Metal and Christianity, Part 1

Listening to Metal Is Compatible with Christianity

The question periodically comes up: How can I, as a Christian, listen to music that is anti-Christian? Ordinarily, the question comes from a fellow Christian. Recently, I have found that it's not only Christians who see a conflict, but also non-Christian metalheads.

The thing is, I've never seen any kind of inherent conflict. I don't feel a need to justify it to anyone. But the curiosity and confusion is out there, and I've been challenged on it many times.

Basically, all of the objections can be thrown out by one observation: I listen to music. I don't care about lyrics. Anyone who's read my blog knows that, and if you've read it faithfully you know I prefer when I don't understand the words at all. But because sometimes that explanation is not enough, I will try to take up each of the common objections.

The Lyrics Are Sinful

There is no rule which states that you have to agree with your music. Nobody seems to have a problem with the Beatles' promotion of drug use, and they seem to think John Lennon's plea to "imagine there's no heaven" is somehow a good thing. Nobody questions Christian Beatles fans. And nobody questions Christians who listen to today's pop music promoting promiscuity, drug use, homosexuality (or at least lesbian behavior), and degrading not just women, but all of humankind.

Mastodon: The Hunter (2011)

Review

Mastodon has been compared to Metallica over and over again. In terms of career paths and trajectory, the similarities are many. Both had the raw debut album embraced by the underground. Their sophomore efforts were polished, gaining the attention of critics outside metal. Third and fourth releases pushed the envelope even further toward thematically-heavy, highly complex material. Metallica's fifth album signalled a dramatic change of direction toward a more accessible, mainstream sound, and Mastodon have stated they wanted material that was more "fun". Is The Hunter the first step toward selling out?

King Diamond: The Graveyard (1996)

The Graveyard is not my favorite King Diamond album, but of all the products of his boundless imagination, it has my favorite story. Like anything he's done, it's perfect for Halloween.

King catches the mayor molesting his own daughter, and tries to expose him. Instead of justice, the mayor says King is crazy. King gets locked up in Black Hill Sanitarium.

Graveland: Cold Winter Blades (EP, 2010)

Review

Graveland is the one-man project of one Rob Darken. He is well-known in metal circles for espousing a racist, pagan weltanschauung and, to make sure everyone takes him and his ideas seriously, taking pictures of himself in the woods wearing Medieval armor and weilding swords. I've mentioned many times that I don't care about the political/religious persuasion of an artist, and that to me personally a racist worldview is somewhat less reprehensible than an anti-Christian worldview. So, let's get to the music.

Graveborne: Pure Negativity (2011)

Review

As you may have noticed, I can be pretty harsh toward some of the bands that give me review copies of their albums. As a rule, I'm not easily impressed, and I don't cut anybody any slack just because they're unsigned or on a tiny label I've never heard of before. I pick the nits. So, you can be sure it means something when I tell you Finland's Graveborne fucking rocks.

When I say "rock", I don't mean they're playing some kind of black 'n' roll, because they don't. It's pure, aggressive black metal without prefix or suffix. But they do it with such style, and such memorable riffs, that they can only be compared to the two hardest-rocking modifier-free black metal bands out there: Immortal and Watain.

Graveyard: Hisingen Blues (2011)

Review

Even if Sweden doesn't have a total monopoly on the retro metal fad, they have all the biggest names, with Ghost, In Solitude, and Portrait being among the best. Graveyard goes even further back than Ghost, to the proto-metal bluesy hard rock days of 1968.

I'm a little late to Graveyard's party, as they had their debut in 2008 and the follow-up Hisingen Blues was released all the way back in April. Around the time this came out I was digging into Blue Cheer and the first four Led Zeppelin albums, but this would have scratched that itch just as well. In fact, the Swedes sound a lot like those bands, from the fuzzy guitars down to the Robert Plant-like vocals.

7 Children of the Grave

"Children of the Grave" is one of my favorite Black Sabbath tunes. I actually heard the White Zombie version first, on Nativity in Black, and thought it sounded like a White Zombie song. In a lot of ways, it still sounds that way to me. But it's been performed in a lot of interesting ways besides just the Zombie one. Here's are 7 different interpretations of the song.


Of course, nothing can beat the original.

Krampus: Kronos' Heritage (EP, 2011)

Summary Judgment

Of all the places I did not expect to find metalcore influence, it's folk metal. Yet that's just what I found with Italian folk metal band Krampus. They were introduced to me by a promotion company who billed them as a folk/death metal band. And at first, they do sound kind of like Eluveitie. Until the vocals come in.

Ugh. Those clean metalcore style vocals. They also fall into other metalcore cliches. I guess I don't mind these breakdowns, and the trick where they have an extra growler over the top of the main growler for the words they want to highlight. And there are more growls than clean vocals. The music is actually pretty good, as far as metalcore goes. The breakdowns are not obnoxious, and some of the riffs are pretty good. I can't believe they're not billing it as folk metalcore, because that would seem to have mass appeal.

Anyway, Krampus are kind of like Eluveitie meets As I Lay Dying. I'm not a fan of the metalcore side of their sound, so I issue summary judgment against Kronos' Heritage. It is definitely different, though, so check it out.

Wolves in the Throne Room: Celestial Lineage (2011)

Review

Whenever the subject of US black metal comes up, the conversation almost always includes mention of Washington's Wolves in the Throne Room. Despite their notoriety, and the fact it's supposed to be the final album of a trilogy, Celestial Lineage is my first exposure to the band. So, I come to this without expectations.

The album is immediately recognizable as Pacific Northwestern living-in-the-forest black metal. It's as much about atmosphere as it is black metal aggression. The sylvan music is at once beautifully serene and alarmingly feral--just like nature.

Undergang: Indhentet af Døden (2010)

Review

CD cover

Some people say the well of old-school death metal is dry. Don't listen to them: It's like an ever flowing stream. (I love puns.)


Denmark's Undergang released their debut Indhentet af Døden ("overtaken by death") last year to no fanfare. Perhaps that's because it was first released on a 100 cassette run, and then only on a vinyl run of 500. It has finally been brought out on CD, and it's sure to be noticed.