Christian music and fans

[kerrick]

Ok, so from the discussion starting in the "power metal" thread, I thought I'd start a new one about why or why not Christian metal sucks, etc. As for me, yeah I'm Christian and I listen to a couple Christian metal bands. For the record, for the longest time I thought that all Christian music blew because of the bland, uninspired, all-around-lame crap that they play on the radio. Then I found Aletheian. Amazing talent, thoughtful lyrics about more than "Jesus yay!" Ok whatever. I guess to start off, here's some links to some (what I consider) good Christian bands (myspace pages so you can hear them):
www.myspace.com/aletheian
www.myspace.com/becomingthearchetype
www.myspace.com/lengsel
A couple of others that aren't "Christian" per se, but most/all the members are and you can see it in their lyrics are Shadow Gallery and Pantommind.

Ok, so if anyone actually does post anything here, please don't just bash one side or the other.

[chimaera]

I never bash any sides.

Ever heard Saviour Machine? Possibly the best Christian act. Lot´s of pianos and soaring vocals and ambient atmosphere going around. First cd best (from what i´ve heard - could be comletely wrong).

[kerrick]

Mmm. I've heard of them but I've never listened to them. I'll have to check those fellas out. There's a few others that I don't listen to but are supposed to be real good like (old) Extol, Crimson Moonlight, and Believer.

[BenMech]

What part of it do you not understand?

"Christian" music bands of any form are there for ONE purpose - to say they are better than you because THEY believe the mumbojumbo dogma of a not very well organized or original mythology . . which happens to be the story the majority of earth's population officially recognizes. There's no underdog about it. They are the MAJORITY. So, their proselytizing campaign is inessential at best, and downright offensive at worst.

[Fox]

There's a lot of great Christian music.

I haven't heard of those 3. I'd recommend old Extol (first 2 albums). All 3 of Believer's. Most of Tourniquet catalog is great. Deliverance's first 2 albums are great too. Saviour Machine's first album is completely brilliant and kick ass. There's others that may be worth checking out, but that's where I'd recommend starting, I've got more details on the Final Verdict (which I may shutdown next month, I haven't decided).

[kerrick]

benmech said:

What part of it do you not understand?

"Christian" music bands of any form are there for ONE purpose - to say they are better than you because THEY believe the mumbojumbo dogma...

Hmm... So by that logic, you must absolutely hate bands like Deicide, Athiest, Darkthrone, Impaled Nazarene, Mayhem etc. etc. Because the only differences between them and Christian bands are that the Christian bands sing about love, praising God, whatever, and those bands sing about how much they hate Christians and how they're so much better than Christians, etc. Oh, and they're not the "majority" so it's ok?

EDIT: sorry if that came off a little harsh.

[BenMech]

Ummmm - have you ever HEARD Atheist??

Sure- I'll spot you for Deicide and ImpNaz, but you're clearly out of your elements including the others ...

[kerrick]

Unholy War

Enter this thought in your mind
We all were put here for mankind
To serve and obey a so-called lord
The price we must pay we can't afford
Evangelistic politics
No matter how much pain the might inflict
Now that this thought has set in
Wake up and realize this brutal sin

Unholy war
Thaught to pray for
Plaguing scandal
Unholy war

Religion pays in godly ways, education's not a factor
Sit there brainwashed, insecurity
Preaching life and immortality

Criminal in their ways
To reach eight million in just thirty days
Thrive on mindless human beings
An easy target, so it seems

Unholy war
Thaught to pray for
Plaguing scandal
Unholy war

No Truth

I am my own self-ruler
I need not any ministry
I see our music scares you
Can't you see that...

There's no truth in modern religion, a god we do not praise
There's no truth in heaven or hell or what lies between
There's no truth in a man-made bible, so who are they to say?
There's no truth, we are our own god and that's the only way

People live their lives
By something never seen
Dreaming all their lives
Of a place they've never been

Why can't you see live a lie?
Humor yourself until you die
We're atheist as you can see
We all control our can see

There's no truth

And according to Wikipedia, the band was "firstly under the name Oblivion and later R.A.V.A.G.E. (which stands for Raging Atheists Vowing A Gory End)." So yeah, you're right, the majority of their lyrics are more political or whatever, but I was referring to those lyrics and their old name R.A.V.A.G.E. True, someone could argue that they're just expressing their viewpoint, but Christian bands are no different then.

[Shark Black]

Theocracy is one of my favorites.

Although I'm not much of a Christain... #ohgoon#

[kerrick]

There's no denying that their music is to notch stuff, and if what they're saying in their songs doesn't include you, then why not! Maybe I'm just a minority here, but for me lyrics are important. I have no problem with bands promoting things as long as they're not against something I stand for. Example: Pagan metal. I love Borknagar and Vintersorg and others that promote Paganism which I'm totally fine with and think is pretty cool. But when a band promotes the killing of Christians or something, that's when I just skip over them. So yeah.

[Gonzalo el Silenciado]

I realize I'm a little late on this. But really, why the fuck should anyone care? I happen to think that buys into any sort of deism has been duped, but I respect their right to be duped. No one has the right to shove that sort of shit down anyone's throat.

If I can filter the lyrics out, I can appreciate any religious rock band as long as they're good, whether they're saying 'Jesus Jesus God God,' 'Hail Satan,' or 'praise Xenu.'

Bands like old Extol and Antestor - with HELLHAMMER ON DRUMS!!!! - make filtering that nonsense out pretty easy. Bands like Creed, on the other hand, would suck greatly even if their lyrics read like a surrealist postmodern reinterpretation of King Lear just because they never learned how to write a fucking song. Speaking of Creed, Alterbridge played here tonight with Hellyeah and Candlebox. And you know what? Not a single person thought Alterbridge were any sort of good.

[Gonzalo el Silenciado]

gonzothesilenced said:

I realize I'm a little late on this. But really, why the fuck should anyone care? I happen to think that anyone who buys into any sort of deism has been duped. But I respect their right to be duped. I can't tell you how much I wish people would just agree to disagree and talk about something other than 'my god has a bigger dick than yours.'

No one has the right to shove that sort of shit down anyone's throat.

If I can filter the lyrics out, I can appreciate any religious rock band as long as they're good, whether they're saying 'Jesus Jesus God God,' 'Hail Satan,' or 'praise Xenu.'

Bands like old Extol and Antestor - with HELLHAMMER ON DRUMS!!!! - make filtering that nonsense out pretty easy. Bands like Creed, on the other hand, would suck greatly even if their lyrics read like a surrealist postmodern reinterpretation of King Lear just because they never learned how to write a fucking song.

Speaking of Creed, Alterbridge played here tonight with Hellyeah and Candlebox. And you know what? Not a single person in the crowd of 5000 thought Alterbridge were any sort of good.

[chimaera]

I think Creed has made a couple of good songs. I don´t hate post grunge like so many others. There´s good post grunge and there´s baaaad.

Creed > Linkin Park.

[thraxhead]

Inspiration for art comes from all places, be it atheism, organized religion, or organic mango worshipping. Knocking a Christian's choice to sing about their creator would warrant the same criticism of Skyclad's "This Dying Planet", which accomplishes the same feat, albeit from quite a different perspective.

The "Christian" label is primarily for marketing purposes. Or maybe some latent identity-politics issue, perhaps.