Intense Records: An Intense History of Christian Metal (1992)

I received this compilation as a throw-in when I bought yesterday's subject, the Original Sin album.  I can only surmise that the seller was concerned about my immortal soul and decided to try to turn me on to some Christian metal.  Well, I am not close-minded so I figured I would give this thing a shot.  I don't have a problem with Christian metal really, if the music is good.  Unfortunately that is often tough to find.  The big problem with Christian metal, and Christian music in general, is that often the message outweighs the musical ability.  So will that be true of these bands?  We will see.  This could go really poorly for me.

Here we go.

TOURNIQUET: "You Get What You Pray For"

Tourniquet is one of the few bands on this compilation that I was aware of previously.  I had a friend in high school that had a couple of their albums.  They struck me as okay, but not really anything special, but at least they were not terrible.  I have not heard them since, so I was actually kind of interested to revisit them.  The song features a decent speed metal riff, but the vocals are pretty terrible, particularly during the chorus, and this is one of those songs that hits you in the face with the message.  So no, I did not particularly care for my second time around hearing this band.

DELIVERANCE: "Weapons of Our Warfare"

This one on the other hand is pretty decent.  The song is sort of a heavy thrash metal song, something akin to early Testament.  The vocals are high-pitched and soaring, with some impressive blood-curdling shrieks.  They are somewhat reminiscent of a combination of Joey Belladonna and Tom Araya's early work with Slayer.  I could see checking this band out further honestly.  This is pretty good.

VENGEANCE: "Mulligan's Stew"

Vengeance is a band that I think I have heard of, but there are likely several other bands called "Vengeance" out there.  The music kind of has a dirty, sleazy hard rock vibe, particularly with the kind of whiskey-soaked vocal style the singer uses.  It is kind of an odd mix for a band that is very clearly Christian.  The guitar solo makes it somewhat interesting, but the vocals kind of grate after awhile and the song just sort of ends.  Not really my cup of tea.

MAGDALLAN: "Dome of the Rock"

This one fucking sucks.  I suppose it is trying to capitalize on the softer rock that Extreme hit it big with, you know "More Than Words" and "Hole-Hearted".  There is a little bit of a James LaBrie tone to the vocals.  But man, when that chorus kicks in, I just want to turn the damn thing off.  This is terrible.  And as bad as that is, the a capella part is significantly worse.  This thing just keeps getting worse with each section.

SACRED WARRIOR: "Obsessions"

Sacred Warrior's song reminds me a lot of mid-period Queensryche.  Not super-heavy, but with some undeniably metal riffs and high-pitched crooning vocals that call to mind Geoff Tate.  The music is more of a progressive metal with a decent guitar solo.  The vocals are clearly the star here though.  This is not too bad really.  

ANGELICA: "Cover Me"

Oh God!  My ears!  I suppose the best comparison I can come up with here is that this band is trying hard to be Cinderella.  Kind of a blues-based hard rock band, but this is really horrible.

RANSOM: "Exit (Euthanasia)"

And we keep getting worse.  Honestly this sounds like a really bad karaoke version of a hair band.  The music just has a very sterile feel to it and the vocals are really high in the mix.  It's almost muzak.  Yikes.  

MORTIFICATION: "Journey of Reconciliation"

Mortification is another band I was familiar with.  They are somewhat infamous for being a Christian death metal band, if one can truly believe that.  Their first couple of albums are often cited as Christian metal done right, but they became something of a parody of themselves in later years.  I had never actually heard them before.  It is fairly simplistic death metal, sort of in the vein of Obituary, but without the swampy feel to the riffs.  The vocals are reasonably gruff.  This sounds more like the kind of thing a young band just starting out would record.  It's not bad, it's just kind of amateurish and simple.

DELIVERANCE: "Victory"

Okay, after the last several songs, I am excited to be getting back to Deliverance.  This is their second appearance on the compilation, one of three bands to appear twice.  This is a song from their first album upon doing some cursory research.  And this song once again impressed with a militant Slayer-esque riff to start things off.  I really do think I like this band.  

MORTAL: "If Ever Maria..."

Oh for fuck's sake.  I think this band was going for a Nine Inch Nails/Ministry industrial sound, but the electronic equipment sounds so fucking cheap.  This reminds me more of the Friends episode where Ross finds his keyboard and starts playing at the coffee shop and his music is just this random collection of sound effects.  Yep, this is that bad.

