Underground era of Christian metal

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Underground Era of Christian metal refers to the 1990s era of Christian metal movement when it was no longer in the spotlight of the mainstream media, and the many bands focused on the underground metal styles, the major ones being thrash metal, death metal, unblack metal, power metal, doom and gothic metal, and alternative metal.

Contents

[edit] Christian metal in the 1990s

In the early 1990s, the rising musical styles, especially grunge, began to take their places as the dominant styles in the mainstream, which resulted in heavy metal music losing popularity and going underground for a decade. Heavy metal musicians began to seek musical limits. Therefore Christian metal musicians began to play extreme music as well. Soon death metal replaced thrash metal in popularity. For the time being it was typical that Christian bands took it seriously how secular bands affected their audience. Death metal and black metal styles had grown more and more dominant in the metal underground. Themes such violence, evil, and occult had become growing subjects in the lyrics of secular bands, such as Deicide and Morbid Angel. As a counteraction to this, there was a significant phenomenon that Christian bands wrote lyrics that encouraged to go to idealistic war against evil.[1] The mainstream was no longer interested in the Christian metal movement, and the metal audiences in many underground metal scenes began favoring more extreme sounds and disparaging the popular styles, including Christian metal.[2] This affected notably on how the more traditional Christian heavy metal bands such as Saint, Bloodgood, and Leviticus, who, for example, split up in the 1990s. Even Stryper's popularity went through a regression. The band could not return its success even though they tried to change their style from pop metal to classic metal on the 1990 album Against the Law, and eventually Stryper split up in 1993.[3]

Several changes happened: with the lead of Heaven's Metal magazine, the term "white metal" was abandoned by the Christian metal scenes in English-speaking countries as well as the Middle and Northern European countries. They adopted the "Christian metal" term, and "white metal" remained in use in South America and southwestern Europe, although several groups in those scenes began rejecting the "white metal" tag as well. During the 1990s, Christian metal was almost forgotten in the eyes of the mainstream. Very few metal groups saw mainstream success. However, bands such as Tourniquet remained popular despite their drastic stylistical changes.[4]

The 1990s Christian underground metal benefited remarkably from the major German secular metal label Nuclear Blast Records's active distribution and sudden interest in Christian metal. Torodd Fuglesteg of Norway's Arctic Serenades Records has claimed: "The owner of Nuclear Blast was a committed Christian and he was pushing everything with that religious agenda through Nuclear Blast. Mortification and Horde were pushed like mad by Nuclear Blast when other labels were pushing pure satanic stuff."[5]

[edit] Thrash metal movement

Vengeance's Human Sacrifice (1988) was a ground breaking Christian thrash metal album.
Vengeance's Human Sacrifice (1988) was a ground breaking Christian thrash metal album.

In 1986, the band Bloodgood opened ways for Christian speed and thrash metal styles with their song "Black Snake". During the mid 1980s the bands The Crucified and One Bad Pig infused their punk rock with metal and influenced later Christian thrash metal groups. The Crucified was formed in 1984 and the band released Take Up Your Cross in 1986 and Nailed in 1987. The guitarist Greg Minier was noted for his guitar playing skills and was featured in Guitar World magazine in 1991.[6] One Bad Pig was formed in 1985 by Carey Womack and released A Christian Banned in 1989 they released Smash on Pure Metal Records and two following albums Swine Flew and I Scream Sunday on Myrrh Records.

The four biggest Christian thrash metal groups were Deliverance, Believer, Vengeance and Tourniquet. They all released their early material on Intense Records, apart from Believer which was on R.E.X. Records. Deliverance was formed in 1985, Believer in 1986, and Vengeance was formed in 1987 and in 1988 year published its first album Human Sacrifice, the first Christian thrash metal album. The group soon changed its name to Vengeance Rising since there was another band called Vengeance in Holland.[7] In 1989 both Deliverance and Believer released their first albums. Deliverance published Deliverance and Believer Extraction from Mortality.

