IS CHRISTIAN METAL DEAD

Is Christian metal dead? Are there no new releases or new bands? Is this board shy about new bands? I read all kinds of reviews and metal news about new albums and bands on Angelic Warlord yet never see them discussed on the CMR...and when a new band is brought up the threads die quick.. whats up with that..are there too many here stuck in a past decade of Christian metal?

When I hear a good band I will talk about them. But there's not many new bands that interest me. I don't care for most of the new material reviewed on Angelic Warlord.

It seems that most threats that stay active are those about the classic/veteran/iconic bands like Stryper, Saint, Deliverance, Tourniquet, Whitecross/King James, Rob Rock/Impellitteri etc. Sometimes there are a couple to a few threads running about the same band but on different aspects. Some attention is even given those bands that made a comeback like Bloodgood, The Brave, Deliverance and Barren Cross which is good and they need the support.

I guess the newer bands that are trying to penetrate and break ground in a small market don't get noticed as much. We need to support these bands as well. All of the bands I'm into have been around off and on for 20+ years and are slowing down/winding down and not releasing as much stuff. The only younger band that I'm paying attention to is Theocracy and they have been around since 2007 as a band and Matt Smith  has been doing this on his own since around 2002. All of the other bands and artists I'm into have been around much longer. When all the bands I'm into stop putting out music there won't be any new releases to get unless I find some newer bands with the commercial/melodic/classic metal sound.

We need to support the newer bands.

Soldier777 wrote:It seems that most threats that stay active are those about the classic/veteran/iconic bands like Stryper, Saint, Deliverance, Tourniquet, Whitecross/King James, Rob Rock/Impellitteri etc. Sometimes there are a couple to a few threads running about the same band but on different aspects. Some attention is even given those bands that made a comeback like Bloodgood, The Brave, Deliverance and Barren Cross which is good and they need the support.

I guess the newer bands that are trying to penetrate and break ground in a small market don't get noticed as much. We need to support these bands as well. All of the bands I'm into have been around off and on for 20+ years and are slowing down/winding down and not releasing as much stuff. The only younger band that I'm paying attention to is Theocracy and they have been around since 2007 as a band and Matt Smith  has been doing this on his own since around 2002. All of the other bands and artists I'm into have been around much longer. When all the bands I'm into stop putting out music there won't be any new releases to get unless I find some newer bands with the commercial/melodic/classic metal sound.

We need to support the newer bands

Talking of newer bands have you checked out Messenger from Sweden?  They have just released a killer EP.

I admit I'm stuck in the 80's and the only thing new I listen to is when one of the classic bands (Saint, Stryper, Bloodgood) has a new release. Other than that I'm just not interested in other types of metal (and I enjoy new bands that have that classic sound like Reckless, Crazy Lixx, etc but they aren't Christian bands).

I think the problem here is that for as few active posters as there are the tastes of those members is too diverse.  You are only going to get 4 or 5 people excited about a new band with that old 80's metal sound.  You will get another 3-5 people excited about a new Death/Black metal release.  Maybe half-a-dozen or so will be quick to talk about the newest Metalcore release etc.

I only listen to older bands because thats new for a person like me 

all new bands that i listen to are "core" i listen to tons of that stuff
but not many people here like it so i  usually never post them

It's a difficult question to answer depending on the definition of "metal".

I'm not stuck in the 80's, but a lot of the newer music doesn't do much for me. The last of the "newer" bands that I really like are Demon Hunter, Becoming the Archetype and The Showdown. Only one of those I can say is still active. I do like Red and got into Love and Death. After that, I really don't care for any of the core bands. Or Black Metal bands. I wanted to like that new glam band "Chaotic Resemblance", but the final product did nothing for me.

Cool! Will check out Chaotic Resemblance, I bet that's right up my alley.

I'd love to find out more about newer bands too. But like others "core" does nothing for me. Truth be told, any band where I can't understand the lyrics is not going to do a thing for me.

bjorn agin wrote:I'd love to find out more about newer bands too. But like others "core" does nothing for me. Truth be told, any band where I can't understand the lyrics is not going to do a thing for me.

And this is why I never got into VR. I couldn't understand anything that was being said/sung so I really had no interest in them. But now that I am older, I own the first 3 reissues and do listen to Once Dead from time to time. Played Destruction Comes 2 times and that was enough for me. Never played it again nor do I plan on it.

