Christian metal: a reason to hate or a sign of progress?

(Disclaimer: I am not religious and, if I was pressed, would consider myself agnostic leaning towards being an atheist. The views on Christian metal here are not intended to be used to start an argument, merely to examine why Christian metal gets such a bad reputation among metal fans. If this is an issue you do not wish to read, feel free to ignore this entire post. Thank you in advance for being understanding.)

When I think of metal, one major stereotype that is noticeable is that of a Satanic nature. This can be traced all the way back to Black Sabbath's debut album, although it's also noticeable as far back as with the song "Sympathy For The Devil" by the Rolling Stones. As such, it's often surprising for people who are not metal fans to discover that metal has actually been made by Christian musicians to help spread the faith of God. Possibly not so surprisingly, many a metal fan will be very vocal about this being a problem with them for some reason or another (and, nearly always, never regarding the actual music).

What I'm puzzled about with this reaction is that many of these same metalheads have no problem with Satanic lyrics, which arguably are the same thing as Christian lyrics. Which begs the question: what's all the fuss about?

Well, ignoring the obvious fact that rock music has been argued by many self-righteous Christian fundamentalists as being the devil's music since as far back as the times of Elvis Presley (seriously!), I suppose part of it is simply the fact that Satanic themes have been part of metal for so long that seeing a band completely bucking the trend is a somewhat new experience. While most sensible people would judge the music and not react to the lyrics unless they are horrendously written (not mentioning any examples here, *cough*mylifestyledeterminesmydeathstyle*cough*), some will naturally find reason to complain that the lyrics can be very preachy (again, something that also happens with some Satanic bands). And, at least there, they do have a point: if the lyrics feel like they are trying to recruit you into becoming a Christian, you would have a fair reason to object to it if you do not believe in God or are from another religion entirely. However, this can come across as very strange if the lyrics do not enter that territory (although, as with most music, this will be a very subjective level to make: some have no tolerance for it, while some have a level of tolerance large enough to travel around the Earth a good few times). Also, this can be rather hypocritical for the reasons I've pointed out before.

Another potential issue would be the fact that Christians in general have a rather bad reputation among metalheads. Now, before I go into this area, I must stress that not every metalhead will have issues with Christians just because of their religion (indeed, I do not have the same level of vocal hatred of Christianity some metalheads will have, although I will admit to not being comfortable with the idea of a holy war and how religion can be manipulated for war purposes: if you pardon me sounding religious for a few seconds, my view on the subject is that religion itself is fine, it's mankind abusing religion that is the problem). However, since Christians were generally the most vocal speakers against metal music in the 80's, being well known for demanding censorship of music for occasionally ridiculous reasons, this has caused many metal fans to be mistrustful of organised religion (and the PMRC, but that's almost become a battle of the PMRC vs most music these days...). On this, I will admit that I think the detractors have a point, albeit not one that I  agree with: if Christianity can be the cause of so many problems across the world in history, why should it be accepted as part of a music style encouraging individuality? To this, I would again point out that it's more mankind abusing religion that is the problem, not religion itself.

Another issue (and, on this one at least, I cannot argue) is that, if you were raised with another religion, it is very unlikely that you are likely to agree with another religion where it differs from your own. On this, I can only say that you would be best judging the music and ignoring the lyrics. This might seem like a unfair request, but bear in mind that Black Sabbath treated the occult nature of the lyrics to their first six albums more like horror movie entertainment, as do Slayer. Alternatively, it may be better to simply avoid listening to it where you can.

The thing that I believe Christian metal is doing is that it is opening a pathway to metal for those who are interested in it, but do not support the lyrics of standard metal. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that you'll find Christian metalheads refusing to headbang to music just because the style is against their religion, but more it allows them to listen to metal without having an issue with the Satanic lyrics (if they have that issue). This might seem like a very bad idea to many people, but think of it from this perspective: metal, as a whole, is about the music and the image. While fans may not want to follow the image most associate with metal (I probably look more like a typical nerd than a metalhead) the music is the thing that connects metal fans together, not the Satanic themes and refusal to conform to what others expect of them. By offering a hand of friendship (or, at least, a truce) to those Christians who want to discuss their faith in the music, the two sides benefit together in the long run: the metal fans get more great music (if they do not have the problem with the Christian themes I covered earlier) and the Christians who become metal fans can become accepted by non-Christian metal fans because of that connection between them. Do I believe this will ever happen? Honestly, I do not believe it will happen, but it would be nice to see it happen, as it would open the door to other religions to do the same thing and, in the end, provide a richer pallet of music for all the sides involved.