 Music samples:

"Ark of Suffering"

Sample of "Ark of Suffering" by Tourniquet, from Stop the Bleeding (1990). A video was done for the song, containing footage of animal abuse, and it received some airplay on MTV before it was banned for being too graphic.[8]
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Especially Tourniquet was one of the more popular Christian thrash metal groups. The band was formed in 1989 and in 1990 released the album Stop the Bleeding. The band's unique style brought them fans all over the world and broke new ground.[9] A music video was made for the song "Ark of Suffering", but it was banned from MTV because of its violent content that pointed out the horrors of animal abuse. In the early 1990s both Believer and Tourniquet, known for their technical styles, caught the interest bigger record labels: Believer was signed to Roadrunner Records and Tourniquet to Metal Blade Records. On their new labels, Believer released Sanity Obscure and Dimensions, and Tourniquet released Psycho Surgery and Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance, which was voted as the "Favourite album of the 1990s" by the readers of HM Magazine. Deliverance released Weapons of Our Warfare in 1990. A music video was made for the title track and received some airplay on MTV. These 1990 releases marked a turning point in Christian metal music. All Music Guide has written about Believer's Sanity Obscure album:

“ Before 1990, the Christian heavy metal genre rarely strayed from generic riffing and poor lyrics. Bands like Petra and Sacred Warrior never broke through to the mainstream for this very reason. With low expectations, Believer released this massive slab of molten metal. Although it never really became popular, several mainstream magazines praised the album.[10] ”

The British bands Seventh Angel and Detritus introduced Christian thrash metal to Europe. Seventh Angel was formed in 1987 and were considered to be thrash metal pioneers.[11] They released the albums The Torment (1990) and Lament for the Weary (1992). These records achieved mainstream distribution through Music for Nations label.[12] The band was known for its combination of doom metal and thrash metal.[13] Although Seventh Angel disbanded in 1992, for a long time they were considered to be the best metal act in the UK.[11] Another British group, Detritus also played thrash metal on the 1990 album Perpetual Defiance,[14] but changed to power metal on the critically acclaimed album If But for One (1993).[15]

During the late 1990s, an Oklahoman group called Eternal Decision gained attention with its thrash and groove metal style. The 1997 album Eternal Decision hit the record stores in the U.S. and 16 other countries, achieving considerable acclaim and providing the band with even more notice.[16] In 2005 Temple of Blood released their debut album Prepare for the Judgement of Mankind which is one of the more recent acclaimed releases for the Christian speed and thrash metal genre.[17][18]

[edit] Death metal movement

Mortification's Scrolls of the Megilloth (1992) was a ground breaking Christian deathgrind album.
Mortification's Scrolls of the Megilloth (1992) was a ground breaking Christian deathgrind album.

In 1990, the Australian group Mortification became the first widely recognized Christian death metal band. Though they played an old style of death metal, on the album Mortification (1990), very close to its thrash roots, their 1992 album Scrolls of the Megilloth is still considered classic death metal,[19] and was released in both Christian and secular markets as the band was signed to Nuclear Blast Records. The album was almost as ground breaking as Stryper's To Hell With the Devil.[20] Scrolls of the Megilloth brought Mortification to the elite of the death metal movement.[19] The band enjoyed notable commercial success with Blood World,[21] and eventually became possibly the most successful Christian extreme metal group.[22]

 Music samples:

"Scrolls of the Megilloth"

