Well, well, well. It seems to be that time of the week again. I'm listening to a lot of Dio right now (for reasons which shall be disclosed in about a week) and also making mac and cheese while I write this post, so I'm a little busy. But part of coming back to life meant swearing a blood-oath to Thor and the other gods of metal that I'd resurrect this blog with me.
\m/ Let it be done.
The winner of last week's poll, and the subject of this week's post, is Christian metal.
Now, I'd like to make a difference clear right now, in the sense that there is a huge difference between a Christian metal band (which is a genre type, like Christian rock) and a metal band whose members happen to be Christian. Some people will be callous and heavy-handed enough to assume that the two are one and the same, but they're both wrong AND stupid.
For example, I propose two musical groups for comparison.
Skillet, a Christian hard rock/metal band.
As I Lay Dying, a melodic metalcore band of Christians.
What are the differences here? Let's see via comparison.
1. General Awesomeness.
Skillet's music on the whole isn't very awesome. It largely contains motifs of being broken yet being able to be made whole...which is poetic and uplifting and stuff, but simply is not very metal. In fact for a band that likes to identify with the hard rock and metal scene they're not very heavy at all. As I Lay Dying, however, seems to consistently rank very high on the awesomeness scale. Shredding guitars and speedy double bass abound. They tend to produce awesome songs about generally relatable things, only using badass language and metaphors.
"Like the dead rising from an open grave" for example. You'll never see Skillet do that.
2. Song Message.
As I Lay Dying will occasionally write a song that belies a Christian point of view in the writer, for example "Anodyne Sea", but even when they do this it doesn't feel preachy or even overly focused on the religion. Even Anodyne Sea, a song written about the modern trials of being a Christian in a largely secular world, can only be interpreted as a Christian song after the listener knows the band members are Christian. Before then, its perfectly acceptable as any other song. Skillet, however, has a tendency to consistently use the traditional, cliched uplifting sentiments that Christian rock has already been using for a while now.
3. On the matter of metal.
If you're a Christian, nothing says you can't play heavy metal. Religious background doesn't really influence anything about you as a person. However, if you're in a band specifically focused at putting forth a Christian message, using the genre of music most commonly endorsed by Satan is probably a misstep.
Hell, the damn symbol of the genre is the human method of replicating the sign of the goat, a bodily metaphor for the inverted pentagram.
Besides, the music itself seems better suited for the Devil, in the sense that it's a music about the passionate pursuit of defending one's right to be an individual. You can't spell metal without me. Lucifer's choice to rebel, to scorn the powers of order and creation in favor of personal choice, happened to fit the high levels of emotion and intensity of metal. Being subservient and nice to your neighbors is a great thing to do and all, but it doesn't go well with double bass.
Christian metal, stop living a lie.
I understand that even using the words "Christian" and "metal" in the same blog post is asking for a flame war. If you're reading this, don't be stupid.
Viva la metal, let the flame wars commence.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment