How do you keep up?

How do you keep up with the Christian metal scene?

Years ago, as a teenager, I had hundreds and hundreds of Christian rock and metal CDs which I later destroyed when I got tied up with the Bill Gothard Christian cult. I then re-purchased much of what I could but lost many of the years and eventually fell out of listening altogether when I took up pastoring churches. When I stepped down from that ministry 4 years ago, I've been trying to rebuild a listening library ever since, but I've felt behind the entire time.

I just can't keep up.

How do you guys manage? Tell me your secrets and your routines, I'd love to hear.

Quite frankly I don't keep up.  It helps that I'm not a fan of the whole "core" scene.  I check this site, the Christian Hard Music site and Angelic Warlord...it the band/album doesn't show up in one of those places I will probably miss out on it.

Remaining active on the forums helps.  Probably the best tool for me is Facebook though.  I don't find out about a whole ton of new bands [some though], but seeing updates by bands/labels that I already like keeps me pretty up to date with specific stuff I'm interested in.

Adam wrote:How do you guys manage? Tell me your secrets and your routines, I'd love to hear.

I just keep up with all the newer bands I like on Facebook or whatever social media I can find them on.
For the older styles I usually check here or individual labels like Roxx and Rowe Productions.
A place I used to keep up with modern band news was
http://radiou.com/

Staybrite wrote:It helps that I'm not a fan of the whole "core" scene

Kerrick wrote:Remaining active on the forums helps.  Probably the best tool for me is Facebook though.  I don't find out about a whole ton of new bands [some though], but seeing updates by bands/labels that I already like keeps me pretty up to date with specific stuff I'm interested in.

Exactly

I would think the best way to find new bands would be YouTube. Just do a basic search and follow/explore the channels and similar videos.

Simple answer:  I don't (unfortunately).  Occasionally I will find a band Kerrick or RavenWolf or Thomas has posted and love it to death......but I am woefully uninformed on things these days.

Shoot, this year I was so unaware of things that one of my favorite bands of all time (Nightrage) dropped a disc back in April.....and I didn't find out till halfway thru December!

What little I do manage to keep up on in ANY portion of the music scene is FB updates from bands I already like, or a post from a like minded friend shows me something new.....

I'm not sure this is a "bad" thing for me, though.  There's a genuine joy to finding something new that wasn't there a few years back when I was far more plugged in.  It's almost like being back in the late 80's/early 90's and stumbling on to something I end up loving in a music store.  Almost.....

ThomasEversole wrote:I would think the best way to find new bands would be YouTube.  Just do a basic search and follow/explore the channels and similar videos.

Probably.  I just don't have a lot of time to fall down the rabbit hole these days.

I don't keep up anymore. Used to through webzines, hm magazine, and sites like cross rhythms/blastbeats, etc. I've lost a lot of trust in the Christian scene, with seemingly so many artists back pedaling on being Christian, the whole Tim lambesis deal along with his accusations about other bands just maintaining an image fits the testimonies of others, frankly I lost interest in the Christian scene, if you can really call it that. I sometimes search Spotify for new stuff but I'm not anywhere near as connected as I used to be.

spitshockey81 wrote:I don't keep up anymore. Used to through webzines, hm magazine, and sites like cross rhythms/blastbeats, etc. I've lost a lot of trust in the Christian scene, with seemingly so many artists back pedaling on being Christian, the whole Tim lambesis deal along with his accusations about other bands just maintaining an image fits the testimonies of others, frankly I lost interest in the Christian scene, if you can really call it that. I sometimes search Spotify for new stuff but I'm not anywhere near as connected as I used to be.

Reading this breaks my heart, but it's so freaking true.

I let Kerrick filter out what's good.  Our tastes are similar enough that if he enjoys something, I'll enjoy it.  So, I get to avoid crappy bands, while he suffers through it.

Keeping up with Christian black metal is relatively easy considering how small the scene is to begin with. The Blackest Light certainly helps with that, as there are band members and label owners that post there. And there are those of us who act as scouts and find the really underground stuff to let everyone else know about it.

Here's a nice Christian metal news site that covers all subgenres:
http://mauce.nl/

spitshockey81 wrote:...I've lost a lot of trust in the Christian scene, with seemingly so many artists back pedaling on being Christian, the whole Tim lambesis deal along with his accusations about other bands just maintaining an image fits the testimonies of others...

Yeah, sad but true.

Facebook is the most powerful tool I have for keeping up on "known" bands.

To find new stuff I usually see it here or through a few trusted distro sites (Christian Metal Distro, Sanctus Gladius, Metal Helm to name a few).  From there as time permits I Google the band to find out where/if they fall within the Christian music spectrum (Christian band, Christians in a band, some band members Christian, etc.) because this matters to me.  Then I use YouTube to sample the music and see if I like it.  This isn't perfect but it filters a lot.  There will always be more music to buy than there will be money to buy it or time to listen to it, so filters like this are important.

RYM (Rate Your Music) website keeps me very informed of what I want to listen to - as it has all my ratings and knows my tastes.

So it's nice that way. If it wasn't for RYM I am not sure what I'd do. I'd be pretty lost really ... not sure what to buy.

For the most part I listen to secular music, as I am trusting the Christian scene less and less due to the loss of integrity that is so apparent out there. Back when I first got into music I only listened to Christian stuff. Bloodgood, Stryper, Barren Cross, Bride, Leviticus. You could trust that what was out there was genuine. Nowadays I really see little difference between the Christian and secular markets. I choose secular because of two reasons: 1. at least they are honest about what and who they are and 2. the music seems better produced and more professional.