Sample of "Scrolls of the Megilloth" by Mortification, from Scrolls of the Megilloth (1992). The album's music garnered the band some attention from the heavy metal underground and, according to All Music Guide, contains some of the most frightening vocals ever recorded.[23] >
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Prior to Mortification the Brazilian band Incubus (later known as Opprobrium) already combined Christian lyrics to death metal on their albums Serpent Temptation (1988) and Beyond the Unknown (1990).[24] At roughly the same time the band Living Sacrifice was creating thrash and death metal. Their albums Nonexistent (1992) and Inhabit (1994) presented deathgrind style. Later they "evolved from their early death metal-inspired rumblings into a crushing, staccato-driven, heavily percussive metallic behemoth that pummels listeners with intense riffage and a decidedly personal, though nevertheless, often evangelical lyrical viewpoint."[25] The Minneapolis based Crimson Thorn released albums such as 1995's Unearthed, 1999's Dissection, and 2002's Purification. All Music Guide describes them as "one of the world's most extreme-sounding Christian metal bands."[26] Other notable American death metal bands include Disencumbrance, Clemency, and Embodyment.[27]

The best-known Christian grindcore group that focused on goregrind style is the Australian band Vomitorial Corpulence. The band released its albums Karrionic Hacktician and Skin Stripper in 1990s. The Norwegian death metal group Schaliach gained a notable cult following for its album Sonrise (1996), which had a slightly more melodic and doomier approach than most Christian death metal albums. The fellow Norwegian band Groms combined traditional heavy metal with groovy death metal and achieved notice in the local scene since they were signed to Arctic Serenades Records that had a satanic band called Suffering on its roster.[28] The album Ascension was released in 1994 (later re-released through Pleitegeier Records in 1996). Later, Norway's Extol and Finland's Deuteronomium and Immortal Souls began playing post-death and received notable attention. The Norwegian band Extol's early style combined elements of old school death metal, power metal and traditional heavy metal with experimental guitar leads. All Music Guide described their 1999 album Burial as "a breath of fresh air among a genre that relies on satanic gimmicks."[29] The band were hailed as accomplished musicians,[29] and noted for their exceptionally precise guitarwork.[30] Technical death metal is currently presented by bands such as Aletheian and Sympathy.

[edit] Unblack metal movement

Main article: Unblack metal
Horde's Hellig Usvart (1994) was the first album that mixed Christian lyrics and black metal.
Horde's Hellig Usvart (1994) was the first album that mixed Christian lyrics and black metal.

Horde is widely considered to be the first Christian black metal band. As a one man band with only one release (in 1994), Horde initiated controversy within the extreme metal community, opposing the more common lyrical themes of Satanism and evil.[31][32][33] The title of Horde's only release — Hellig Usvart — means "Holy Unblack", which is now often used by Christians to refer to Christian black metal, in order to avoid the negative connotations of the term "black metal".[34]

 Music samples:

"Invert the Inverted Cross"

Sample of "Invert the Inverted Cross" by Horde, from the album Hellig Usvart (1994). Horde's lyrical themes were known to be anti-satanic, and the music represents the older school of unblack metal.
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

"A Sovereign Fortress"

Sample of "A Sovereign Fortress" by Antestor, from the album The Return of the Black Death (1998). This sample represents Antestor's "sorrow metal" style: a mixture of viking metal and doom metal.
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Antestor (then called Crush Evil) existed prior to the release of Hellig Usvart but their music was a death/doom style (or as they called it, "Sorrow Metal"), and was not yet musically considered black metal. During the early 1990s when the band was known as Crush Evil, Euronymous, guitarist for the seminal black metal band Mayhem, was planning to stop Crush Evil from continuing.[35] However, this never took place. By some sources, Antestor started the northern European Christian extreme metal scene.[36]

The Swedish band Admonish was also formed around 1994 or 1995, and is known to be the first Christian black metal band in Sweden. They gained notoriety for calling their style "Christian black metal" publicly on their website. This caused some debate in metal underground and soon one black metal fan started an anti-Admonish website. Although the band did not release anything until 2005, the magazine Metal Hammer called Admonish "One of the leading Christian black metal bands" in a 1990s issue which focused on black metal.[37]

