideout.informe.com/ - A young forum accounting for all types of Christian Music.
Although Christian metal bands have existed since late 1970s, the term "Christian metal" itself was born in 1984 when heavy metal music divided into numerous subgenres. At the same time some people in the metal scene began to jokingly call the Christian metal bands of the 1980s as "white metal" – a pun for black metal, which was a rising movement back then. "White metal" is seldom used nowadays as many see it as a derogatory term and want to avoid its negative connotations to neo-nazism ("white power" etc.).
Characteristics
Christian metal is not a solitary style of music, on the contrary, it comprises almost every subgenre of heavy metal music. Therefore the only notable difference lies in the lyrics. The musicians are believers almost without exception and typically base their lyrics on Judeo-Christian traditions. The lyrical approach depends on bands: some emphasize in pointing out the positive aspects of faith matters, others iterate the teachings of Christ, and part of the bands keep their message gentle and covered in metaphors. Only a minority takes an aggressive attitude towards those who speak against Christianity.[1]
The lyrical style varies depending on culture, denomination, and country. For example, in Northern Europe the bands usually prefer personal lyrical approach, which is seldom meant to "convert" in an aggressive manner. Christian bands almost never deny their conviction, but typically avoid preaching since they do not want that the musical entertainment suffers. Some Christian bands do not declare their conviction at all and only concentrate on the entertainment aspect of music.
History
Origins
Resurrection Band, possibly the first Christian hard rock group.
Christian metal has its origins in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Jesus movement, which was basically a hippie movement with Christian ideology. It has been said that Christian metal was unavoidable because Christian musicians have always copied secular trends. Larry Norman was the first Christian rock band. The band released ''Upon This Rock'' in 1969 which is arguably the first Christian rock album. The first Christian hard rock group is thought to be Resurrection Band, which was formed in 1972 in Jesus People Milwaukee. Resurrection Band released the hard rock cassette ''Music to Raise the Dead'' in 1974. The Swedish group Jerusalem was formed in 1975 and is cited as another early Christian hard rock group. In 1978 Resurrection Band Released its album ''Awaiting Your Reply'' and Jerusalem released ''Jerusalem (Volume 1)''. Both albums had a notable impact on Christian music culture. To everyone's surprise, ''Awaiting Your Reply'' hit big in the Christian market, and reached #6 on the Gospel album sales charts. ''Jerusalem'' also became an instant hit among Christian listeners, and within the first six months the record sold 20,000 copies in six months, unheard of within the genre of Christian rock in Europe.[2] Later, Jerusalem released the notable album ''Dancing on the Head of the Serpent''. The Canadian progressive hard rock group Daniel Band was formed in 1979 and is cited as one of the first together with Resurrection Band and Jerusalem.[3][4] Daniel Band released the albums ''On Rock'' and ''Straight Ahead'' on the following years.
1980s
In the early 1980s there were four notable Christian heavy metal groups: Messiah Prophet, Leviticus, Saint, and Stryper. The Swedish band Leviticus was formed by Bjorn Stiggson in 1982. The band's early releases were glam metal typical of the 1980s style.[5] Their second 1985 album ''The Strongest Power'' was called "One of the best records of the year" by Kerrang!. Saint was compared to Judas Priest Mostly due to the Rob Halford sounding style vocals of lead singer Josh Kramer. Saint are best known for the negativity reflected in their lyrics. Common themes of their early releases include hell, evil, and apocalyptic themes such as the End times. Their most successful album was ''Time's End'' (1986).[5] It is not sure which one was the first, but Stryper was the biggest. Stryper was also the first band to say "Hey, we're Christian metal." Stryper gained attention with their way of throwing bibles with the band logo stickers on the covers at the end of their concerts. In the beginning mostly Christian went to Strypers concerts but soon they reached secular audience.[7] In the 1980s, Christian metal bands closely followed the trends of more mainstream bands, and it was typical that many Christian bands were compared to certain secular counterparts.