I love listening to Christian music, but I have become more and more leary of it over the years ...

In fact I never even purchased one Christian album from 2015. Too many great secular releases I guess is why.

I dont see music as christian or secular...i see it all as music and all music is written from the authors heart and views..i do not seek out christian music ..i seek out good music ..if they sing about God or Jesus thats cool but if they sing about sex, violence, death or any other subject thats fine also...i use forums, magazines, radio, friends, youtube, amazon, itunes and word of mouth to find and keep up with bands..

Thanks for the replies everyone. SA's last post touches on something I've been doing lots of soul searching on the last few years, but I'll save that for another thread.

I mostly use forums like here and Christian Hard Music.  I use Angelic Warlord's news section and Facebook quite a bit, too.

Like Staybrite, I don't do most of the more extreme forms of metal so that cuts down on a lot of releases.  I do make up for it with bands like Disciple, Skillet, Kutless, etc.  If they are signed to a label, usually www.jesusfreakhideout.com will have news about release dates, band breakups, new bands, etc.

Peter who was Vaak wrote:I let Kerrick filter out what's good.  Our tastes are similar enough that if he enjoys something, I'll enjoy it.  So, I get to avoid crappy bands, while he suffers through it.

  Haha glad I can be of help!

Like my bud SA said, the key is to use a variety of sources. Metal-archives advanced search where you sort by Christianity lyrical theme and also filter by the genre you are most interested in at the time is a secret method of mine.

Savage Amusement wrote:I dont see music as christian or secular...i see it all as music and all music is written from the authors heart and views..i do not seek out christian music ..i seek out good music ..if they sing about God or Jesus thats cool but if they sing about sex, violence, death or any other subject thats fine also...

That's pretty much exactly how I feel too. Music is music. Christian or secular? It's all really the same to me nowadays. I do believe in Jesus Christ - and I think it's great when a band I like does too! But I especially like it when that band is not signed to any 'Christian' labels ... because then you know for sure they are genuine. They are not believing or writing any certain way because they 'have to' ... due to pressures from the Christian market. Many Christian bands are shams.


A friend of mine is a Christian concert promoter in Colorado - and I know first hand ... how fake many of these bands are. One time a band came into town (they were in the 'core' scene) ... and they were one of the big name Christian bands blah blah blah (and for reasons of integrity I will not expose who that band is here). Anyway - the band came into town and I wasn't really a fan of them per say, but I was helping my friend 'put them up for the night' etc. Getting pizza, making the band feel comfortable with their accomodations like I had been told to do. Well anyway - long story short, I started a conversation about Christ and asked them about church etc. Come to find out the band doesn't go to church. Which was fine ... but then I started seeing members of the band leave and go and light up a cigarette and drink some beers and what not. I even saw some porn magazines in the back of their tour bus/van type of thing. I never judged them. But I wondered ... 'wow, how many Christian bands are out there like this?' So many Christians are fooled into feeling more 'Jesus-like' because they crank music that comes from Christian record companies (who most of the time are not even owned by Christians!), but because it's 'not secular', they feel they are more holy ... and it helps them feel closer to God evidently. No problem. I will not judge them either.

But for me ... I listen to my secular music 'with' Jesus. I ask him questions about it. He enjoys listening to it with me. So I figure much of what secular music discusses are real life issues and concerns that matter to me and God anyway. Sure they might 'cuss' more. But it's okay ... last time I checked God never fell off his throne over a few cuss words. So much of Christianity nowadays is so prude and proper. Just rubs me the wrong way. I've always been the 'real' type. I never much cared for fakes. My friends and I had a term for that. Posers.

At the same time, I don't like to listen to music that just blasphemes my God or bands who can't seem to do anything else 'but' cuss. Like they use that as a crutch to 'sound cool'.  I don't like that. But an 'f' bomb now and then is sometimes even fitting in a song that is dealing with real life issues like abuse or what not.

I have a very hard time keeping up. I have this tendency to keep myself entirely way too busy so I have been behind for quite awhile. Even the library for Metal Blessing Radio I tend to purchase every album I play, even the ones I'm not really into myself. So I am behind not only because of the cost but also because I keep taking on new projects.

I have about 7 or 8 Christian music related projects going on now, and I'm also working on writing a book between all that when time allows. I guess I just cant sit idle, I always have to pursue new ideas.

Due to some recent health changes I told my wife I was going to put some of my projects on hold to reduce stress and what did I do? I started another project instead.

As a Teenager it would be through Heaven's Metal, and frequent trips to the Christian Bookstore to place orders

Now i dont keep up, at all....

But for favorite music Facebook, RYM, and even Wikipedia have been helpful for me

I guess now I just keep an eye out here and make a note of upcoming releases.  I would love to do what Thomas suggested and just plunge into Youtube, but as Exo said, I don't have time for that rabbithole in general.  I have lost soooo much time on that site.  I keep up with the bands I like through FB as well, but new stuff I pick up on here.

Deepfriar wrote:Like my bud SA said, the key is to use a variety of sources. Metal-archives advanced search where you sort by Christianity lyrical theme and also filter by the genre you are most interested in at the time is a secret method of mine.

That's one of my favorite methods, too. I also use the forums, YouTube channels of certain labels and bands, and there are a handful of bands I try to stay in contact with just to keep up with what they're doing.