Horde's "anti-satanic" and "crusade mentality" themes dominated the unblack metal movement for years.[32] In late 1990s, Antestor, Crimson Moonlight and Vaakevandring set a new direction: their lyrics focused more on philosophical and personal themes.[38] The release of Antestor's The Return of the Black Death on the British secular black metal label Cacophonous Records in 1998 proved influential on the Christian black metal movement. While the unblack scene is not part of the secular black metal scene, several musicians from both have co-operated: Stian Aarstad of Dimmu Borgir produced Vaakevandring's Demo 98/99,[39] and Jan Axel Blomberg of Mayhem played drums for Antestor's The Forsaken (2005) album.[40]

Crimson Moonlight and others such as Divine Symphony make up today's more polished style of Christian black metal comparable to more mainstream high production black metal bands. However, more traditional and raw low-production black metal bands such as Abdijah, Light Shall Prevail, Offerblod, Arch of Thorns, Flaskavsae, Eligbbor, Bedeiah, Dormant, Firethrone, etc., still exist on record labels such as Sneeuwstorm Produkties and GES Productions, among others. There are unblack bands in different parts of the world but the prominent scenes exist in Scandinavia, USA and South America. The latter is known to have a more radical, highly anti-satanic unblack metal scene than other regional scenes.[41]

[edit] Power metal and progressive metal movements

Narnia's album Awakening (1998) is a notable Christian power metal album.
Narnia's album Awakening (1998) is a notable Christian power metal album.

During the 1990s, the metal scene in the United States focused more on the alternative styles. This caused the regional change that the center of heavy metal music moved to Middle and Northern Europe.[42] Even Heaven's Metal changed to HM: The Hard Music Magazine in 1995, and focused more on the mainstream Christian hard music rather than underground metal music.

 Music samples:

"The Witch and the Lion"

Sample of "The Witch and the Lion" by Narnia, from Desert Land (2001). The song represents Narnia's neoclassical metal and power metal style. The virtuoisic solo in the beginning is influenced by classical music, and the lyrics portray the band's metaphorical approach on Christian topics.
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

The German group Seventh Avenue, formed in 1989, was one of more notable Christian power metal bands in the 1990s. They released Rainbowland 1995, and after that the band was signed to Treasure Hunt Records. Their first release on this label, Tales of Tales, topped at 18 on the Japanese Heavy Metal Charts. The 1998 release, Southgate, was licensed to Megahard Records for release in Brazil, where the band subsequently toured. They released two albums, Between The Worlds (2003) and Eternals (2004), on Massacre Records.[43][44][45]

Later in the 1990s, the Swedish group Narnia made notable contributions to Christian power metal history. Previously, Christian Liljegren was in a melodic metal band called Modest Attraction which released the albums The Truth in Your Face and Divine Luxury before Liljegren teamed up with guitarist Carl Johan Grimmark to form Narnia in 1996 and released the first album Awakening in 1998. Narnia was later signed to Nuclear Blast Records, Germany, and Pony Canyon Records, Japan, and broadened its popularity.[46][47]

Later there appeared more notable European groups such as the German bands Chrystyne and Lightmare, and the Swedish groups XT, Harmony, and Heartcry.[20]

The British group Balance of Power was a notable Christian progressive metal band, although their lyrics became gradually less Christian based album by album. The band was formed in 1995, released their first album When the World Falls Down in 1996, was picked by Japanese label Pony Canyon, and received significant airplay on Japanese radio stations. After Lance King joined them as vocalist, the band released Book of Secrets in 1998.[48][49]

It was not until late 1990s and early 2000s when some United States based power metal and progressive metal groups began to appear. Jacobs Dream, formed in 1997, became popular and was signed to Metal Blade Records. They soon released the albums Jacobs Dream (1997) and Theater of War (2000).[50][51] Magnitude Nine released the albums Chaos to Control (1998), Reality in Focus (2001) and Decoding the Soul (2004).[52][53][54] In 2003 a one man project called Theocracy created by Matt Smith released their self titled debut Theocracy, which achieved notable popularity in both Christian and secular scenes.[55][56][57]

[edit] Doom metal and gothic metal movements

In 1987, the Swedish group Veni Domine started playing progressive doom metal and released its first album Fall Babylon Fall in 1992. The album was called a "masterpiece" by some critics.[58] The following album Material Sanctuary featured a heavier output, however, the band abandoned most of their epic style on later releases.

