Unorthodox Christian Metal Opinions

MagnusPrime wrote:

Constantine wrote:

Pethead wrote:

I have a hard time deciding between Sanity Obscure and Dimensions. Both are awesome.

Tough pick, but I give the edge to Sanity Obscure.  I like the guitar tones better, the riffs are a bit more straight-forward and Nonpoint and Dies Irae are awesome.

mothy wrote:Never could get into Tourniquet due to the vocal deliveries by both Guy and Gary (sorry guys)

I have a really hard time with Luke's vocals.  I just struggle to  be able to listen to them for more than a few minutes.
I don't know what it is, but they grate on me for some reason.  Really liked Guy Ritter though.

Luke's performance on Vanishing Lessons was awesome. I wish he had been "allowed" to sing that way on subsequent albums, instead of the "shouting" style he mainly used. His vocals also sounded really thin and dry in the mix on the releases following VL. It was a little better on WMARD though. I like Luke's vocals, I just think his talent was misused in Tourniquet.

Agree 100%. WMaRD and parts of AB were steps in the right direction in this regard. But man, if MVoTR had VL style vocals on it, that would be amazing.

Extraction From Mortality > Sanity Obsscure

Luke Easter singing vocal >>>>>>> Luke Easter shouting / growling / whatever else vocal

I never cared for Vengeance Rising at all.  The best thing to come about that band was on Sacred Warriors "The Fall."

Extol's cover of "Shadow of Death" > Believer's original

Superjuice wrote:I never cared for Vengeance Rising at all.  The best thing to come about that band was on Sacred Warriors "The Fall."

Extol's cover of "Shadow of Death" > Believer's original

I like Vengeance Rising because they have great riffs. However, Roger’s vocals, especially on the first two, wear thin pretty quickly. I thought he got better as they went on.

Destruction comes

Pethead wrote:

Superjuice wrote:I never cared for Vengeance Rising at all.  The best thing to come about that band was on Sacred Warriors "The Fall."

Extol's cover of "Shadow of Death" > Believer's original

I like Vengeance Rising because they have great riffs. However, Roger’s vocals, especially on the first two, wear thin pretty quickly. I thought he got better as they went on.

Im the exact opposite I think they regressed so much after Once Dead.......

mothy wrote:

Pethead wrote:

Superjuice wrote:I never cared for Vengeance Rising at all.  The best thing to come about that band was on Sacred Warriors "The Fall."

Extol's cover of "Shadow of Death" > Believer's original

I like Vengeance Rising because they have great riffs. However, Roger’s vocals, especially on the first two, wear thin pretty quickly. I thought he got better as they went on.

Im the exact opposite I think they regressed so much after Once Dead.......

The vocals or music? I won’t argue that HS and OD had the best tunes, but I think Roger’s vocals improved later on. I find his vocals on HS grating.

Pethead wrote:

mothy wrote:

Pethead wrote:

Superjuice wrote:I never cared for Vengeance Rising at all.  The best thing to come about that band was on Sacred Warriors "The Fall."

Extol's cover of "Shadow of Death" > Believer's original

I like Vengeance Rising because they have great riffs. However, Roger’s vocals, especially on the first two, wear thin pretty quickly. I thought he got better as they went on.

Im the exact opposite I think they regressed so much after Once Dead.......

The vocals or music? I won’t argue that HS and OD had the best tunes, but I think Roger’s vocals improved later on. I find his vocals on HS grating.

The vocals. Destruction Comes is a muddled mess in terms of production especially with the vocals.

mothy wrote:

Pethead wrote:

mothy wrote:

Pethead wrote:

Superjuice wrote:I never cared for Vengeance Rising at all.  The best thing to come about that band was on Sacred Warriors "The Fall."

Extol's cover of "Shadow of Death" > Believer's original

I like Vengeance Rising because they have great riffs. However, Roger’s vocals, especially on the first two, wear thin pretty quickly. I thought he got better as they went on.

Im the exact opposite I think they regressed so much after Once Dead.......

The vocals or music? I won’t argue that HS and OD had the best tunes, but I think Roger’s vocals improved later on. I find his vocals on HS grating.

The vocals. Destruction Comes is a muddled mess in terms of production especially with the vocals.

Ah. Yeah I’ll just have to disagree, although RutE is his best vocal performance for me.

As great as Rob Rock is, Angelica’s best album is Walkin’ in Faith.

Speaking of Rob Rock, Eyes of Eternity>Holy Hell

Pethead wrote:As great as Rob Rock is, Angelica’s best album is Walkin’ in Faith.

