Your first Christian Metal/Hard Rock release that got you hooked

It was in 1988: First of all Petra - This means war

and second but more important to me:

Bloodgood - Bloodgood   and

Bloodgood - Detonation

Early on in my metal fandom career - around 2005 or 2006 - I was browsing Cynic's forum (the technical/jazzy death metal band) and saw mention of Aletheian.  Having only really heard the crap my mom listened to on K-Love (CCM radio), I just thought all Christian music sucked.  But when I heard Aletheian, that changed quite drastically haha.  I immediately bought Dying Vine and then later their previous two albums and thus began my love for Christian metal.  I've since sold off my Cynic CDs due to their new-age lyrics, but Aletheian will always have a special spot on my heart.

Resurrection Band - Mommy Don't Love Daddy Anymore. Still a very special album to me. I keep my autographed cassette copy hidden away.

Andreas89 wrote:Sinbreed - When Worlds Collide. That album was undeniably christian. Such a shame they went another way after that, I couldn't even enjoy that release anymore.

It is a great album but I wouldn't let it not enjoy whats already recorded. Example for me is the first 2 Seventh Angel releases. Iam Arkley even states that the lyrics are not even close to what he believes anymore but he still enjoys them. I know its a personal decision for us all but I like to think they believed it whole heartedly when the recorded thus making it still enjoyable as a believer.

Hard Rock side of things these are the 4 albums that opened the musical gateway into my soul as it were, the first two unleashed a love for music, the latter two fostered and nutured a love for hard rock and metal.

Stryper- To Hell With the Devil
Stryper- Soldiers Under Command
Whitecross- S/T (original)
Deliverance - Weapons

For the Rock side of things....

Phil Keaggy- Play Thru Me
Phil Keaggy - Underground

Phil influenced everyone, they just don't know it. 

While Stryper's "Soldiers Under Command" is my all time favourite Christian metal album, it was their album "Against the Law" that got me hooked.

That's the album of theirs I listen to most these days. Little more raw and I like it.

1982: On the church bus heading somewhere, a friend popped in this cassette by some unknown band.  I heard these crankin' power chords (crankin' for that era) blaring out of the speakers.  Coming off the '70's KISS train, I had to know who the band was and what song I was hearing.  I asked and he told me, "Angel of Light by Petra".  That was my first introduction to Christian music that rocked.  In short order, I went out and bought every Petra cassette I could find.

In 1984, I discovered Daniel Band through my cousin - the Run From the Darkness album - and became a fan.  Later that year, my cousin also introduced me to Stryper via "The Yellow and Black Attack" album.  I was very thankful that there were quality hard rock / metal bands out there who gave The Lord the glory for His gift of music.

Petra, Daniel Band and Stryper made up my first wave of encountering Christian hard rock / metal music.

My second wave of discovered bands included: Barren Cross, Bloodgood, Bride, Deliverance, Vengeance (Rising), Saint, Rez and Sacred Warrior (with a big nod also going to post-punk/alt-rock band, Altar Boys).

Angel of Light is a killer song.

I first heard Petra back in 1988 when a friend lent me a copy.  I thought it was okay, but it didn't really grab me.  I headed down the Meat Loaf, Guns N Roses, Bon Jovi line instead.  I then heard Wake Up Call a number of years later and was hooked!  Strange really, 'cause Wake Up Call isn't a great album, but it's the album that pulled me in to christian rock/metal.

I followed it up with Whitecross S/T and Bride Scarecrow.  Then my mind melted!

I found a used cassette of Southpaw by Precious Death at Hastings right around the time I had started looking for hard rock/metal that wasn't against these new beliefs I had gained.

Coincidentally, I also found Cross Rhythms online, and started ordering CD's from Eternal Decision, Eloi, Godfear...
There was a big "if you like this secular band, you'll like this Christian band" thing back then so I picked up whatever "sounded like" all the bands I was into that I could find...

mothy wrote:

Andreas89 wrote:Sinbreed - When Worlds Collide. That album was undeniably christian. Such a shame they went another way after that, I couldn't even enjoy that release anymore.

It is a great album but I wouldn't let it not enjoy whats already recorded. Example for me is the first 2 Seventh Angel releases. Iam Arkley even states that the lyrics are not even close to what he believes anymore but he still enjoys them. I know its a personal decision for us all but I like to think they believed it whole heartedly when the recorded thus making it still enjoyable as a believer.