Paramaecium's Exhumed of the Earth (1993) is one of the most respected doom metal albums in both secular and Christian circles.
Paramaecium's Exhumed of the Earth (1993) is one of the most respected doom metal albums in both secular and Christian circles.
 Music samples:

"The Unnatural Conception in Two Parts: The Birth and Massacre of the Innocents"

Sample of "The Unnatural Conception" by Paramaecium, from Exhumed of the Earth (1993). The song represents Paramaecium's doom metal style. The song opens with soprano vocals which then progresses to a heavy guitar riff.
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

"Legion"

Sample of "Legion" by Saviour Machine, from Saviour Machine I (1993). The song represents Saviour Machine's gothic opera metal style. Containing lyrics with a gothic horror feel and apocalyptic themes, because of this song the album was banned from Christian music stores in the United States.
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Paramaecium and Ashen Mortality are the two best known doom metal bands in Christian metal.[59] Australian group Paramaecium incorporated violin, flute, and acoustic guitars to its atmospheric music on their album Exhumed of the Earth, and continued on adding more symphonic elements on the following albums. What sets Paramaecium apart from other bands in the doom metal scene, is the fact that they are the only Christian death doom band that made it to the top of the genre.[60] Paramaecium would influence later Christian bands such as Pantokrator. British group Ashen Mortality was formed after thrash metal band Seventh Angel split up. Ashen Mortality mixed elements of medieval music and goth in their doom metal sound. The critics usually wrote that Ashen Mortalitys overall quality set them apart from competitors. The 1998 Your Caress was called "essential album".[61] In 2000, the ex-Pentagram guitarist Victor Griffin formed a traditional doom metal group called Place of Skulls, and released the albums Nailed (2002) and With Vision (2003)

Christian gothic metal was pioneered by Saviour Machine, which mixed David Bowie type rock-opera and classic metal. Saviour Machine was more popular in Europe, particularly in Germany, than US.[62] After releasing the albums Saviour Machine I and Saviour Machine II, the band gained attention with its ambitious Legend trilogy. The vocalist Eric Clayton also produced the United States gothic metal band Wedding Party's album Anthems (1997). Later Wedding Party changed its name to I-Dragon-I.

In the 1990s, there were three other notable gothic metal bands: Undish, Necromance and Kohllapse. All of them started out in early 1990s playing death metal before developing their gothic metal sound. The Polish band Undish, formerly known as Graviora Manent, released the 1997 album ...Acta Est Fabula on Massacre Records and made a European tour afterwards, also performing at Wacken Open Air.[63] The German group Necromance released the albums White Gothic and Wiederkehr der Schmerzen in the 1990s. The latter incorporated industrial elements, which continued on the band's 2001 release Tribulation Force. Their two latest albums were well-received by magazines such as Rock Hard and Metal Heart.[64] Australian group Kohllapse self-released the albums Kohllapse (1996) and Distant Mind Alternative (1999). These albums were distributed through Nuclear Blast USA,[65] gaining the band some attention in secular circles for its unique style that combined darkwave and doom metal.[66][67]

