Discussion surrounding Christian metal bands can become quite heated. Many argue that the concept is an oxymoron and an affront to the metal ‘ideal’, whatever that may be. Some argue that all music should be judged purely on musical merit and nothing else, and that if a Christian band sounded good they would listen it to, even if they were not practitioners of the Christian faith. Opinions are particularly divided when it comes to Christian-themed black metal, which is arguably one of the biggest contradictions in Christian thought since…well…the Spanish Inquisition.

A common question among reviewers is how to contextualize albums that they are reviewing. This question becomes particularly important for bands such as Antestor, a band attempting to play Christian-themed black metal. Is it more correct to review this album paying close attention to its contradictorily nature, analysing the music in relation to how it works both as a part of the black metal and the Christian music scenes? Or is it better practise to say ‘bollocks’ to this and review the album simply as a piece of music, regardless of its context in the wider scene?

When I decided to review these albums I struggled with this question. I’ve decided that the fairest way to review any album is to at least begin by analysing it as a musical entity in and of itself, then move on to discuss it in context of Christian-themed metal as a whole.

Antestor – The Return of the Black Death

I’ll begin my reviews with The Return of the Black Death, Antestor’s seminal album which I found in the bargain bin at Real Groovy, recognised the name and thought “I’ll give it a go”. My plan to review The Return of the Black Death as a musical entity would prove an easy task if the album contained any decent music. But it doesn’t. It’s just, well…blah.

I try to be positive on this site, but I can find very few positive elements about the music on this album. The instruments all sound hollow and empty. This is partly due to sub-par production but partly just poor songwriting. The drums in particular stand out, for all the wrong reasons. Many of the riffs could be improved with decent blastbeats and more intricate fills, but the drums are slow and tinny. The guitars and bass have no soul, no atmosphere. The riffs are simply uninspired – there’s no Bathoresque epic soundscape here, no Darkthrone nilism or Burzum haunting dischordance. I admit I slightly enjoyed the riff on ‘Kongsblod’, and there are the beginnings of some interesting ideas on ‘Battlefield’, but I am trying to be nice here.

Adding keyboards to metal is always a risky business, and it didn’t save this album. ‘Sorg’ is a horrible slow track, with distorted keyboard and atrocious spoken chanting. The song is meant, I presume, to sound dark and atmospheric, but it has all the atmosphere of a choleric choir boy with a head cold.

Vocally, the lyrics alternate between barking, screeching and a sort of spoken chanting. The best vocals are on ‘gamelander’; a track which actually managed to sound mildly brutal, but was ruined by the chanted section in the middle.

So that’s The Return of the Black Death. Judging simply on musical merit, it’s not great, it’s not even ‘okay’. It is actually quite terrible. Many blame this on the band’s attempt to Christianize black metal, but I think that’s the easy answer. Many Black Metal purists would argue that Black metal is ‘so much more then just a genre’, and is seeped in idealism and imagery that make it impossible to be given a Christian slant. I disagree with this. Nowadays, even the first wave Black Metal artists argue the genre is simply a style of music, and practically every genre of music in the world has its Christian counterpart. Why not black metal, if that’s what you want to do?

This album’s inherent crappiness can’t be blamed on their Christianity. If this album were written by a bunch of Lev ay-worshipping, goat sacrificing Satanists, it would have sounded just as meh. The lyrics in the song ‘sovereign fortress’ would only need slight alterations to read as a Satanic ditty. Changing a few words here and there wouldn’t make the song good. And no, I’m not being unusually harsh on these guys – it’s hard to write a decent black metal album, and I would say black metal, more than any other genre, contains the largest percentage of complete and utter shite written by people who don’t know the first thing about making a piece of music that evokes feeling. It’s a real talent to write songs within the context of black metal, much less decent songs. This is just the album I chose to review.

Antestor get an A+ for effort. In their own way, being Christians writing this stuff back when Black Metal was an idealology, and one fiercly defended (ask the Jewish BM band Salam, who got sent a bomb in the mail from Norway), they are pioneers, and brave at that. I admire bravery – and anyone who puts something out in the world that they know won’t be popular, but that comes from the heart. That’s metal in attitude, even if the album falls short of musical genius.

Another reviewer pointed out the album’s flaws can be explained by the sense of “obligation”, the way in which the band attempt to fit a message of hope and salvation into a style of music meant to be utterly bleak, chaotic and devoid of hope. Other Christian black metal bands who embrace the nilism of black metal might produce better albums – that would be my guess. Although I’ve never heard any other Antestor recordings, apparently they moved away from the black metal sound. I’m not surprised – this album sounds forced – a square peg, round hole effort.

I read Hellhammer used to do session drums for these guys. I’m amazed Vikernes didn’t think to stab him for that.

Horde – Hellig Usvart

Yes, I have heard this album, and if you want to know what I think, go to the Metal Archives entry for Hellig Usvart and read the “Whoreship” review by Nightgaunt, one of my favorite metal reviewers. He writes much better than I could hope to. WARNING: Don’t read if you’re offended by a very skeptical, nilistic view of Christianity, because that’s what’s presented here. He argues his points (not all of which I agree with) very well, but I don’t want to offend anyone by telling them to go read this).