I'm not saying that falling away from christianity during a career would render the first christian themed albums forbidden in any way. It's just that every time I listened to the album, I became incredibly sad because I kept thinking of said falling away. So I agree, it's a personal decision

My mom, after a talk one morning after spending a lot of time in prayer the night before, took me  to our local bookstore to browse the music.  We asked a worker for a recommendation, and I heard "Military Man" being played over the speakers.  I had no idea there was Christian music that sounded like that - it was probably 1983.  I was hooked from that moment.

Southpaw is the PD album, good one to start with. 
Rez is so groundbreaking yet most people under 40 don't know them.

The first Whitecross album

I'm a bit late to the discussion but very interested reading everyone's experiences. I'm a younger fan in my mid twenties probably as old as Hardcore Christian. I for example remember hearing guys blasting Portraits by For Today when I was a high school freshman. I hated it, just not my scene lol

I started liking metal by listening to Metallica and Blind Guardian in high school and basically just started roaming the internet for Christian bands like that. I heard a few but didn't love any until I found Theocracy. Been my favorite ever since. It's amazing how God can use art to change my life. I'm not even a die hard metalhead anymore, but the music grounded the truth so deeply at a time when maybe the truth could have slipped by.

I went through a time of trying to ignore God and the faith but was still listening to some Christian metal and the Tourniquet lyrics would stick in my head.

I wasn't a Christian when I was younger so I got into secular metal first (Opeth in 2003). I got deeply into that scene over the next five years (I even got a gig writing reviews and doing interviews for a webzine). I didn't really have much of a limit to what I listened to ideologically and that influenced me to develop an anti-Christian attitude. I was in my teens/early 20s so eventually I got to a point where I needed to figure things out and find out what I really believed. It led me down various paths before I came to Christianity, but along the way I became very uncomfortable with the messages in my music and got rid of almost all of it.

I listened to other genres (mostly country and R&B) until 2018 when I found out there was more Christian metal out there than just Stryper. I think it was Bride's "Live to Die" that first impressed me (sounded like early Slayer) along with the first three Saint albums. I was always attracted to black and death metal back in the day so it wasn't long before I found Antestor and Crimson Moonlight. I didn't know if I could get into extreme metal again, being a little older now, but I fell in love with it again. I'm glad that there is such a vibrant Christian metal scene making it possible to listen to the music I love with positive lyrics.

Black Rider wrote:Phil influenced everyone, they just don't know it. 

I still love both those Phil Keaggy albums i mentioned.

Long story but I'll keep it short.  When I was still a non-believer, I published a secular metal fanzine and was in a black metal band.  Neon Cross and a few other Christian bands like Taker and Valor sent tapes in for review.  God was working on me then but I wasn't finding Christian metal that really impacted me, and that was important to me at the time.  Bands like Stryper were cheesy to me.

Then I heard Bloodgood's 1st album, and it had a big impact.  It wasn't heavy, but it was...different.  It seemed very sincere, almost angelic in a way, like a message from heaven.    Then Vengeance Rising sent in their 1st demo tape and I did an interview with them.  Heavier albums were coming out by bands like Saint and Bride.  But it was really that Bloodgood album that made me stop and listen.

Cool to hear bands had an impact.

I've been a beliver for as long as I can remember, but I didn't like Christian music. I thought it was basically just cheesy and trying too hard to be as cool as their secular counterparts. But when I first heard This Means War by Petra, it was probably the first album by a Christian hard rock band that made me realise that Christian music could actually be good, and not as cheesy as Stryper.

I still think that many Christian bands try too hard to be cool, instead of focusing on making good music.

In the Christmas of 1984 my parents gave me 2 cassettes, Chris Christian Let the Music Start and Farrel and Farrell Choices. These were adult contemporary/pop CCM. These were ok and I wanted something heavier. 1985 was the year I discovered Christian rock, hard rock and metal and became a serious fan. I remember before that a neighbour used to bring cassettes get the bus driver to play on the way to school but I wasn't into the music at that time I think. These albums had a big impact on me in 1985:

Petra - More Power to Ya, Not of This World and Beat the System
Jerusalem - In His Majesty's Service
Daniel Band - Run from the Darkness
Rez - Bootleg and Hostage
Stryper - The Yellow and Black Attack and Soldiers Under Command

The very first Christian rock album I had was Stryper’s To Hell with the Devil. I thought it was good, but it wasn’t until I heard The Crucified in early ‘91 that I really got hooked and realized Christian Metal can be just as good as secular. Other bands I liked were Seventh Angel, Mortification, Tourniquet and Deliverance. Later on, Living Sacrifice.