RANDY ROSE: "Black Harvest"

Like the Angelica song, the vocals are way too high in the mix and the music here sounds like just a backing track.  I kind of get what they are trying for, more of a heavy stoner/doom sound, but it just does not come across really well.  Rose has Danzig-lite vocals that might sound better with a more convincing band.  

BLOODGOOD: "Battle of the Flesh"

I think I have heard of Bloodgood before.  This has 1980's style speed metal written all over it, with a hard-hitting riff and wailing vocals.  I kind of like it really.  Apparently this band went to more of a hard rock sound later, but if the rest of their early material sounds like this, they are not too bad.  

TOURNIQUET: "Psycho Surgery"

Here is Tourniquet again.  This song sounds more like an attempt to jump on the progressive/technical thrash metal wave with notably non-Christian bands like Heathen and Atheist.  I kind of dig the chorus this time around.  I think this was on the album my friend had and in general I much prefer it to the first song by this band on the compilation.

SHOUT: "Give Me an Answer"

This song would have fit in well with the late 1980's hair bands.  It sounds more like a combination of Whitesnake and Poison.  Now I can get behind some hair bands, but not those two and not this one either.  This is pretty bad.

VENGEANCE: "Before the Time"

Vengeance joins Tourniquet and Deliverance as the only bands to appear on this thing twice.  This song is quite a bit different than the last one, taking on more of a hardcore/thrash metal sound.  The vocals are more reminiscent of snotty punk singers, but there are some fast riffs and a decent solo.  I prefer this song to the other one by Vengeance, but I do not think it is enough to check the band out further at this point.

LANNY CORDOLA: "Angry Candy"

And finally we come to the end of this and it is a really painful way to finish it off.  It is an instrumental sort of in the vein of Joe Satriani or Steve Vai, but with numerous samples that give it a very corny feel.  I do not think much of it.

There we have it.  I survived.  I think Deliverance is the only band I would really consider checking out, though maybe Sacred Warrior would be okay.  There was a lot of utter shit on this thing and precious few decent songs.  Safe to say my soul has not been saved by this release.

Analyzing the Metalness of King's X

King's X has always been an extremely difficult band to pin a genre tag on. Their music runs the gamut between hard rock, heavy metal, progressive metal, funk, and soul. In addition, the vocals are often influenced by the above styles, as well as gospel, blues, and British rock groups of the 1960's such as The Beatles. It's an eclectic mix to be sure. So, is King's X a metal band? In a word, sometimes.

I have heard a lot of material from this band, though very little since the late 1990's. I own only one of their albums, 1994's Dogman which will form the principal material in this analysis as this album is widely considered their most metal release. As mentioned in a previous post, the music must have ties to Black Sabbath and it must sound like metal.

DOGMANOkay, this is the only album I own by King's X, so this analysis is far from complete. But, I figured looking at what is widely considered the band's most metal release will give me some indication of whether this band is, in fact, a metal band, at least occasionally.

Much of the riffing on this album is more distorted and Sabbath-influenced than on the band's previous material. The title track kicks things off here and we are immediately treated to a distorted, bluesy, Sabbathian riff coupled with Doug Pinnick's soulful crooning. The title track is definitely a highlight on this album and a great way to kick things off. "Shoes" is a slow-burning, yet heavy track that sounds as if it would easily fit in on any Deep Purple album. "Pretend" sounds like a cross between Black Sabbath and The Beatles, an exceptional song. "Black the Sky" also features a very basic metal-sounding riff along with some very heavy distortion, including one hell of a closing. "Don't Care" also has some extremely heavy power chord riffing going on. "Complain" is another song that would have sounded at home on 1970's era heavy metal albums, as would "Pillow".

On the other hand, "Flies and Blue Skies" is basically a blues ballad. Not bad, but not metal. "Fool You" sounds a lot like a hard rock band playing an old R&B song, but it has one hell of a closing as well. "Sunshine Rain" is another ballad with some impressive metallic riffing, but does not rise to the level of a metal song. "Human Behavior" sounds like Led Zeppelin, with more blues influence, especially the "Black Dog"-esque riff. "Cigarettes" is yet another softer ballad. "Go to Hell" is a pure hardcore track and lasts less than a minute. "Manic Depression" is a cover of a song by Jimi Hendrix.

