Introduction to Heavy Christian Music!

[Requiem]

Crimson Moonlight and Whitecross, great bands. I was about to make a post on Theocracy, but i see that you already know them. Their first album is just epic, it sends shivers running down your spine!

Tonight we explore a well-known band of the white metal movement: the "Saviour Machine" (from David Bowie's song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlmSnDM8Tls). The style of this band is a mix between gothic and power metal, and their themes are usually eschatological and apocalyptic (in fact, their "Legend" trilogy is all about the book of Revelation). Their stage performances are often dramatic and full of pathos.

Attachment 87458

All of these videos are from their live performances. "Legion":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toUUTIg-kfY

"The Invasion of Israel":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KepsB-D2zv0

The long, but impressing, "The Beast":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLZVHg5GhZ8

And "Ludicrous Smiles":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTmGVQZgwuQ

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More "positive" songs would be "Jesus Christ", "The Lamb" and the wonderful "End of the Age", where the triumph of God over evil is emphasized.

[Requiem]

Amos is a brazilian Gothic Rock band (nothing to do with Tori Amos!); they released two albums to date, and a nice EP, freely downloadable from their official site (www.amos-band.com).

Attachment 87511

(Rodrigo Shimabukuro, their singer)

Among their first songs is "Waiting for the Night", this one will help you get an impression of their style:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbAaHEdevqw

One of their best ones, "The Ark of the Covenant":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi1SENlISjc

"Lost Essence" (very good!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVNu6cwayZQ

Here's a good mix on youtube with more of their songs from "A Matter of Time"; they also have a great cover of "The Sound of Silence".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ddrB...=ML&playnext=1

Attachment 87512

(2005 album, A Matter of Time)

For more information, here's their Myspace profile: http://www.myspace.com/theamosband

[Requiem]

Divinefire is another swedish band (the singer is a former member of Narnia) who fuses many different styles such as Speed and Power Metal and classical music. Their albums have nice artworks, like Metus; Check 'em out on their official site: http://www.divinefire.net/

Attachment 87658

Some good songs: "Facing the Liar" (that huge crystal cross in the background is impressive!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LsOBahTSYQ

"The World's on Fire":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym6VcqhIjGA

A short but epic song based on John 3:16, "The Way to Eternity":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnC1D1D5kkA

"Divinefire" (eponymous song):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gAMLAdkPoo

And "Pay it Forward", from their first album; a little longer than the others:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuTgbrZudqE

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They have many more good ones, check their 2006 album "Into a New Dimension"!

A curiosity: they were the first band i ever listened to! I'll conclude our exploration (for the moment) with two appendixes, 1) On interesting links about Christian Metal and 2) Believers, and faith-oriented songs, in secular bands (this one will be good!)

[Andius]

Here, i'll be sharing with you some of the best christian metal/rock bands and their songs.

Antestor was perhaps the first christian metal band in history: they started the movement with their 1991 album "The Defeat of Satan". The genre is Black Metal, with (obviously!) opposite thematics but the same sounds, and a heavy use of growling and screaming.

Here is their official site and logo: http://www.antestor.net/Home.html

Attachment 86990

One of their signature songs, "Via Dolorosa" ("The Painful Way") from their 2005 album "The Forsaken", that describes the suffering of the man who doesn't know God, and the impossibility of finding ultimate meaning apart from Him. (the title refers to the road traversed by Jesus to reach Mount Calvary. if you like this song, check also "Rites of Death" and "Vale of Tears")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdCYNvCjo-0

I realize their sound may be too "raw" for someone (mind you, i don't like it too much either; i prefer softier genres like Gothic or Alternative). But they have cleaner songs too: here's an example, "Raade" (I honestly don't know what that means )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwmv1ow8vrQ

Or this one, it's titled "Jesus, Jesus Ver Du Hjå" and it is apparently a norwegian prayer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cjm5M_TddM

I'll be posting some of those "softier" bands soon. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading (and listening)!

So Antestor was the Vanguard on this one?

I really adored the instrumentation for this band, it be the stuff of epics. Cant really say the voice matches the epicness though, it doesnt click with me. But all in all, this band is bloody amazing.

[Requiem]

So Antestor was the Vanguard on this one?

Yes. The one-man band Horde is often cited as the one who started the movement in 1994 with his album "Hellig Usvart" ("Holy Unblack" in norwegian), but "The Defeat of Satan" was released in 1991; Horde (Jayson Sherlock) was the one who really got the Christian Metal movement going and coined the term "Unblack" music. (BTW, the story of this man is well worth a read. Check the well-done Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horde_(band))

I really adored the instrumentation for this band, it be the stuff of epics. Cant really say the voice matches the epicness though, it doesnt click with me. But all in all, this band is bloody amazing.

Glad that you like it. But i recommend even more the excellent australian band, Virgin Black.

[One Bad Pig]

Why are you equating the start of Christian metal with the start of Christian black metal?

[Requiem]

Well, because Antestor was IMO the first christian metal band as well as the first christian black (or "unblack") metal band. Petra, Stryper and others can be defined at best "hard rock", but the really "tough" music starts with Antestor. That said, the definitions are loose, so it's hard to pin down the exact "beginning of Christian metal".

[Requiem]

Here are the promised "useful links", to deepen your knowledge of this fascinating movement.


Firestream (www.firestream.freeforums.net): "The Believer's Heavy Music Refuge", a world-renowned forum with discussions on metal and the greatest archive of christian bands. This site withstood two major hacker attacks who erased most of the data present on it, but now it's up and running again!



