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Christian metal is a form of heavy metal music and progressive rock music with explicitly Christian lyrics and themes, or a genre of metal created by Christian bands.
Origins
Early Christian metal bands include bands such as Resurrection Band and Jerusalem. Stryper was the first to popularize the genre, Jerusalem often play hypocritically alongside mainstream (a christian 'metal' term or buzzword for real metal) bands such as Motorhead and Dio. Christian metal can be classified under many subgenres as well. For example, the band Hordeare deemed grindcore. Then there is Whitecross who play glam metal and As I Lay Dying and Zao who play metalcore.
Some of the biggest contributors to the movement include Doug Van Pelt's, Heaven's Metal magazine. The magazine has been in production since 1985 and began featuring bands such as Deliverance, Mortification (an Australian band led by bassist/vocalist Steve Rowe), Bride, Tourniquet, and Stryper. This magazine was similar to many of the metal magazines of that day, but with a much smaller budget. The magazine is now called HM (His Majesty and or Music?) Magazine and still continues to profile hard music.
Some of Christianity's earliest and biggest thrash metal and metalcore pioneers include Living Sacrifice and Zao, who can be credited for creating the Christian metal scene. Most of the christian metal bands today will say that these bands are some of thier top influences.
It was not uncommon for advertisements to have statements like: "The Guns and Roses of Christian Rock" or "Metallica meets God" or "The safe counterpart for fans of Skid Row". Clearly illustrating the propensity of Christian metal bands to proselytise. Tourniquet with Ted Kirkpatrick at the helm was and is one of the most popular Christian bands. Tourniquet's album "Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance" was considered one of the best Christian metal albums when it was released. When Believer came out with Dimensions, they raised the bar for creativity in Christian metal. They are still considered to be a highly influential band amongst fans.
Many fans of metal find Christian metal to be very hypocritical, to cite two examples: the PMRC backlash and the burning of heavy metal albums in the mid-1980s organized by many churches.
Controversies
Several controversies often crop up when discussing Christian metal.
There are several general-market metal bands who do not identify themselves as a "Christian band" but who still use their lyrics to portray god in a positive light. They have various reasons for doing this. A common reason that they cite is easier access to the secular market, so that they can better evangelise; although more stores are now stocking Christian metal bands along with real metal bands, oftentimes the Christian bands are given their own, much smaller, section in the back of the store. Additionally, there are some bands (for example, Virgin Black and Klank) who do have Christian members but who have had negative experiences with churches, and therefore would prefer to just identify their band as a regular band (rather than a Christian one), so as to avoid being lumped in with the same people who had rejected them before. MCM Music, founded by Eric Clayton of Saviour Machine (along with two others), is one record label that has signed several bands who have this mindset.
Some people who do not enjoy the genre of metal think the concept of Christianity and what they view as the evil and destructive music of metal cannot be combined. This same view is held by some conservative Christian circles (who are on the opposite side of the debate); members of the King-James-Only Movement (especially Dial-the-Truth and similar ministries) are chief among these. Much like Christian hip hop, however, Christian metal is also widely accepted into self proclaimed holy culture.Many christian metal labels also produce other forms of music such as 'Hip Hop', 'Rap', 'Soul', and other genres commonly regarded by metalheads as having less than nothing to do with metal. These labels moreover are often backed and owned by evangelical churches.
It is seen, most often however, that the Christian metal scene has been often rejected by Christian fundamentalists, seeing the music as "ungodly." This, however, has not stained the Christian metal scene, as bands such as As I Lay Dying, Norma Jean, and The Chariot are all successful Christian metal bands, in the Christian market and in the secular market as well.
Christian metal is not regarded by traditional metalheads as being real metal. They regard fans of Christian 'metal' as being posers and people lacking the moral fibre to completely reject social indoctrination. Arguably part of the metal subculture is the wholesale rejection of Christianity and indeed any form of mainstream religion or morality and thus christian 'metal' can be seen to be anathema to all for which true metal stands.
Concerts
In the 1980s and early 90s Stryper concerts were held at major arenas. They were popular enough to play at and sell out venues like Madison Square Garden. However, there are not a great deal of churches that allow metal bands to perform, with more contemporary churches Revolution, which target their ministries at people who do not fit well at more conventional churches) being an exception to this. The typical Christian metal show, then, might take place at a community center or coffeehouse or some venue that might generally host a show of such high volumes. In addition, there are annual festivals that host Christian metal bands, though these do not have anywhere near the number of fans as more traditional metal bands and are attended by many non metalheads. Many Christian metal bands can be seen at the Cornerstone Festival in Illinois or Florida. For seven years, fans of Christian metal could also attend the Bobfest in Europe. (The last Bobfest took place in 2005.)
Christian metal today
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Although Christian metal experienced a lot of controversies in its early beginnings, the genre has continued, and grown from that point.
Bands such as As I Lay Dying, are experiencing high debuts on the US billboard charts, thereby proving thier mainstream appeal and nature. San Diego Nu Metal band ] have managed to sell over 7 million records so far. Not to mention countless sellout shows, tours and events.
Metalcore bands Norma Jean and The Chariot, have developed a reputation of being some of the heaviest Christian bands to date, and have begun to be put into a genre of their own titled "Chaos-Metal", due to their chaotic riffs, and live shows.
Australian one man band Horde, a creation of Jayson Sherlocke (formerly of Mortification), faced a lot of controversy with the release of the album 'Hellig Usvart' in 1994. Upon the albums release, it faced a lot of violent negativity both in Australia, and around the world, due to it being one of the first christian albums ever to call itself Black Metal, and its blatant christian lyrics.
See also
External links
- MetalForJesus.org Comparisons of Christian Metal to Black, Death, Heavy and other Metal chart
- Reign Radio (Streaming Christian Metal)
- DanielsMusic.com Concert Photography - includes Cornerstone Festival
- Tongues of Fire News and Reviews of Modern Christian Hardcore and Metal
- Firestream The believer's heavy music refuge - a forum for many progressive Christian metal bands
- Godcore.com Christian Music Database
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