I don't think that's unorthodox.  There was an Angelica poll here several years ago where Walkin' came out on top.

eatbugs wrote:

Pethead wrote:As great as Rob Rock is, Angelica’s best album is Walkin’ in Faith.

I don't think that's unorthodox.  There was an Angelica poll here several years ago where Walkin' came out on top.

Yeah, I wasn’t sure. I know I’ve seen other places where the debut was hailed as the best.

Bride were at their peak with "Skin for Skin".
Believer's best album was "Transhuman".
Speaking of Believer, Kurt's voice sounded better when he was older compared to when he was younger.
The best Deliverance album is "As Above, So Below".
Speaking of Deliverance, Assimilation was better than Learn or The Subversive Kind. In fact, Learn is my least favorite D album.
Barren Cross's Atomic Arena > State of Control
Audio Adrenaline's best album was Bloom, and after that they went downhill

and probably the MOST controversial one yet...

Michael Sweet's recent solo stuff > Stryper's recent material!

petrafan007 wrote:Bride were at their peak with "Skin for Skin".

I really like that album. It was a welcome return to a heavier, more metallic sound. Then again I'm kind of a Bride fanboy. 

The unorthodox Christian metal opinion I have comes in 3 parts, all related to the black metal sub genre.  

Part 1 would be that most "Christian black metal" isn't really "black metal" as a genre aesthetically defined by the secular scene.  It appears to me to either be a black metal and extreme metal hybrid, or just death metal with synth/orchestration.  (ie: "Kongsblod/Return of the Black Death" is Antestor's only black metal release.  Their other releases are a hybrid of genres, IMO.)

Part 2 is related to Christian black metal and production.  The majority take on Christian black metal artists unfortunately seems to be over producing the music - ala "Hey, lets make some Christian black metal, but lets have the production the same quality as Taylor Swift's albums.".  (Side rant, it feels like I find a better fitting recording for the genre, by locating some obscure phone-recorded YouTube video of a live show, than the pristine/clinical/sterile presentation of the studio recording.  ie: Crimson Moonlight's latest release is so clean, a surgeon could operate off of it.)

Part 3 has to do with terminology.  "Unblack Metal" was brilliant marketing from Rowe Productions back in 1996 to refer to all black as "unblack" when Horde was released, but to STILL re-coin a whole music genre term because of a proposed Christian theme for the lyrics 25 years later, is just goofy to me.  

I mean, if there was a Blues band that had positive/Christian lyrics, I don't see scores of people clamoring to call it "unblues" or "oranges" or something.  (yet that's still a regular occurrence for extreme Christian metal)

ThomasEversole wrote:The unorthodox Christian metal opinion I have comes in 3 parts, all related to the black metal sub genre.  

Part 1 would be that most "Christian black metal" isn't really "black metal" as a genre aesthetically defined by the secular scene.  It appears to me to either be a black metal and extreme metal hybrid, or just death metal with synth/orchestration.  (ie: "Kongsblod/Return of the Black Death" is Antestor's only black metal release.  Their other releases are a hybrid of genres, IMO.)

Part 2 is related to Christian black metal and production.  The majority take on Christian black metal artists unfortunately seems to be over producing the music - ala "Hey, lets make some Christian black metal, but lets have the production the same quality as Taylor Swift's albums.".  (Side rant, it feels like I find a better fitting recording for the genre, by locating some obscure phone-recorded YouTube video of a live show, than the pristine/clinical/sterile presentation of the studio recording.  ie: Crimson Moonlight's latest release is so clean, a surgeon could operate off of it.)

Part 3 has to do with terminology.  "Unblack Metal" was brilliant marketing from Rowe Productions back in 1996 to refer to all black as "unblack" when Horde was released, but to STILL re-coin a whole music genre term because of a proposed Christian theme for the lyrics 25 years later, is just goofy to me.  

I mean, if there was a Blues band that had positive/Christian lyrics, I don't see scores of people clamoring to call it "unblues" or "oranges" or something.  (yet that's still a regular occurrence for extreme Christian metal)

I'm with you on #1.  Granted, I like the hybrid and death stuff, but it's not "black metal."

I like the clean production in many cases.

Totally agree on point #3.

Lol, I like the idea of a genre called "unblues."
Less depressing!

eatbugs wrote:
I'm with you on #1.  Granted, I like the hybrid and death stuff, but it's not "black metal."

