At a glance, it would seem quite contradictory that someone with such strong religious beliefs would be into metal, to say nothing of viking metal. But it is true, nonetheless. That kind of music speaks to me: it is cathartic, it helps me vent anger that cannot be expressed with words, and it can make me forget about how much i hate myself and everyone i know in person (and you crazy lot too).

But, goodness knows, i cannot stand contemporary Christian music!

I was exposed to contemporary Christian music a lot back east, living in the Bible belt, and out here among the judgmental liberal Christians at my church. A lot of these musicians sounds like copycats of secular pop music. Now I know that there are only so many notes in Western music that, at some point, we will have run out and some of our music will start to sound similar. That is just the case with all Western music, be it metal, rock, country, classical, baroque, blues, pop, or CC (hip-hop doesn’t make use of chords as much as those others do, it being focused primarily on rhythm and spoken word). Nevertheless, that CC (contemporary Christian music) goes out of its way to sound like secular pop music is just a small part of a bigger problem with the Christian church, regardless of denomination: a desire for acceptance that leads to conformity with the passions and prejudices of the world.

Remember how i said that metal speaks to me in a very unique way? Well, CC does as well, only not in a good way. A lot of CC music is trite and formulaic, with lyrics that, like secular pop music, seek to ignore the darker aspects of life in favor of just happiness and sunshine and rainbows. Now anyone who has read the Bible in any meaningful way will know that this is a very naive image: after all, the stories recounted in the Bible are from violent Middle Eastern cultures, where even pagan kingdoms annihilated each other on a regular basis (Akkad, the Hittites, the Chaldeans, the Persians, etc.). The whole purpose of Jeshua’s mission on Earth was to die a horrible, excruciating death in order that man might be saved. History aside, the prophets, the Psalms and the Book of Job depict harshly grim realities. From the children of Israel longing for the days when bloody vengeance will be reaped upon their captors, to the doom and gloom prophecies of old (whether about merely the Kingdom of Judah or the whole world), and even personal conflicts between a man, and the idea of God as a just ruler in a suffering world.

Frankly, it disgusts me that this genre of music shuts their eyes to the reality while repeating the same over-used cliche phrases over and over again. What that music tells me is that my problems don’t matter, that the pain that i feel in this life, the pain that God still hasn’t taken away nor given me the strength to endure, is not even worthy of recognition.

If that means I’m going to hell, because metal speaks more to me than CC music, well, it certainly won’t be the only reason