In the end, my viewpoint on Christian metal, not being someone who dislikes Christianity, is that Christian metal is a sign of progress for both sides: it shows a willingness to accept that not all metal is the stereotypical devil worshiping from the Christian's side of the argument and, from the metal fan's side, it allows for other ideas to be included into metal, hopefully signalling that metal will be able to experiment with unusual themes in the future and develop beyond the slightly stagnated genre it has become now.

I can only hope it happens in my lifetime...

What is with the stigma of mainstream metal bands sucking?

I'm sure you've seen these kinds of arguments out there somewhere: you get these people who seem to have nothing positive to say about mainstream metal bands, but ask them to name what they would call a good metal band and you'd struggle to find them anywhere on the internet. The guys who say "It's Metallica, so it's going to be shit" (to name one example most people will recognise). The guys who only seem to live to tear apart bands and never give a positive word about a band unless you practically force it out of them. It's practically guaranteed that, if you mention liking a metal band with any noticeable commercial success anywhere, at least one person will vocalise their hatred of the band for reasons that make next to no sense if you look at them hard enough (if they give any at all).

As you may have guessed, these guys make my blood boil. But where do they get the belief that a commercially successful metal band is automatically bad?

Well, surprisingly, this isn't actually dedicated purely to music, let alone metal. I'm sure everyone out there can name occasions where they met people who will blindly trash something, as if they have been personally offended by the product to such an extent you'd think it went out and murdered their family with a wooden spoon. Indeed, I have one friend who does this to the last two Star Trek films directed by J J Abrams, ranting so many times about them that he often forgets my knowledge of Star Trek is minimal at best and non-existant at worst. Sometimes, the ranting is justified when the product is legitimately bad (anyone remember that Lou Reed and Metallica collaboration that no one was clamouring for? I try not to...), but there are occasions when the ranting can be very undeserved (some people despise Metallica for everything after "...And Justice For All", probably forgetting that there wasn't exactly a scene for heavy metal in the 90's, and are not afraid to bring it up every time they are mentioned. Which can be daft when nothing after "...And Justice For All" was mentioned in any case and was actually used as part of a sensible discussion...). So, this attitude is not exactly unique in metal. What might be more accurate, however, is that there are certain kinds of fans who are more likely to have this attitude and, unsurprisingly, most of them are fans of underground styles like death and black metal. So, let's give a brief examination of the two styles to see why they seem to encourage this mindset.

Anyone worth their metal cap can probably name at least one of the bands who helped developed the styles of death and black metal. Death metal can trace it's development back to thrash metal (you know, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, those guys), as it's effectively a more extreme style of that. Often, you can trace influence from Slayer's album "Reign in Blood", which is considered one of their best albums and a thrash metal classic. Personally, I find it a tiny bit overrated when you take away the big songs from it ("Angel of Death" and "Raining Blood"), but that's another can of worms. Another good place to trace the development of death metal would be the German thrash metal scene, which is actually known for being more extreme than the more famous American thrash scene. However, in terms of being an actual death metal band, one band you'll want to look for is Possessed, with two albums and one EP that many consider essential listening for death metal fans. However, the big band you'll want to look for is Death. Indeed, Death are probably the most influential death metal bands of all time, with their first three (or four, depending on who ask) albums being the blueprints for most modern death metal. Now, most of you who aren't interested in metal may be thinking "Why is this important?" Well, have you heard of those bands before now? Probably not...

Black metal, surprisingly enough, actually pre-dates death metal. The first black metal band is a long debated question, as most of them sound nothing like current black metal. However, some noticeable influences would be Venom, whose second album was actually titled "Black Metal". Although their music has more in common with thrash metal, they had the main themes of modern black metal nailed down perfectly, such as Satanic and anti-Christian themes, as well as the use of pseudonyms (most black metal musicians do not use their actual names). The first actual black metal band (by modern terms) would be hard to say (it was more like a scene, straight out of Norway), but the most interesting band (although not entirely for their music) would probably be Mayhem. Part of this is due to a variety of incidents which you can look up in your own time, but one that stands out is that, after their lead singer, Dead (who is rumoured to have suffered from a rather creepy condition called Cotard's syndrome. It's also called Walking Corpse Syndrome, as the sufferer usually believes they have died and yet still move like they are alive), committed suicide, one of his band members found his body, went to find a camera and took pictures of his corpse. Another band member was murdered by another band mate, so it would be fair to say that the scene was made up of some rather unpleasant people (indeed, the infamous church burning incidents people may know black metal for actually originated from this scene). While the vocals can vary, next to no bands use clean vocals. The originators of the stereotypical vocals would probably be Bathory and I can tell you this: those vocals (and death metal vocals) are not as easy to pull off as you'd think. Black metal vocals basically require you to do Gollum's infamous coughing sound and then try to sing through it. While death metal vocals are essentially a low angry sigh which (again) you have to try to sing through. It's arguably easier to pull off, but you'll wear out your throat over long periods of time, so you'll need to practice, warm up and drink a lot of water. Don't believe me? Try them now. This blog won't be going anywhere...

