Christian Metal?

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Century_Child

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I have mixed feelings about this particular genre of music. I don’t mean the heavier sort of Christian Rock, like Skillet, or TFK… I’m talking death growls and such (think Demon Hunter or Devil Wears Prada).On one hand, it seems like it could be good for people who like that sort of stuff and want something with positive lyrics, and it could also help evangelize secular metalheads. But on the other hand, it seems like those sort of vocals can be almost demonic. For example, I heard Becoming the Archetype’s cover of “How Great Thou Art”, and it just seemed wrong. What do you guys think?
 
@ Lynx - Yeah maybe “demonic” isn’t the right word. More like… angry? I’m not really sure how to express what I’m thinking. My friend said it’s like “Satan reciting scripture”, though I would say that’s a little exaggerated :rolleyes:
Also I didn’t get a chance to listen to that song you posted… I gave up music for Lent lol. I’ll comment on Sunday 😃
@ Califman831 - TFK = Thousand Foot Krutch. They’re a great band. If you wanna check em out…
youtube.com/watch?v=HqDkx53Bli8
youtube.com/watch?v=Vh2YFfeUrOA
youtube.com/watch?v=8YmjazA68B4
 
I think what you’re looking for is the word ‘stigmatized’. Early impressions of heavy metal screamo have been closely associated with Satan, thus negatively stigmatizing the genre. I would say don’t let others think for you on this subject, listen for yourself and see if there is anything objectionable. It’s about the message not the medium, no?
 
No one is thinking for me… it just seems like there’s a reason that sort of music is associated with Satanism. That particular vocal style used in death metal sort of conveys a sense of hatred, and since God is love, one could say that that type of music is the opposite of God. But I’d say that’s taking it a bit far lol. For the record though, I’m not trying to argue against Christian Metal, I’m mostly for it but I just want to think it through further.
 
As someone said before, sound is about interpretation. Actually, a lot of things are. What we associate with different colors, what frightens us, it all depends on how we are raised, and what we’re brought up to believe.

You can’t say a song sounds “demonic”, most don’t know what something truly demonic sounds like, and they don’t want to find out.
 
Century_Child said:
No one is thinking for me… it just seems like there’s a reason that sort of music is associated with Satanism.
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This is true… it’s called paranoia and poor parenting. There are plenty of horror movies that deal with Satanism and may not be good to watch. Do you then deem all horror movies bad? Of course not.

There was a time when some parents thought Chuck Berry, The Beatles, Elvis etc. were “bad”. Now it’s called classic rock. It may be that nobody is thinking for you… but if you hear a metal song without hearing the lyrics and automatically assume it has to do with Satan then you’re hardly thinking for yourself.

Listening to bands like War of Ages, As I Lay Dying and August Burns Red (to name a few) the vocal style is obviously more aggressive than what most people expect to hear from a Christian act but when you actually listen to the lyrics I dare you to show me how it is anyway associated with Satanism.
 
I’m not talking about all metal here. I’m talking about the bands with the most intense screaming and the most overtly Christian lyrics. Example being this:
youtube.com/watch?v=F00f7NgzS80
And I’m not saying they’re associated with Satanism in any way. Demon Hunter is one of my favorite bands. I’m saying that even though the lyrics are very good, there’s no denying the music disturbs your inner peace. I mean think about it… screaming is a natural response when something is wrong. When you’re completely pissed off and you want to vent your anger, you don’t listen to jazz. You listen to metal. I don’t feel this way as a result of being raised like this. My mom probably doesn’t even know what death metal is and my dad doesn’t care lol.
Sound isn’t necessarily completely open to interpretation… there’s actually some theory behind it. The idea of distorting the tone of your voice or guitar goes against the natural order of music. Sure, there’s no real definition of how music is “supposed to be”, but can you see what I’m trying to say?
 