As for the musicians, guitarist Ty Tabor is the principal music-writer. He brings most of the metal influence to the band. He also has a couple of metal side projects, including his solo project and a prog metal project with John Myung of Dream Theater. Doug Pinnick also has quite the metal history and was once offered the vocalist position in Deep Purple.

I have also heard some other songs by the band, all of which I felt were clearly closer to metal. I think King's X's genre probably would be a lot less controversial if the band had come around in the 1970's or 1980's. The band has the same kind of downtuned, bluesy metallic riffs that the first major metal bands also had.

CONCLUSION
King's X is a borderline band, and they are certainly questionable because of the time they came out. In the late 1980's, death and thrash metal were becoming dominant forms of metal, whereas King's X played a more basic blues-influenced form of metal, punctuated by elements of other styles.

Initial Impressions: Woe of Tyrants: Threnody

I traded in some old music that I don't listen to anymore and picked up this one. This band played at the concert on Monday, although we were too late to hear them. I had heard of the band before, but had never actually checked out their music. I had some idea of what to expect, but apparently was wrong.

You see, I thought because of their placement on this concert on Monday night, that this band would be another retro thrash metal band. I was actually surprised that they are not. There are thrash elements sure, but there are also death metal and progressive elements here. It's essentially thrash metal-inspired progressive death. Take from that what you will.

The music is fast, aggressive, and in general very brutal. Thrash riffs tend to open the songs leading into some very deep guttural vocals. The drumming mostly consists of blastbeats, with the occasional fill. The guitar solos and leads are probably the most interesting aspect of the music. Some of the songs are definitely barn-burners. Fast-paced and energetic, these are typically the best songs on the album. Woe of Tyrants is best when they are blazing full speed through a song.

This band has been lumped in as a Christian metal band. I have not spent a ton of time analyzing the lyrics, but at first blush, I'm not sure that tag is warranted. They may be Christians who play metal, but it does not appear as if they have a real message. Religion is a lyrical theme, but that does not mean that they are preaching or anything of the sort.

I have listened to this album twice now, and have come around to it. I didn't care much for it the first time, perhaps because the progressive elements took me by surprise. But, this is a pretty good release from a young, growing band. We'll see what their future holds.

XINR

I was looking back at some of my old posts and realized that I forgot about a band on the Christian metal post. So, here's XINR, a band that is fairly unknown.

XINR was a band from the Portland, OR area in 1984. Their music career only lasted a year in which time they did some shows around the Pacific Northwest. The band recorded some demos with the intention of eventually releasing a full length album. Unfortunately that day would never come. Guitarist Shaun Tramel and singer Tony Saiz died in a motorcycle accident in 1984. Just recently, Stormspell Records got a hold of the band's only recordings and went about finding the remaining band members for permission to release them. Eventually they were successful and we have Beyond Woodward. The band played a traditional style of metal mostly influenced by NWOBHM bands. The lyrics are Christian, but they are not overly preachy. This is a pretty decent album, a good look at a band that never made out, although they clearly had talent. It's a shame.

Another List Post: Top 10 Christian Metal Bands?

http://www.noisecreep.com/2010/01/13/top-10-christian-metal-bands/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NoiseCreep+%28NoiseCreep.com%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Huh. I had a post a few weeks ago about Christian metal where I stated that I really don't care whether the band is Christian or their message is Christian, as long as the music is good. This post features bands who are Christian, many of whom are the exact opposite of good.

STRYPER
Oh lord (hee hee). Stryper descended upon listeners in the 1980's. And like most music in the 1980's, Stryper was very focused on their image. In particular, they looked like bumblebees. Not the first thing one thinks of when one thinks of metal. Their sound early on was similar to early Def Leppard. Not bad, but the message became the important aspect of the band. They began throwing Bibles to the fans and came up with this brilliant song:
[Verse 1]
Speak of the devil
He's no friend of mine
To turn from him is what we have in mind

[Verse 2]
Just a liar and a thief
The word tells us so
We like to let him know
Where he can go

[Chorus]
To hell with the devil
To hell with the devil

Ah, subtlety,

BELIEVER
I like Believer, so I won't disparage them here. Very good technical thrash metal.

TROUBLE
One of the best doom metal bands of the 1980's. No problems here.

ZAO
NFM. The author seems to know this fact too, referring to them as a "metal inspired spin on hardcore" and then as punk or noise rock. Zao is terrible, plain and simple. They have changed their sound several times, none of which comes close to decent.