You're back? Ok, so you now know the basic history behind those styles, why do they seem to encourage a very underground mentality? Well, it's partially the vocal styles, as they are basically designed to be unpleasant to listen to if you are not used to them, but another thing is that they have themes which are not likely to be liked by a mainstream music audience (anti-Christian and Satanic themes for black metal, terrifying levels of violence for death metal). Often, the production on albums in these styles (especially black metal) is also very raw, which will give it the feeling of having been recorded in a bathroom, a noticeable contrast from most other styles of music which try to have a clean production. Additionally for black metal, there are generally limited physical releases of albums, so it's difficult to get copies unless you trade between people who do like the style or contact the band directly. Throw in limited live performances from black metal bands (if any) and you get a very devoted fanbase who will generally not react well to anything more popular than what they like (indeed, if you want to look up reactions to black metal bands signing to even a slightly popular label, this can backfire spectacularly on the band). Indeed, the popular black metal acts (Dimmu Borgir stand out) will often find black metal purists hating them just for being popular.

This is not to say it is entirely black and death metal fans who hate on popular metal bands: there is also an trace of this attitude among fans of underground bands. Let's face it, everyone who doesn't just follow the charts will often find themselves occasionally finding a band they really like that isn't that popular. And for most people, that makes them feel like they've stumbled onto their own little secret that they'd like to keep. So, when everyone else starts finding out about it, the feeling that you found them first and deserve to keep it that way can become very strong. Take Metallica: when the band were still thrash titans and hadn't released their self-titled album, their material was widely praised by thrash fans (despite some accusations of selling out for a few reasons, such as writing a ballad on Ride The Lightning and moving away from their thrash roots on Master Of Puppets). But, once Metallica released their self-titled album, which also brought them a lot of fans at the cost of stripping their sound down, you'd struggle to find anyone who claimed to have liked them since they formed. This also brings up another point which I shall cover: band's changing their style of music.

Now, this one is going to be a real big problem for most people. After all, when a band has a style, people who like that style will naturally like them for their style of music. When a band changes their style (no matter what direction they go in), they risk losing fans because it's not what the fans originally liked them for. Now, granted, some of this can be because the change is in a more commercial direction, which usually means stripping down the sound that fans liked the band for, but this can enter odd territory when the sound is actually darker than the band originally made and actually aims more for the underground. Again, this can cause complaints because it's different, but the accusation of selling out will be used instead, which is odd when the change is actually aimed less at the mainstream than the original sound. Where this gets very odd is when the band later changes their style back to the one they originally had: some people will still have a grudge over the original change, but the band will most likely have gotten fans from the different sound, who will proceed to call them a sell out. In this case, it's more a case of "Damned if you do, damned if you don't."

Another fact that may be worth pointing out is metal fans generally have long memories when it comes to disappointments and triumphs. This doesn't mean a band will permanently lose fans if they make a change in style, but do not be too surprised if bitter fans refuse to let your transgression go unpunished and will often demand a return to the form of the triumphs, no matter how practical it would be (unless a member has died, in which case there will be respect given to the replacement...most of the time). Take Helloween: when they got rid of their vocal powerhouse Michael Kiske, fans were up in arms and, to this day, some still demand the return of Kiske. However, when Kiske was in the band, he took complete control over it and forced them into a hard rock direction. The only way he would let go was to be fired and, since he was badly damaging the band at the time, the band decided to do this (which is very similar to the ongoing Queensryche problems, funnily enough). Try telling this to those fans who still make this demand, though...

And I think I've covered the main problems with the problem between metal fans and mainstream metal bands. I hope you enjoyed the read and that you'll enjoy reading all my future blogs.