Glam metal band Stryper brought Christian metal into mainstream.
In 1984 heavy metal music divided into numerous sub genres and the term "Christian metal" was officially born. During the mid 1980s, the black metal movement was rising rapidly. The Chicago doom metal group Trouble was known to be the first band that was publicly labeled as "white metal" - in contrast of black metal - by Metal Blade Records since their early albums ''Psalm 9'' and ''The Skull'' feature biblical references.[8] It took a year for the metal music subculture to realize that the members of these groups were Christian who actually claimed to believe in Christ: Stryper, although reaching commercial success at that time, received a hostile reception when they played at a Dutch metal festival in 1985.[9] Regardless of this, Stryper helped to popularize the genre[10], as they were the first Christian metal band to reach platinum status on an album. The 1986 album ''To Hell with the Devil'' sold 2 million copies, achieved a grammy nomination and sprang many MTV favorites.[11]
Other notable hard rock, heavy metal and glam metal groups of the 1980s were Whitecross, Neon Cross, Barren Cross, Guardian, Holy Soldier, Sacred Warrior, and Bride.
Many rock and metal fans were rejected from churches in 1980s. In 1984, California, pastor Bob Beeman saw this problem and soon started the ministry called Sanctuary - The Rock and Roll Refuge. This fellowship brought many musicians together and formed groups such as Tourniquet, Deliverance, Vengeance and Mortal that would soon become ground breaking acts in Christian music culture.
Christian metal soon developed into its own music industry. The first Christian metal label was Pure Metal Records, soon followed by R.E.X. Records. There were requests for a magazine that would cover phenomina of Christian metal music industry. In 1985, Doug Van Pelt answered to this demand and published the first issue of Heaven's Metal fanzine, which soon achieved more popularity and became an official publication.
Thrash metal movement
Vengeance Rising's ''Human Sacrifice'' (1988) was a ground breaking Christian thrash metal album.
In 1986, the band Bloodgood opened ways for Christian speed and thrash metal styles with their song "Black Snake". Soon speed and thrash metal bands like Deliverance, Believer, Vengeance and Tourniquet began to appear. They all released their early material on Intense Records, apart from Believer which was on R.E.X. Records. Deliverance was formed in 1985, Believer in 1986, and Vengeance was formed in 1987 and in 1988 year published its first album ''Human Sacrifice'', the first Christian thrash metal album. The group soon changed its name to Vengeance Rising since there was another band called Vengeance in Holland.[12] In 1989 both Deliverance and Believer released their first albums. Deliverance published ''Deliverance'' and Believer ''Extraction from Mortality''. During the same year the band Tourniquet was also formed and in 1990 released the album ''Stop the Bleeding''. The band's unique style brought them fans all over the World and broke new ground. A music video was made for the song "Ark of Suffering", but it was banned from MTV since due to its violent content that pointed out the horrors of animal abuse. In the early 1990s both Believer and Tourniquet, known for their technical styles, caught the interest bigger record labels: Believer was signed to Roadrunner Records and Tourniquet to Metal Blade Records. On their new labels, Believer released ''Sanity Obscure'' and ''Dimensions'', and Tourniquet released ''Psycho Surgery'' and ''Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance''. Deliverance released ''Weapons of Our Warfare'' in 1990. A music video was made for the title track received some airplay on MTV. During the 1990s, an Oklahoman group called Eternal Decision gained attention with its thrash and groove metal style. The 1997 album ''Eternal Desicion'' hit the record stores in the U.S. and 16 other countries, achieving considerable acclaim and providing the band with even more notice.[13]
There were also some thrash groups Europe. The Brittish band Seventh Angel was formed in 1987 and released the albums ''The Torment'' (1990) and ''Lament for the Weary'' (1992). The band was known for its combination of doom metal and thrash metal. Another Brittish group, Detritus also played thrash metal on the 1990 album ''Perpetual Defieance'', but changed to power metal on ''If But for One'' (1993).