STRONGARM
Who?

MORTIFICATION
I love this part:
"Their 'Scrolls of the Megilloth' album should be in the possession of any death metal collector, and outside of some uneven moments here and there, the group has had an inspired career with 13 other studio efforts under their belts."

Some uneven moments? Mortification is universally terrible. They have one or two decent songs, but otherwise suffer from a shocking inability to write a decent song. For instance "God Rulz" which repeats the title eight times over, and that's the song. To be fair, that's not typical, but this is:
Curses coming our way,
satan thinks he has won,
but we know the story,
live everlasting,
cancer and pain,
will not stop the fight
Jesus is risen,
knowlege will come.

[Chorus 2]

Metal crusade,
spreading the Gospel truth,
bearing the sword,
of the spirit of life.
Metal crusade,
salvation through the cross,
helmet of salvation,
guarding our minds.

[Verse 3]

Through word and music,
metal shall be reached,
Jesus will return,
when all have heard His ways.
No stone left unturned,
as we seek your life,
some way or other,
you will find The Truth

Ugh.

EXTOL
Never heard of them. Do I care? No.

VENGEANCE RISING
Apparently fairly controversial as the lyrics were somewhat graphic and the album cover featured a picture of a hand nailed to a cross. Surprisingly good reviews for a band almost no one has ever heard of.

AS I LAY DYING
Early on, this was a metalcore band. Much like other bands from the time period, they ditched a lot of the core influences and played a mix of thrash and melodic death metal. In the meantime, they have jumped to the forefront of the Christian metal scene. Not a bad band. Not good, but not bad.

TOURNIQUET
I had a friend back in high school who really liked this band. We listened to their albums on the way back from Kansas City. They weren't bad. I don't remember being terribly impressed with them but that was quite awhile ago. I remember thinking they were very strange with an odd mix of styles. Very similar to Believer from what I understand now.

So there.

Ridiculously Unhelpful Amazon Listmania Pt. 2: Christian Metal/Hardcore

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/1ZRR4YQYJAGE6/ref=cm_syt_fvsy_f_5_rysdsd0

Yay for Amazon lists! This isn't technically a metal list, nor is it a Listmania list, but the effect is the same. I'm quoting this list mainly for the ridiculousness of it. Seriously, I won't comment much further (my comments will be in parentheses and bolded like this), this is actually what the list says. I have quoted the most entertaining sections.

"Okay, so i'm gonna go through a list of some of the greatest hardcore CDs in existence, none of which are satanic garbage like so many hardcore bands resort to (I don't know of many Satanic hardcore bands, do you?) in order to get attention. Most of this will be music that will make you need to break something, but in a few rare cases i'll put in something a bit more mellow, but only if it deserves it."

"Will you feel the urge to break down a door or wall? YES. Will you want to scream until your throat bleeds? YES."

"It will leave you screaming I AM HOLLYWOOD for days on end after listening to the last track. LEAVE MY DAUGHTER ALONE!! (I don't know what this means)"

"You'll feel an overbearing urge to knock on your neighbor's door and beat him in the face. (That's not very Christian, doesn't the Bible say 'love thy neighbor?')"

"After listening to it you'll run up to someone on the street and point in their face yelling YOU WILL PAY THE PRICE. CLOSE YOUR EYES AND DIE. (You seem to have emotional problems)"

"If you buy A-Types and not this you'll be taken to an asylum for attempting suicide. (I don't know about you, but not buying an album has never lead me to consider suicide)"

"But it's so much more than that. Trust me, you'll jump around like an idiot and break inexpensive things listening to this."

"Have fun trying to bust through a wall. (A little pent-up aggression maybe?)"

"A bit melodic at times, but so destructive at others you'll be pounding your younger siblings without realizing it."

"Have fun injuring yourself and others."

And they say death metal causes violence.

Christian Metal

I feel like ragging on Christians today. So, with that in mind, I present two posts about Christian metal/hard rock.

Christian metal is often thought to be something of an oxymoron. But, in realisty, Christianity in metal has been present almost as long as the genre has. Go back to "After Forever" on Black Sabbath's Master of Reality album for proof. This song is either extremely religious, or extremely anti-religious, it's never been entirely clear. Both Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi are fairly religious people though, so it's not a stretch to believe that their lyrics are honest.