It took me a long long time to get into VR because of the vocals. But Roger's growling is kind of recognizable to the semi-trained ear. Other bands, they sound like a bunch of dog barking and pig squealing to me.

Speaking only for myself, I like a lot of the 80's bands, but I don't want to listen to stuff that still sounds like the 80's. I prefer heavier stuff but, at the same time, I don't like the thin, unproduced sounds of some of the modern bands. My only problem with "core" bands is that, with a few exceptions, most of the bands sound the same. I look for new stuff every day (literally) and I have found quite a few newer bands that I like.

bjorn agin wrote:It took me a long long time to get into VR because of the vocals. But Roger's growling is kind of recognizable to the semi-trained ear. Other bands, they sound like a bunch of dog barking and pig squealing to me.

Or someone belching over and over.

Well, just checked them out. They are OK. Something is missing... Not sure what, but they aren't great.

I don't know the christian metal scene that much and only know the iconic older bands. I'm not even into a lot of the iconic bands so that makes things even worse lol. Apart from Tourniquet, Living Sacrifice, Rob Rock, Theocracy, Stryper, Bloodgood, Deliverance Believer and a few others, the only ones I hear about now are bands like Flyleaf, Skillet, P.O.D., Icon For Hire and the rest who have broke through mainstreem popularity. I enjoy some of those bands like Skillet, POD and Flyleaf but Skillet sounds like it is aiming toward an even younger crowd after each album they release. Rise and Awake sounded way too high school for my taste.

Project 86 is pretty cool though.

one newer band I really like is the letter black...




another artist i love is Eowyn




another one is Darkwater..Love that Gothic prog sound.




End of September




Sleeping Romance




Empire 21

I've been vastly expanding my tastes recently, so I haven't put as mutch effort into finding new metal bands in general. I still try to keep an open ear, but it's not priority in expanding my music collection because it at least feels like it's saturated with the stuff I'd like. For instance, right now I'm going through critically acclaimed jazz, and I've had maybe a 80% success rate of liking what I'm discovering. My recent attempts at Christian metal have been fairly poor with maybe 25% stuff I'd actually listen to again.

MikeInFla wrote:Well, just checked them out. They are OK. Something is missing... Not sure what, but they aren't great.

With these guys I follow them on Instagram
love there adittude and character
there sound is just missing a fullness
they have the look the vocals have potential
for me the guitars are just to "small" sounding
do they even have a bassist ?

MikeInFla wrote:Well, just checked them out. They are OK. Something is missing... Not sure what, but they aren't great.

I just checked them out for the first time by watching this video.

I think they dance around too much and try too hard to look "cool".

SA, are you on a kick of listening to bands with female vocals?

Most of the videos you posted didn't do it for me. There were a few that stood out. The End of September video was nice and crunchy and her voice definitely stands out. The other video I thought had some potential was Empire 21. I'd like to hear whole songs instead of snippets though.

Regarding Chaotic Resemblance, yeah I agree they are missing something. The whole thing kind of sounds thin to me. I want the Cliffy remaster of that video just to make the instruments stand out more. They need more of -something- in the music department.

@SavageAmusement Nice! Never heard of Empire 21, but I like those snippets.   Yeah, Darkwater has been one of my favorites from Ulterium Records for a while, and Sleeping Romance is good too. I definitely go for the long proggier tracks:

Savage Amusement wrote:I read all kinds of reviews and metal news about new albums and bands on Angelic Warlord yet never see them discussed on the CMR...and when a new band is brought up the threads die quick.. whats up with that..are there too many here stuck in a past decade of Christian metal?

I have noticed this too. 'New band' threads die quickly.   

Having said that...    Here's one to check out.  

Savage Amusement wrote:Is Christian metal dead?

Yes. Now all go home.


Interesting posts guys.

I think there will always be musicians who want to dedicate their music to God.

Ok guys.. I went over to http://www.reverbnation.com/chaoticresemblance and listened to some Chaotic Resemblance tracks besides "Risky". They show potential. But, I'm not sure they quite have that something that takes them over the top for me. In some ways the singer reminds me of young Jamie Rowe. Jamie was pretty good when he was in Tempest and he was excellent when he was in Guardian.  To me this guy is in the good phase now.

Here's some live footage.