A couple of Christian groups played crossover style of punk rock and thrash metal: The Crucified and One Bad Pig. The Crucified was formed in 1984 and the band released ''Take Up Your Cross'' in 1986 and ''Nailed'' in 1987. The Crucufied wa a notable influence on several of the forementioned groups. One Bad Pig was formed in 1985 by Carey Womack and released ''A Christian Banned'' in 1989 they released ''Smash'' on Pure Metal Records and two following albums ''Swine Flew'' and ''I Scream Sunday'' on Myrrh Records.
1990s
Death metal movement
Mortification's ''Scrolls of the Megilloth'' (1992) was a ground breaking Christian deathgrind album.
In 1990, the Australian group Mortification became the first widely recognized Christian death metal band. Though they played an old style of death metal, on the album ''Mortification'' (1990), very close to its thrash roots, their 1992 album ''Scrolls of the Megilloth'' is still considered classic death metal,[14] and was released in both Christian and secular markets as the band was signed to Nuclear Blast Records. The album was almost as ground breaking as Stryper's ''To Hell With the Devil''. ''Scrolls of the Megilloth'' brought Mortification to the elite of the death metal movement. The band enjoyed notable commercial success with ''Blood World''[15] and eventually became possibly the most successful Christian extreme metal group.[16]
Prior to Mortification the Brazilian band Incubus (later known as Opprobrium) already combined Christian lyrics to death metal on their albums ''Serpent Temptation'' (1988) and ''Beyond the Unknown'' (1990), yet the band was not thought to be exactly Christian. At roughly the same time the band Living Sacrifice was creating thrash and death metal. Their albums ''Nonexistent'' (1992) and ''Inhabit'' (1994) had the deathgrind style to them. Also, Crimson Thorn released the albums ''Unearthed'' and ''Dissection'' in 1990s. In Australia, there was also the most well-known Christian grindcore group that focused on goregrind style, Vomitorial Corpulence. The band released its albums ''Karrionic Hacktician'' and ''Skin Stripper'' in 1990s. The Norwegian death metal group Schaliach gained a notable cult following for its album ''Sonrise'' (1996), which had a slightly more melodic and doomier approach than most Christian death metal albums. Later in Northern Europe, the groups Extol, Deuteronomium, and Immortal Souls began playing post-death and received notable attention.
Unblack metal movement
''Main article: unblack metal''
Horde's ''Hellig Usvart'' (1994) was the first album that mixed Christian lyrics and black metal.
Horde is widely considered to be the first Christian black metal band. As a one man band with only one release (in 1994), Horde initiated controversy within the extreme metal community, opposing the more common lyrical themes of Satanism and evil. The title of Horde's only release -- ''Hellig Usvart'' -- means "Holy Unblack", which is now often used by Christians to refer to Christian black metal, in order to avoid the negative connotations of the term "black metal".
Antestor existed prior to the release of ''Hellig Usvart'' but their music was a death/doom style (or as they called it, "Sorrow Metal"), and was not yet musically considered black metal. During the early 1990s when the band was known as Crush Evil, Euronymous, guitarist for the seminal black metal band Mayhem, was planning to stop Crush Evil from continuing.[17] However, this never took place.
The Swedish band Admonish was also formed around 1994 or 1995, and is known to be the first Christian black metal band in Sweden. They gained notoriety for calling their style "Christian black metal" publicly on their website. This caused some debate in metal underground and soon one black metal fan started an anti-Admonish website. While the band didn't release anything until 2005, the magazine Metal Hammer called Admonish "One of the leading Christian black metal bands" in a 1990s issue which focused on black metal.[18]
They, as well as Crimson Moonlight and others (such as Divine Symphony), make up today's more polished style of Christian black metal comparable to more mainstream high production black metal bands. However, more traditional and raw low-production black metal bands such as Abdijah, Light Shall Prevail, Offerblod, Arch of Thorns, Flaskavsae, Eligbbor, Bedeiah, Dormant, Firethrone, etc., still exist on record labels such as Sneeuwstorm Produkties and GES Productions, among others.