Now, my personal position on Christian metal bands is this: I have no problem with them as long as the music is good. But that's often what gets these bands in trouble. It's no secret that Stryper's work after their first album was crap. It's no secret that Mortification is one of the worst bands in death metal. It's no secret that As I Lay Dying's early stuff is just an Avenged Sevenfold-meets-Trivium-meets-Killswitch Engage knockoff, although their later material clearly shows the band progressing.

Those are just a few names. But, the reality is that a lot of Christian metal bands are not very good. There are some good ones though, such as:

TROUBLE
Trouble does not claim to be a Christian metal band at all. They were marketed as such early in their career though and it didn't help that their first album Psalm 9 clearly dealt with biblical issues. This lyrical bent did change over time, but their early albums were fine examples of Christian-oriented metal done correctly.

BELIEVER
Believer is one of the original technical thrash metal bands and they built up a huge following at the same time that Atheist, Heathen, and Cynic were revolutionizing the metal sound. Believer recently got back together and put out a very strong album on Metal Blade earlier this year.

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE
It's true, just look at some of the lyrics. KsE is clearly talking about God here. The metalcore pioneers are one of the better bands in their genre but are unfortunately quickly wussifying themselves. I probably just made up a word. Their early stuff is very strong, powerful music with a somewhat positive message.

There are other bands with fairly outspoken Christian members as well, such as Megadeth (Dave Mustaine once refused to go on tour with Dissection and Rotting Christ), Deicide, Slayer, and others. Metal and Christianity are not mutually exclusive although the genre has built itself up in the eyes of the mainstream as a Satanic haven for lost souls.

The important thing to take away from all of this is that it's music. The message should not be as important as writing good music. I am just as likely to hate a bad Satanic band as I am to hate a bad Christian band. Unfortunately there's a lot of crap out there.

Metal Reunions

Technical death metal is taking off lately, so a lot of the original tech-death groups are reuniting. This is great news because a lot of these bands had somewhat shorter careers and went out far too soon. I'm excited to see new albums from these bands and maybe see one or two on tour if possible. So, let's look at some of these bands, their history, and their future.

CYNIC

Cynic was one of the original technical death metal bands. They added some odd jazz fusion elements to their Florida death metal. The demos were more straightforward death, it was not until the album Focus that things got really interesting. That album is a standout in early death metal for its varied influences. The clean vocals were handled through the use of a vocoder, giving it a futuristic, robotic sound. There were of course death metal growls as well. The major standout was the musicianship of the band. These were amazing musicians, not at all stereotypical of death metal bands. Unfortunately they split up soon after.

I picked up Traced in Air, Cynic's reunion album last holiday season. A lot of the death metal elements are gone now, but the musicianship is still strong. Cynic has matured into an amazing progressive metal band now. They are on tour currently with Daath and Dragonforce, but they will be playing in Omaha on a weeknight, not the best time for me to go with work. Too bad.

ATHEIST

Even more jazz-influenced and more death metal-sounding than Cynic. Atheist was the more successful band in that they did produce more than one full length in the first part of their career and were better accepted at the time. Atheist recorded three great full length albums in the early 1990's. They then dissolved.

Atheist reunited recently and while there has not been a new album yet, they are said to be working on it.

HEATHEN

Heathen is a little thrashier than the previous two. I am not as familiar with them, having only heard a few of their songs. I have their two full lengths downloaded on my computer, but have not been able to find the time to listen to them. Their sound can best be described as a more progressive and technical Testament.

Heathen was the first of these groups to reunite, releasing a demo in 2005 to rave reviews. They are currently working on their third full length album.

BELIEVER

I find the fact that the four groups discussed so far all have religion-oriented names extremely funny. We've got Atheist, Cynic, and Heathen so far. All we're missing is a Christian group, what should we call them? How about Believer. And that is what Believer is: the Christian counterpart to Atheist, Cynic, and Heathen. Like Heathen though I have only heard a few songs from Believer. They were very good and one of the few Christian metal bands I am very interested in.

Believer released a live album in 2007 then signed on with Metal Blade to release their fourth full-length earlier this year. I am currently on the lookout for this one.

Clarification on Yesterday's Posts

I want to make one thing clear on yesterday's posts. I am not an Anti-Christian. I don't particularly care for Christianity, but I am not deadset against it. I thought yesterday would be an interesting day to bring up that aspect of the metal culture. In the future, I may very well have a post up about Christian metal bands, of which there are some good ones. There are also some terrible ones, but it's like that with every genre.