The Metal for Jesus page (www.metalforjesus.org): this site features many interesting articles and charts.



The "Blabber Jesus" webzine, now named the Untombed webzine (www.untombed.com): interviews, latest news, album reviews, etc.



Gothic Christianity (www.gothicchristianity.com): one of my faves, obviously. A thing of note is the collection of gothic images and pictures.



Some links to other christian metal sites have been gathered together on this page: www.christianmetal.net

[One Bad Pig]

Well, because Antestor was IMO the first christian metal band as well as the first christian black (or "unblack") metal band. Petra, Stryper and others can be defined at best "hard rock", but the really "tough" music starts with Antestor. That said, the definitions are loose, so it's hard to pin down the exact "beginning of Christian metal".

I'm pretty sure Tourniquet, Mortification, Vengeance, Deliverance, Believer, and Bride (to name a few of my early favorites) were around before Antestor. I wouldn't call Petra metal. Stryper's borderline.

[Requiem]

Tourniquet and Mortification are contemporaneous with Antestor but as for the other bands, you're right ("Believer" in particular belongs to an early brand of Thrash Metal); shame on me for not considerating these ones. So, Antestor could be more accurately called the first unblack metal band, as you said.

[Requiem]

Some secular bands are composed of, or include in their line-up, christian members. This shows in the lyrics of their songs, a number of which are as beautiful as genuine "christian metal" songs. Here are a few examples.

Alice Cooper, who kept quiet about his faith for personal reasons but is a self-confessed believer (see this excellent article); this shows the most in his 2000 album "Brutal planet", though my favourite is Salvation from the 2008 "Along Came a Spider": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF0tRLt4Vuw

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Nicko McBrain, drummer of Iron Maiden; one of their hits, "For the Greater Good of God" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns-fQRnm9sk), celebrates the atoning death of Christ, and "The Lord of Light" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL3OcB6Rgg8) asks to give one's life to God.

Megadeth's founder Dave Mustaine and bassist Dave Ellefson, who memorably labeled Satan a "small fry guy"; He affirmed Scripture is a source of inspiration for some of their songs, as in "Shadow of Death" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fliY5aZ7wdE) that's basically a metal version of Psalm 23, and "My Kingdom Come" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JHTRbgaQqY)

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Dream Theater's James LaBrie, John Myung and John Petrucci, a catholic; this is evident in "Lines in the sand" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk7ABxAcMdA), "Scarred" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6SjyRLKy70) and "Voices" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIDrCuKPA5Y)

and maybe Ozzy Osbourne, former member of Black Sabbath, though he's quite ambiguous on his personal beliefs. His song "After Forever" encourages the listener to think about eternity and the consequences of his choices and actions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkmyZ8juZWw

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That's all for now; i'll be updating the thread and posting some new bands from time to time. Comments are appreciated, as always. Stay Heavy!

[One Bad Pig]

Alice Cooper's stage persona is, as he would attest, not a good platform for spreading a Christian message (given that in real life he wants to stay as far away from his stage persona as possible).

[Em7add11]

Tourniquet was a great band that was in desparate need of editing from time to time.

They have quite a few songs that range from embarassing to unlistenable mixed in with the stuff that is really amazing.

[Requiem]

An heavenly hail to everyone! Let's turn again to something "darker". The Awakening is a very original south african Gothic Rock band. The band founder and singer, Ashton Nyte, is known for his peculiar and deep voice.

I'll share with you some of their masterpieces; this is "The Needle and the Gun":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zaGxMrG-s4

"Razor Burn":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AFd409gWKk

"Where the Shadow Goes":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QpwchfA_8o

and my favorite one, "The Maker", on the resurrection (one of their oldest ones):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B61Nw2q_Nwk

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You can find more pictures of them in the video of Where the Shadow Goes or Vampyre Girl, one of their signature songs.

Good night!

Time to update this thread! I got The Awakening's latest album, "Tales of Absolution + Obsoletion", but i don't have the lyrics, so i'm trying to figure them out; so far i had some difficulties understanding the words. Is there any brave soul that wants to help me?

An example; here's what i've been able to "reconstruct" of their song, "Open":

You take the long way around
[???] the old world
[???] again
but nothing last forever

Walking so far from the ground
beyond illusion and
[???] again
to everything and nothing

(Chorus:
My heaven
is surrounding
as the lightning strikes
in the [???]

My heaven
is descending
as that evil voice
that leaves me in the [???])

You keep your [???] to mine
you hold your breath
and you [???] again
but nothing last forever

Along the corridors of time
[???]
[???] again
everything and nothing

(Chorus)

As i close my eyes i feel
[???]
as i close my eyes i feel
[???]

(Chorus) x2

If you like darkwave/industrial metal, please roll up your sleeves and open their myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/theawakeningband); you'll find "Open" as the 8th song in their music player. It'll take only four minutes and three seconds of your time!

Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks!

[One Bad Pig]

We take the long way around
passing the old world
we're breathing again
but nothing lasts forever

Walking so far from the ground
beyond illusion and
we're open again
to everything and nothing

(Chorus:
My heaven
is surrounding
as the lightning strikes
and the fever breaks

My heaven
is descending
as I hear the voice
that leaves me and the throne - alone

You keep your dreams close to mine
you hold your breath
and you hold mine again
but nothing lasts forever

Along the corridors of time
yesterday's children now
we're laughing again
everything and nothing

(Chorus)

As i close my eyes i feel in here, kneeling here

as i close my eyes i feel in here, kneeling here

(Chorus) x2

This is closer, I think.