Power metal and progressive metal movements
The German group Seventh Avenue, formed in 1989, was one of more notable Christian power metal bands in the 1990s. They released ''Rainbowland'' 1995, and after that the band was signed to Treasure Hunt Records. Their first release on this label, ''Tales of Tales'', topped at 18 on the Japanese Heavy Metal Charts. The 1998 release, ''Southgate'', was licensed to Megahard Records for release in Brazil, where the band subsequently toured. They released two albums, ''Between The Worlds'' and ''Eternals'', on Massacre Records
Later in the 1990s, the Swedish group Narnia made notable contributions to Christian power metal history. Previously, Christian Liljegren was in a melodic metal band called Modest Attraction which released the albums ''The Truth in Your Face'' and ''Divine Luxury'' before Liljegren teamed up with guitarist Carl Johan Grimmark to form Narnia in 1996 and released the first album ''Awakening'' in 1998. Narnia was later signed to Nuclear Blast Records, Germany, and Pony Canyon Records, Japan, and broadened its popularity.
Later there appeared more notable European groups such as the German bands Chrystyne and Lightmare, and the Swedish groups XT, Harmony, and Heartcry.
The Brittish group Balance of Power was a notable Christian progressive metal band until the album ''Heathen Machine'', as mostly their bassist Chris Dale wrote the more Christian based lyrics. The band was formed in 1995 and released the first album ''When the World Falls Down'' next year, and was picked up by the Japanese label Pony Canyon, and received significant airplay on Japanese radiostations. After Lance King joined them as vocalist, the band released ''Book of Secrets'' in 1998. In the US there were groups like Jacobs Dream, formed in 1997, which played power metal and progressive metal. The band soon released the albums ''Jacobs Dream'' (1997) and ''Theater of War'' (2000).
Doom metal and gothic metal movements
Ashen Mortality is together with Paramaecium the most well-known Christian doom metal band.
In 1987, the Swedish group Veni Domine started playing progressive doom metal and released its first album ''Fall Babylon Fall'' in 1992. The album was called a "masterpiece" by some critics.[19] The following album ''Material Sanctuary'' featured a heavier output, however, the band abandoned most of their epic style on later releases.
Paramaecium and Ashen Mortality are the two most well-known doom metal bands in Christian metal.[20] Australian group Paramaecium incorporated violin, flute, and acoustic guitars to its atmospheric music on their album ''Exhumed of the Earth'', and continued on adding more symphonic elements on the following albums. What sets Paramaecium apart from other bands in the doom metal scene, is the fact that they are the only Christian death doom band that made it to the top of the genre.[21] Paramecium would influence later Christian bands such as Pantokrator. Brittish group Ashen Mortality was formed after thrash metal band Seventh Angel split up. Ashen Mortality mixed elements of medieval music and goth in their doom metal sound. The critics usually wrote that Ashen Mortalitys overall quality set them apart from competitors. The 1998 ''Your Caress'' was called "essential album".[22] In 2000, the ex-Pentagram guitarist Victor Griffin formed a traditional doom metal group called Place of Skulls, and released the albums ''Nailed'' (2002) and ''With Vision'' (2003).