Century_Child said:
I’m not talking about all metal here. I’m talking about the bands with the most intense screaming and the most overtly Christian lyrics. Example being this:
youtube.com/watch?v=F00f7NgzS80
And I’m not saying they’re associated with Satanism in any way. Demon Hunter is one of my favorite bands. I’m saying that even though the lyrics are very good, there’s no denying the music disturbs your inner peace. I mean think about it… screaming is a natural response when something is wrong. When you’re completely pissed off and you want to vent your anger, you don’t listen to jazz. You listen to metal. I don’t feel this way as a result of being raised like this. My mom probably doesn’t even know what death metal is and my dad doesn’t care lol.
Sound isn’t necessarily completely open to interpretation… there’s actually some theory behind it. The idea of distorting the tone of your voice or guitar goes against the natural order of music. Sure, there’s no real definition of how music is “supposed to be”, but can you see what I’m trying to say?
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Honestly I would never equate screaming with Satanism
I would though equate shrieks and growling as Satanic sounds
Such music as: Black Metal (Mayhem, Dark Funeral, Nokturnal Mortum)
Death Metal: (Deicide, Incantation, Immolation)
Just a few examples God Bless!
 
Century_Child said:
Sound isn’t necessarily completely open to interpretation… there’s actually some theory behind it. The idea of distorting the tone of your voice or guitar goes against the natural order of music. Sure, there’s no real definition of how music is “supposed to be”, but can you see what I’m trying to say?
Click to expand...
The theory you refer to is actually called “music theory”. Having studied it quite a bit I can tell you that the statement I bolded is completely false.

Pick up a guitar and play an open E. Now turn on the distortion and do the same thing. It’s still the same note… just a different sound.

In other words fur elise sounds beautiful when played on a piano. The only thing that changes if you play it on a distorted guitar is the tone… the theory is still quite intact.

Also regarding your theory of metal “disturbing your inner peace” this is completely subjective. I used to fall asleep listening to Fear Factory, as a matter of fact I find metal rather calming and make it a point to listen to it when I’m already angry to help me calm down.
 
Yes, I know it’s music theory… I’ve studied some myself. There’s a difference between the distortion on a guitar and screaming. Guitar distortion changes the tone of the note, whereas screaming isn’t any note at all. If you play an e on a guitar with distortion, then play an e on a piano, you can tell it’s the same note. But if you scream something, there won’t be any key on the piano to match it.
Do you really think metal is peaceful? I mean come on, look at the mosh pits at metal concerts. You’re not gonna find that with any other genre of music. Except maybe hardcore techno at raves and stuff. Different sounds produce different reactions from people, like different feelings. If you massage someone, it relaxes them, but if you cut them it makes them recoil. That’s not subjective, it’s the way we’re built. If you were to find someone who has never listened to music or has never been influenced by popular interpretation of different genres, then played them a song by Slipknot and a song by Beethoven, can you honestly disagree that the majority of, if not ALL of them would find Beethoven to be more peaceful?
 
There’s something fundamentally wrong with praising God using a style of music that’s perfectly suited to spew hate, despair, rage, and so on. Before any of you start to rationalize things, do you honestly feel that God is pleased being addressed the way the singer in the YT video linked by Century Child does? Would you find it odd to go back in time to find out that Jesus or his mother sang prayers to God that way? You would, but not because of the anachronism (lovely death metal didn’t exist back then) but simply because it’s not fitting to talk to God that way. Nobody would think to sing a song about any theme so dear to any metal band using a ukulele and singing with a soft, head voice. Why? It’s not fitting. Metal music is a great carrier for negative stuff, anger; peace, serenity, gratitude, deep reverence for our Maker, not quite,.

And Century Child, I agree with you basically, but I think any sound really (from a scream, to a fork hitting a glass, to a truck backing up) is equal to a note/tone, people with perfect pitch know what note corresponds to any sound.

Also, give up trying to convince some that this style of music is, shall we say, demonically inspired (I believe it is), I was once in a thread and someone basically equalled satanism with homicide, meaning if someone hasn’t killed anyone, he can’t possibly be a satanist. Pentagrams, inverted crosses, occult themes, blasphemy, just harmless entertainment…Yeah right.
 
I think some of the boys from My Chemical Romance are Catholics. The guitarist Frank Iero has a fabulous tattoo of Our Lady of Sorrows on his arm and is often seen crossing himself in their videos.
 
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