I do too, but like you said, its not black metal.  It can be hard to define sometimes.  I mean, even the purest of secular black from its roots even seems to pull some from death metal, punk and thrash - but its different than modern hybrids.  Which is more like death metal pulling from black metal, rather than black metal pulling from death...  if that makes sense.  (easier to know, harder to explain)

Still, I cringe at the idea of someone being like, "Christian black metal is my favorite!   Horde?  Eww.  Antestor Return of the Black Death?  Eww.  The newest Sletchvalk is the best though!" - (so black metal isn't your favorite, its death metal?)  LOL

eatbugs wrote:
I like the clean production in many cases.

I like clean production for literally every genre of music except for black metal.  HAHA!  I was starting to feel like a "production purist" there for years, until I encountered a real purist.  (ie: if its not analog / recorded on tape, its not black metal.)  ...I'm not quite to that thinking, but I would say there's a difference between clean production (this is ok), and "over produced" (ruins the music).

eatbugs wrote:Totally agree on point #3.

On one hand, part of me thinks its fine when someone calls something whatever they want.  Call it "beige granola metal", right or wrong, it won't change what it sounds like.  

On the other hand, I think it can be complicit of Christians when they're on the same page with the secular scene regarding genre classification.  The secular black metal scene views black metal as more than just a music genre; they see it as an evil ideology intertwined with and inseparable from the music style itself.  When Christians think the same thing, it only fits the satanic narrative of "Yeah, no, you need to call that unblack or white metal or something because black metal can only be dark and evil."

Which just seems like another way of both sides agreeing and Christians left saying, "Yes honey, I'll just go over here to my corner and do my thing since we both agree Christians aren't allowed in black metal".

Power metal is not my favorite metal subgenre, but it tends to fit Christian lyrical themes better than my favorites (thrash and progressive).

The golden age of Christian metal was about 1990-1993.

Barren Cross and Whitecross are not good mainly because they sound just like other bands, but Saint and Bride are awesome because they sound like Judas Priest and Guns N Roses, respectively.

Saviour Machine is one of the best Christian metal bands partly because...they’re not very metal.

Friday13th wrote:
Barren Cross and Whitecross are not good mainly because they sound just like other bands, but Saint and Bride are awesome because they sound like Judas Priest and Guns N Roses, respectively.

That makes no sense!  So two bands get dissed on for sounding like Maiden and Ratt but the other two are applauded for sounding like Judas Priest and GnR?  Ok, I get it if you hate Maiden and Ratt, but this statement sounds like wanting to have your cake and eat it, too.  Either all Christian copycats are bad for copycatting or they have merit if they still made great music.  I am going with the latter.

^I don't even agree that Barren Cross is a copycat.  They don't have twin guitars.  Musically they're more of a straight ahead metal band.  It's really just the singer that makes them sound sort of like Maiden.  But... That's why this is a thread for us to express our own opinions.  Which is why it seems terribly lame for some to downvote our opinions, they're just personal opinions and I thought the purpose here was that we have the freedom to express them even if no one else agrees with them. We're all different, get over it.

I agree that Mike’s voice is similar to Dickinson, but I don’t think BC’s music is all that Maiden-like. BC are much more straightforward and lack the lead guitar lines so common in Maiden. 

Classic Bride (can’t speak for the new stuff) only sounds like GnR on some albums. Their first 3 sound nothing like GnR. Besides, GnR just ripped off 70s Aerosmith anyway. (Except Axl sounds like a cat caught in a blender). 

Let's see...

I love Destruction Comes but the mix is bad.

Kinetic Faith is probably my favorite Bride album.

Stop The Bleeding is hands down the best Tourniquet album.

Extraction is hands down the best Believer Album.

The Crucified S/T is better than Pillars and also better than 99% of all thrash albums out there, secular and Christian combined.

The Lead Burn This Record is an awesome record.

Mortification S/T tops Scrolls. The rest of the discography is disappointing.

The new Stryper stuff is up there with the classics.

That's it for the moment.

Constantine wrote:^I don't even agree that Barren Cross is a copycat.  They don't have twin guitars.  Musically they're more of a straight ahead metal band.  It's really just the singer that makes them sound sort of like Maiden.  But... That's why this is a thread for us to express our own opinions.  Which is why it seems terribly lame for some to downvote our opinions, they're just personal opinions and I thought the purpose here was that we have the freedom to express them even if no one else agrees with them. We're all different, get over it.

Someone woke up on the grumpy side of the bed this morning, huh?  

^ Just making a statement. And I'm not apologizing for it.