[edit] Industrial metal movement

In 1988 the industrial metal movement began. Although a fusion genre, there was a notable and mostly United States based Christian movement around the style in the 1990s, and the California based group Mortal is cited as one the first Christian bands that represented the style.[68] A duo led by Jerome Fontamillas and Jyro Xhan, Mortal was not exactly the first Christian band that played industrial but they had a notable role in that they opened ways for 1990s Christian industrial and industrial metal bands. Originally known as Mortal Wish, the band started out playing synthpop but changed to industrial metal around 1991. The band signed a record deal with Intense Records and released its first album Lusis in 1992, and it was well-received.[69] The second album Fathom (1993) was Mortal's most guitar-driven musically, and became one of the band's most popular releases.[70] The song ”Rift” was rearranged later and a music video was shot for it in 1994. The video dealt with the horrors of child abuse. Later, Mortal abandoned industrial metal and went for grunge sound.[69]

 Music samples:

"Deviate"

Sample of "Deviate" by Circle of Dust, from Brainchild (1992). The song represents the band's industrial metal style. A part of "Deviate" was used as the intro for a long time in the now defunct MTV Sports show.
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Another 1990s Christian industrial metal cult band was Circle of Dust, which was formed by New York based Scott Albert after his former thrash metal outfit Immortal (USA) disbanded.[71] Albert recorded and produced most of the Circle of Dust material himself. For the touring line up, the band was joined by lead guitarist Daren ”Klank” Diolosa and Scott's brother Dan ”Leveler” Albert. The band was signed to R.E.X. Records, which released the band's first album Circle of Dust in 1992. The album combined metal and dance music.[72] Albert rerecorded the album in 1995. The second album, Brainchild was more extreme than first one, and showcased dark cyberpunk-esque lyrics.[73] The album is characterized by strong elements of thrash metal.[71] A music video was shot for ”Telltale Crime” in Tennessee state penitentiary which was closed due to inhuman conditions.[73] The album was exclusively distributed to secular market, where the band achieved moderate success:[74] Part of the song ”Deviate” was used as the introsong for a long time in the now defunct MTV Sports show.[71]

Albert led the Christian industrial metal movement at one point and he was a part of many other groups such as Argyle Park, the underground supergroup of Christian industrial metal, which released the successful album Misguided (1995). Albert produced the sideproject of The Crucified members, Chatterbox's only album Despite. After a some disagreements with the label occurred, the touring line up of Circle of Dust disbanded.[73] Daren Diolosa started a soloproject under the name Klank and recorded the album Still Suffering in 1997. The second album Numb was somewhat successful because the song ”Blind” became a hit single.[75] Dan Albert recorded under the name Level. Scott Albert grew tired of R.E.X. Records' policy and the critique that he did not write Christian lyrics enough, and eventually left the Christian scene.[76] In 1998 Scott Albert recorded the "last" Circle of Dust album Disengage which incorporated elements of darkwave and synthpop. He took the pseudonym Klayton and formed Celldweller, and its music has been featured on many movie soundtracks, including Superman Returns and Spider-Man 3.[73]

There was also the Australian industrial metal band called Screams of Chaos which was known for its bizarre style that combined several extreme metal influences with industrial. The band achieved significant attention for Genetic War (1997), its only album, as leader Neil Johnson is a professional film maker. He shot numerous music videos for the songs on the album. Some of the videos caused controversy in Germany for featuring video material from World War II concentration camps.[77] The late 1990s and early 2000s United States shock rock group Rackets & Drapes was known to have elements of industrial metal as the band was often compared to Marilyn Manson. The band toured with Saviour Machine and their albums were distributed through MCM Music. Several secular labels were interested in them but Rackets & Drapes remained unsigned.[78]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Examples of lyrics that encouraged to go to idealistic war against evil include the following albums: Deliverance - Weapons of Our Warfare (1990), Mortification - Mortification (1990), Tourniquet - Stop the Bleeding, Horde - Hellig Usvart and Antestor - Despair among others.
  2. ^ Walser, Robert (1993). Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0-8195-6260-2, p. 14; Christe (2003), p. 170
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  4. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Rock_for_the_King_2
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  7. ^ Powell (2002). "Vengeance Rising", Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, 993–994. 
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