Non-satanic metal bands?

[gryffonization]

I'm a huge fan of metal and rock, and I want new bands to listen to that aren't too anti-christian.
I love hard rock, power metal, symphonic metal, thrash metal, melodic death metal, and other things like that.
So my question is kind of two-fold:
One, what bands do you think are appropriate for Christians to listen to and where should I draw the line? For the most part I consider things like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Ensiferum, Megadeth, Nightwish, Helloween, etc to be acceptable while in my opinion Deicide, Goatwhore, Marilyn Manson, and Slayer are not.
And two, do you consider these bands satanic/a bad influence?
Accept
Testament
Children of Bodom
Sodom
Candlemass
Finntroll
Death
Vader
White Zombie
Pantera
Sepultura
Nile
Necrophagist
Turisas

Thanks!

 

[Skilletdude]

Well... I did hear a Finntroll song when I was checking out folk metal (which I love), and while they sound good, I went and found the lyrics and was like... no thank you. Too anti-Christian (something about eating and pouring Christian blood or something like that).

Anyway, I draw the line at anything distinctly anti-Christian or anti-God or overtly sexual and degrading to women (that one ManOwaR song comes to mind)... most of what I listen to is fairly positive or just neutral though and fairly clean so it's not really a problem (mostly stuff like Iron Maiden, Nightwish, Blind Guaridan, Helloween, Kamelot etc etc etc). There are a few bands though that have a couple good songs but overall have too many trashy songs (like WASP... like their sound, don't like most of the lyrics so I stop listening to them).

Language doesn't bother me really but that's just me. I care about context, not a few taboo words. Most of the stuff I have doesn't have much language at all either though so again, not a problem anyway.

Really I think it should come down to each person. If you feel this music will cause you to stumble, don't listen to it. Sometimes when I have a bad song stuck in my head with bad lyrics or something, it keeps replaying it and I just want it out of my head. So then I try to think of a song that has a much more positive/Godly message. I don't need that extra garbage in my head.

Oh and Falconer is pretty cool... I just started listening to them a couple weeks ago. Some of their songs are quite cheesy but they're still pretty good.

 

[Zombieprincess1979]

Still Remains And Haste The Day are two bands that are Christian metal bands. they're pretty cool.

 

[spiralhoney]

Hmmmmmmm.. I'm thinking that one can't rock hard without having at least a touch of darkness .

I don't think you should avoid ANY music.

I've listened to Black Metal (Judas Iscariot, Darkthrone, Emperor etc) and I love the cold bleak racing harshness of the music. The singing is usually in another language so doesn't really impact me. How it is sung totally makes me grin though.
Now, from what I understand, most black metal is deliberately and vehemently anti-Christian. Then again it isn't as black and white as some would like it to be.
The members of these bands have sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers,friends and girlfreinds who they love and smile and laugh with. They too fall asleep and sleep peacefully.
I think the Lord smiles upon them in their sleep.

Are we not told to 'embrace' our enemies

Every human has good and beauty within them... or had at one point.

Every band and artist has the capability AND ability to touch another's heart

 

[Hermy21]

Concerning Finntroll it's kind of viking music, so when they talk about pouring christian blood they're just talking about vikings resisting christian brutal evangelization.

If you want to know about those bands, just go on their wikipedia pages and you'll find info about their lyrics, their opinion...

 

[spiralhoney]

Concerning Finntroll it's kind of viking music, so when they talk about pouring christian blood they're just talking about vikings resisting christian brutal evangelization.

If you want to know about those bands, just go on their wikipedia pages and you'll find info about their lyrics, their opinion...

Sweet info. I saw FINNTROLL live afew years ago in upstate New York, They were awesome. And I totally loved that they all wore black leather kilts. I never investigated the lyrics because they were I think in Finnish.
Viking metal is always a trip

 

[WandererOfTheWastes]

Finntroll aren't evil, but they are really terrible. I won't question your faith for listening to them, just your taste in music. Same with CoB. Sodom are a great band but I wouldn't recommend listening to them.. I had a look through my musical collection recently and made some harsh decisions, Sodom was one of them.

Honestly, Black Metal sounds great but there's no way you can justify listening to any of those bands mentioned- musically skilled as they are- without a huge amount of emotional discord. There's a lot of BM that's not straight out anti-god and is still good though..