A quote, if you will:

“The distinction is key. The “un” is omnipresent within the relevant realm; “anti-” is a matter of degree. If Christian doom metal is like trying to fit a cylindrical wooden peg with diameter of 10.5 centimeters into a circular hole 10 centimeters in diameter, then this “UnBlack metal” business is like trying to fit a live, incontinent walrus through a star-shaped aperture 5 centimeters in diameter.”

Mortification – Scrolls of the Megilloth

Now Scrolls of the Megilloth, on the other hand, IS musical genius. Everything about this album – drums, bass, guitar and vocals – moulds together flawlessly, creating a relentless onslaught of untamed brutality. Steve Rowe’s vocals on this album are some of the most terrifying I’ve ever heard. Nothing is drawn back, unseen or dumbed down – this is death metal in it’s finest element.

You can hear distinct doom and grindcore influences, especially in the vocal lines and the doomish arrangements. Listen to “Necromanicide”, just do it! Fucking brilliant.

Can’t find much to fault here. If you don’t like death metal, you won’t like this, either. If you do, I seriously think you should give this a listen.

Evanescence – Fallen

First of all, Evanescene are not a metal band, and it gets me really angry when people say they are. They are a gothic rock band, like the Rasmus or HIM. Now, this is all fine and good. I happen to love the Rasmus. But at least they don’t get called metal.

So why are they in this article, then, smarty pants?

First of all, I’m running out of Christian CDs in my own collection. Second, Evanesence are placed in the metal section at all major record shops in New Zealand … at least, the two that have a metal section. I like to think this is because any metal-inclined CD shelf-stackers think “Well, if I put them in here, maybe there’s a chance Evanescene fans will pick up an Epica CD and turn into real metalheads!” It’s a conspiracy to turn more innocent teens into people like me … But if Evanescene are regarded by the general music-buying public as “metal”, they shall have to rise or fall on their perceived “metalness”. I think this is fair.

Evanescene were one of those bands who put out their album in the mainstream and then revealed their Christianity through various interviews. I think this attitude cost them a lot of fans in the end, as it seemed somehow “dishonest” to enter the mainstream and they go “Ah hah, we’re Christian! Fooled you all!” They’ve since moved away from that, I think. I don’t really know, don’t follow the band after the album turned into such a major disappointment.

This album makes me think the band heard one Nightwish song and thought “Our singer sounds kind of operatic. We could do that”, and voila, their alt. rock church band became uber goth operatic metal band. All I have to say is, “where is the double bass?”

The thing about metal most people don’t realize is that more than any other instrument, metal is defined by the drumming. Yes, there are specific vocal styles pretty unique to metal, and after drumming, guitars come a close, tight, screaming second. While I’ll concede there are the beginnings of some metalesque riffs on some of the songs, without the drums, it’s never going to be metal.

The singer, Amy Lee, lacks the range or power of real metal singers like Tarja Turanan or Christina Scabbia. There’s some vague attempts at growling by a dude who’s obviously never heard a Mortification record before. There’s some okay darkly-styled goth music. There’s a lovely-toned piano on the song “My Immortal”, which has a beautiful melody and a vocalist who could use a few lessons.

The cincher for me comes when Amy Lee ruins the best and most kick ass song on this album “Tourniquet” by misprounouncing it. It’s a French word, Amy. The “T” is silent.

Theocracy – Mirror of Souls

I was scouring Metal Archives for a Christian metal album with good reviews, so I could have another good album to counteract the less-than-brilliant offerings from my own list (since I ran out of Christian “metal” CDs and was going to have to resort to reviewing Creed :). And I came across this gem from Theocracy, Mirror of Souls.

Theocracy demonstrate that of all the sub-genres, power metal melds best with a Christian worldview. You can play aggressive, bombastic music while still being upbeat and triumphant. Theocracy blend a progressive style of power metal, with lots of tempo changes and thematic shifts, with a thrashy vocal style. These guys really know what they’re doing – the flamenco break near the end of Martyr shouldn’t be there, and I shouldn’t like it, but it is, and it works. I love the song “Writing on the Sand” with it’s mid-paced melodrama. It’s so quintessentially power metal, and so well-executed. I’m hooked.

Lyrically, I think they could do with being a bit more subtle – that’s just me. I like bands like Blind Guardian who use a lot of poetry and metaphor to extend the epic and progressive nature of their music. Overall, though, this was a great album and I’ll be looking into a few more of these Christian power metal bands.

So, two out of five ain’t so bad, and remember, I was mostly taking these from my own collection, not from the recommendations I’ve received this week. And I don’t think Evanescence actually count. Are they still going? Can she sing yet?

Tomorrow, an epic Christian Metal Mixtape, and then I promise we’ll talk about something different next week. I’ve really enjoyed writing these articles and reading everyone’s opinions in the comments. It’s a thorny and interesting subjet and everyone’s been discussing it without calling anyone names, which is so cool :)

Suger Snuggles and Shoggoth Kisses