Can a Christian Be Metal?

Truth be told, I am a lover of music and of all types of music I listen to, metal and electronica stand out to me as the two best genres. Being a fan of metal music has caused many a metalhead to accuse me of not being metal due to my Christian beliefs. The argument is that metal music is at its core satanic. Well, that’s news to bands like Becoming the Archetype and The Chariot who have no problem melding Christian themes with loud guitars and double bass and this is news to me considering the fact I play bass in a metal band.

Black metal is used as a shining example of why Christians are not metal. However, through all the black and satanic décor many death metal bands adorn, did anybody ever start to ask why these bands act like this in the first place? The answer is simple. These bands dress and act the way they do to be the antithesis of Christianity. So, in actuality, they would not even exist if it wasn’t for Christians already existing. The same goes for any type of “satanic” band, they all exist because we exist. So, there are whole movements in music dedicate to Christian “demise.” In light of this, how is a Christian not metal?

Now, here’s even a bigger kicker, a number of Christian black metal bands exist. These bands, as a whole, have gone through more hardship from the black metal scene than many of the black metal bands that are out today. In the case of Antestor, the pioneer of the genre, they have received a number of death threats which were obviously never carried out. This all seems very metal to me.

Metal is more than music, it is an attitude all about sticking it to the man. If anything, modern Christian metal bands are sticking it to the man. The man in this situation include the mainstream metalheads and bands who continue to say that they have a monopoly on what metal is and what metal is not. So, can a Christian be metal? I say, “Yes.”