Anyway some general recs, no point giving you a million of them:


power metal,

Heard of Theocracy? Excellent christian band that does a great job with power metal. Lyrics fit brilliantly, not cheesy in the slightest.

Lost Horizon for truly epic stuff- got that sorta fluffy euro sound but it's not as bad as, say, Sonata Arctica. Big leads, very atmospheric, great vocals. Both albums are great.

Pharoah play a real nice version of USPM, big solos, lots of great guitar work, very legit and a lot more manly then most euro power.

symphonic metal

Ugh! Well, if you have to, listen to Summoning. They don't sound anything like Nightwish or Epica or whatever, but they do proper symphonic metal- martial rhythms, black metal inspired guitars, and a whole fleet of instruments, er, keyboards bleating away. Proper symphonic metal! Rather repetitive and weird though so it takes a bit of getting used to. Check out "Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame". Very nice LoTR inspired metal.


If you like Candlemass, you should seriously check out "Briton Rites". A new band doing some seriously amazing old school doom. Other bands on the Candlemass route to check out: The Wandering Midget, and maybe Saturnalia Temple. Also Doomsword, even.

 

[Jessie1John2:17]

Facedown Records and Solid State Records back the more outspoken Christian metal/hard bands. I personally don't like to listen to blatantly secular music. If I have to ask the question "where do I draw the line and still get away with listening to this?", then I feel like my heart is not in the right state. I'm not pushing that on you, and some of the bands you like now may not have anti-Christian lyrics. You have to let personal conviction lead your decision.

If you want good Christian metal to start, try these out:

For Today
The Crimson Armada
Impending Doom
The Great Commission
Sleeping Giant

 

[St. Paul]

I'm a huge fan of metal and rock, and I want new bands to listen to that aren't too anti-christian.
I love hard rock, power metal, symphonic metal, thrash metal, melodic death metal, and other things like that.
So my question is kind of two-fold:
One, what bands do you think are appropriate for Christians to listen to and where should I draw the line? For the most part I consider things like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Ensiferum, Megadeth, Nightwish, Helloween, etc to be acceptable while in my opinion Deicide, Goatwhore, Marilyn Manson, and Slayer are not.
And two, do you consider these bands satanic/a bad influence?
Accept
Testament
Children of Bodom
Sodom
Candlemass
Finntroll
Death
Vader
White Zombie
Pantera
Sepultura
Nile
Necrophagist
Turisas

Thanks!

Vader is an anti-christian band. I don't know if they are actual satanists though. Deicide is definitely a satanic band. Slayer is a different story because the lead singer/bassist is a christian but I'm pretty sure Kerry King is a satanist.

 

[r035198x]

This is probably offtopic but why do most rock bands have religious names or song titles with religious connotations?

 

[AdamKane]

I actually can't think of any that do right now. Please name a few.

 

[r035198x]

I actually can't think of any that do right now. Please name a few.

I'm not sure if you are responding to the original post or to my post.

 

[WandererOfTheWastes]

yeah, it's not hugely common, but religious symbology resounds powerfully with most listeners one way or another, so it's not surprising that a lot of bands use it in one way or another.

 

[r035198x]

yeah, it's not hugely common, but religious symbology resounds powerfully with most listeners one way or another, so it's not surprising that a lot of bands use it in one way or another.

Yeah but why more prevalent with rock bands than other genres?

 

[WandererOfTheWastes]

uh, it's not? Jazz, blues and even a lot of rap bring up christian/religious themes all the time.

 

[r035198x]

ugh, it's not? Jazz, blues and even a lot of rap bring up christian/religious themes all the time.

I disagree that other genres have it as much as rock bands do. See the list posted here, it was made randomly in the sense that the person produced it without thinking about religious themes. If we were to ask someone who hasn't heard this argument to produce a list of Non-satanic rap artists or jazz artists I don't think the frequency would be even close.

 

[WandererOfTheWastes]

a lot of those bands he mentioned are completely irreligious, what's your point?

 

[r035198x]

a lot of those bands he mentioned are completely irreligious, what's your point?

Read my question in post #11 again.

 

[WandererOfTheWastes]

read my answer in #14, then.

 

[r035198x]

Ha, reminds me of one of my early classes. We had something like


//24 : To understand recursion see comment:42

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//42 : To understand recursion see comment 24