Christian gothic metal was pioneered by Saviour Machine, which mixed David Bowie type rock-opera and classic metal. Saviour Machine was more popular in Europe, particularly in Germany, than US.[23] After releasing the albums ''Saviour Machine I'' and ''Saviour Machine II'', the band gained attention with its ambitious Legend trilogy. In the 1990s there were three other notable gothic metal bands: Undish, Necromance and Kohllapse, all of them started out in early 1990s playing death metal before developing their gothic metal sound. The Polish band Undish, formerly known as Graviora Manent, released the 1997 album ''Acta Est Fabula'' on Massacre Records and made an European tour afterwards. The German group Necromance released the album ''White Gothic'' and ''Wiederkehr Der Schmerzen'' in the 1990s. The band began incorporating industrial elements on their alter releases. Australian group Kohllapse self-released the albums ''Kohllapse'' (1996) and ''Distant Mind Alternative'' (1999) and gained some attention in secular circles for its unique style that combined darkwave and doom metal.
2000s
Return to mainstream
As I Lay Dying has been at the forefront of metalcore along with Killswitch Engage and Unearth since 2002.[24]
Currently, there exist Christian metal bands for virtually every sub-genre of metal. Extol has a mixed (and often changing) style, and is popular among both Christian and Non-Christian metal fans. Theocracy, Narnia, Rob Rock, Jacobs Dream, and Divinefire are the most prominent Christian power metal bands. Rob Rock also achieved initial fame as the vocalist for guitar virtuoso Chris Impellitteri's band Impellitteri during the 80's and 90's and then went solo with his ''Rage of Creation'' album. He also performed guest vocals for the heavy metal band Warrior. There are many other notable bands, including Ultimatum, Becoming the Archetype, Temple of Blood, Aletheian, Crimson Thorn, Harmony, Saviour Machine, Majestic Vanguard, Sympathy, Virgin Black, Disciple, and Veni Domine.
Certain Christian metal artists have found mainstream acceptance selling millions of albums to both Christian and non-Christian fans, including P.O.D. and Stryper. Metalcore's popularity is especially based on Christian bands, including such crossover successes as Underoath, Norma Jean, Zao, As I Lay Dying, Still Remains, and Demon Hunter.
In its 2006 In Review issue (February 2007), ''Revolver'' Magazine dubbed Christian metal the phenomenon of the year. Editor in Chief Tom Beaujour interviewed the lead singers of As I Lay Dying, Demon Hunter, Norma Jean, and Underoath (Tim Lambesis, Ryan Clark, Cory Brandan Putman, and Spencer Chamberlain, respectively) as the front-page article for the issue. Tooth and Nail Records, P.O.D., Zao, War of Ages, Still Remains, and He Is Legend were also mentioned.
Controversies
Several general market metal bands do not identify themselves as a "Christian band" but still use their lyrics to portray God in a positive light. There are some bands, Virgin Black and Klank, for example, who have Christian members but prefer to remain in the general market. Other more notable mainstream acts that feature Christian members are Anthrax (Dan Spitz), Accept (Peter Baltes), Saliva (Josey Scott), Blind Guardian (Hansi Kursch), Helloween (Andi Deris and Michael Weikath), Iron Maiden (Nicko McBrain), Avian (Lance King), Shadow Gallery, Magnitude 9, Dream Theater, Alice Cooper (who himself is a Christian), All That Remains (Philip Labonte), Megadeth (Dave Mustaine and David Ellefson), and Head (ex-Korn). Other bands, such as Killswitch Engage[25] and Linkin Park [26] have members who were raised in Christian homes, thus occasionally using spiritual themes.
Certain artists, however, are controversial in that they claim Christianity while playing in bands with anti-Christian lyrics or themes. Tom Araya, Slayer's lead vocalist, claims to be a Roman Catholic despite singing overtly anti-Christian lyrics. Deicide, known for their Satanic and anti-Christian themes, included guitarist Ralph Santolla, another professing Roman Catholic.
Certain fans of metal consider the use of Christian lyrics to be opposed to the "true" purpose of metal, despite the fact that the musical content is hardly any different from secular metal bands. On the other side, certain Christian groups, most notably those in some King James Only denominations, consider all types of rock and metal music opposed to their faith regardless of lyrical content or the lifestyles being led by band members. However, many fans and artists see metal as another genre of music, parallel to such genres as blues, classical, jazz, punk, and hip-hop. These people claim that the instrumentation of the music is simply a medium, agnostic to a worldview, while the person creating the music as well as the lyrics being presented provide the message. Therefore, Christian metal is created when Christians compose metal music in a way that reflects their faith in Christ.
See also
★ List of Christian metal bands
★ Unblack metal
★ Heavy metal music
★ List of Christian music videos
Record labels
★ Facedown Records
★ Flicker Records
★ Bombworks Records
★ Mono Vs Stereo
★ Raging Storm Records
★ Rivel Records
★ Solid State Records
★ Harvest Earth Records
★ Endtime Productions
★ Nightmare Records
★ Intense Records
★ R.E.X. Records
★ Tooth & Nail Records
References
Notes
1. White Metal Lahtonen, Jussi
2. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, , Mark Allan, Powell, Hendrickson Publishers, 2002,
3. Heavy Metal Jesus Freaks - Headbanging for Christ, , Dan, Kapelovitz, Mean Magazine, 2001
4. Christian Metal History
5.
6.
7. Christe, Ian (2003). ''Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal''. Pages= 196. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-380-81127-8
8. Interview with Trouble Citation: "It was Metal Blade. Back then they called all of it ´Black Metal´, y´know, Slayer, Danzig, etc., all those bands, they are ´Black Metal´, so I didn´t grow up believing in all that crap and I think that people didn´t believe in it either. It was a question about marketing your band in some way, so I had to do it. So I did this. Metal Blade called us as a “White Metal band” and I just wished they didn´t." (Vocalist Eric Wagner comments on Troubles white metal tag.)
9. Christe, Ian (2003). ''Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal''. Pages= 204. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-380-81127-8
10. Headbangers, , Mark, Hale, Popular Culture, Ink., 1993,
11. Top Ten Songs by Stryper
12. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, , , Powell, , 2002,
13. Eternal Desicion Mesquita Borges, Mario
14. Mortification - Scrolls of the Megilloth Review
15. Mortification Biography, Australian Music Online. Amo.org.au
16. Interviews by Gary Garson and Peter Schultz, translations by J. Grym, additional notes by Mape Ollila. Maailman metalli: Australia. Article about Australian metal today in the biggest Finnish metal site Imperiumi.Net (in Finnish).
17. mayhem Interview Eithun, Bård G. "Faust"
18. Admonish Interview Morrow, Matt
19. Veni Domine - Fall Babylon Fall Melzer, Alexander
20. Ashen Mortality - Your Caress Spencer, John
21. Paramaecium Panagiotou, Kostas
22. Ashen Mortality Quispel, Aldo
23. Eric Clayton Talks Vanderpoel, David (1997)
24. As I Lay Dying Get Sick of Metalcore Harris, Chris and Wiederhorn, Jon
25. Lights in a Loud Place
26. Linkin Park: One Step Closer
Citations
★ .
★
External links
★ http://www.forthebattle.co.uk/ - UK Forum for Christian Hard Music
★ Andy's Dungeon of Extreme Christian Metal Christian metal links.
★ GrrrRecords.com Grrr Records is the Label of Resurrection Band, Glenn Kaiser and Many More.
★ MetalForJesus.org Comparisons of Christian Metal to Black, Death, Heavy and other Metal genres
★ Reign Radio Streaming Christian Metal
★ Full Armor of God Broadcast Radio Show featuring Christian Metal
★ DanielsMusic.com Concert Photography
★ Godcore.com Christian Music Database
★ KingdomMetal.com Christian Metal Bands, Info, News, & More
★ http://www.cdreporter.de/ - Webzine featuring News and Reviews about Christian Rock and Metal Bands
★ ChristianMetal.net--online Christian metal radio stations
★ http://jesushideout.informe.com/ - A young forum accounting for all types of Christian Music.
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