Why don't more Christian metal bands write songs like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oemRXwcRgx4

I was listening to Veni Domine Fall Babylon Fall the other day and was reminded just how great that album is. I particularly love the song Wisdom Calls and think its awesome how they just took that scripture from Proverbs and brought it to life with music. It makes me wish more Christian metal bands would take advantage of the many psalms, scriptures and stories from the new and old testament apart from the crucifixion of Christ.

Heck power metal bands always sing about dragons and wizards but the Bible speaks of giants, a world wide flood, the three horseman and war between angels and demons not to mention God countless of times delivering his people in battle.

Maybe its just me but it just seems like so many of these stories would be a perfect fit for metal.

That's what I thought was so cool about Saviour Machine's Legend series. I just feel like Christians don't always take full advantage of the inspiration that is provided in the Bible when writing songs and that there is still a lot of unexplored territory.

Does anybody have any thoughts on this or is this just me?

It seems like Christian bands focus on the core (eh maybe not the right word) of Christianity (Jesus and his teachings/the New Testament). Other biblical stories seem to get picked up on more by secular bands, I guess since to them it's just like writing about mythology.

But there is a lot more Christian music could do... Some of it's great, but I think a lot of it has driven itself into certain lyrical mode (and oftentimes musical) that few bands break out of.

undead toaster wrote:It seems like Christian bands focus on the core (eh maybe not the right word) of Christianity (Jesus and his teachings/the New Testament). Other biblical stories seem to get picked up on more by secular bands, I guess since to them it's just like writing about mythology.

But there is a lot more Christian music could do... Some of it's great, but I think a lot of it has driven itself into certain lyrical mode (and oftentimes musical) that few bands break out of.

I think that's true.

The  "core" teachings of Christ are important but  I still believe the old testament has a lot to say about who God is as well as our humanity and need for a savior. I've always admired preachers that could take an obscure story from the old testament and still be able to bring it back to Christ and make it relevant to us on a personal level.

I've always been drawn to bands like Iron Maiden that tend to incorporate storytelling into their lyrics. Unfortunately storytelling seems to be something most Christians bands shy away from which is unfortunate because the Bible is full of them.

But as you were saying, I think its a shame that we tend to leave most of the old testament to be interpreted and sang by atheistic/agnostic artists in music.

I mean we see how that goes in the movie industry. lol

StarFire wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oemRXwcRgx4

I was listening to Veni Domine Fall Babylon Fall the other day and was reminded just how great that album is. I particularly love the song Wisdom Calls and think its awesome how they just took that scripture from Proverbs and brought it to life with music. It makes me wish more Christian metal bands would take advantage of the many psalms, scriptures and stories from the new and old testament apart from the crucifixion of Christ.

Heck power metal bands always sing about dragons and wizards but the Bible speaks of giants, a world wide flood, the three horseman and war between angels and demons not to mention God countless of times delivering his people in battle.

Maybe its just me but it just seems like so many of these stories would be a perfect fit for metal.

That's what I thought was so cool about Saviour Machine's Legend series. I just feel like Christians don't always take full advantage of the inspiration that is provided in the Bible when writing songs and that there is still a lot of unexplored territory.

Does anybody have any thoughts on this or is this just me?

That song slays and I agree with every minutiae of your post 

Awesome biblical storytelling from secular bands!
My favorite:



Trouble aren't really a Christian band, but lots of pro-Christian lyrics and this one about God v. Satan just rules:



Queensryche covered this Jesus Christ Superstar song (check the original 1970). This was written by two secular Jewish men about Judas's point of view...which is incorrect obviously. Great song though. Edit: oh, and Ian Gillan sings Jesus in the original musical 

Yeah Creeping Death is my favorite Metallica song.

I'll be sure to check out the other two sometime.

StarFire wrote:

undead toaster wrote:It seems like Christian bands focus on the core (eh maybe not the right word) of Christianity (Jesus and his teachings/the New Testament). Other biblical stories seem to get picked up on more by secular bands, I guess since to them it's just like writing about mythology.

But there is a lot more Christian music could do... Some of it's great, but I think a lot of it has driven itself into certain lyrical mode (and oftentimes musical) that few bands break out of.

I think that's true.

The  "core" teachings of Christ are important but  I still believe the old testament has a lot to say about who God is as well as our humanity and need for a savior. I've always admired preachers that could take an obscure story from the old testament and still be able to bring it back to Christ and make it relevant to us on a personal level.

I've always been drawn to bands like Iron Maiden that tend to incorporate storytelling into their lyrics. Unfortunately storytelling seems to be something most Christians bands shy away from which is unfortunate because the Bible is full of them.

But as you were saying, I think its a shame that we tend to leave most of the old testament to be interpreted and sang by atheistic/agnostic artists in music.

I mean we see how that goes in the music industry. lol

+1

This is long, but sometimes I write down some of my thoughts and opinions on christian living. It helps me to think through my thoughts. Often I post them on facebook for my friends to see and comment on to see their opinions... this writing may be interesting to you.

"Father, To Where Have The Bards Gone?

Perhaps one of the greatest controversies in churches throughout history has been music. This style is “holy.” This style relates to this generation. In fact, the church I grew up in had this very disagreement. It left a split church, not a unified one. The old people wanted traditional and the young wanted contemporary. Unity was lost. The conclusion I made was that our desire for musical worship was more inwardly focused than outwardly focused. Lacking an outward focus to a God who deserved our praise regardless of the genre. Whether it is the U2-modeled contemporary praise and worship or the traditional hymns modeled after old pub songs, God deserved and deserves our worship eternally. As ironic as it may sound to some, I think one of the driving factors leading to this conclusion was my taste in Heavy Metal Music. Frankly, I owe A LOT of my Christian living, my desire to know God's word, and my desire to seek Christ, to Metal.Why did Metal drive me to this conclusion? Metalheads are sort of musical outcasts, if but only to a minimum degree. You may be loved and incorporated into your church (and that is the most important thing), but people will never understand why God has chosen to encourage you with this music. That's ok. Sometimes God speaks to people in special ways that are more personal to you and Him. And those things don't always have to be shared.

I realized that I would never be in a church that really had the music that I really connected with. So where did that leave me? It left me realizing that when I attend church, I should sing his praises because he is worthy of them, period. He understands that I love him even if I don't love the music. I decided a long time ago that music would be one of the last things on my list of things to “check”when attending a new church.

That being said, I will share one of my serious concerns with “church music.” Yes, more controversy. This concern, however, may offend all. It may offend old and young, but I think this concern goes beyond my own desires, which is why I think it is important. This concern affects our outwardly declaration of praise for Christ Jesus.I usually don't tell people to “suck it up,” but quite frankly,this is an area where I have no concern telling anyone who does not like this to “suck it up.”




What is a bard? Well, the ever so reliable source Wikipedia says, “In medieval Gaelic and British culture,a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.” When I think of a bard, I think an academic. I think of a man gathering people around a fire to speak or sing of histories gone by. I think of a man who has chosen to sing the praises of the greats through tales. Tales that may have been historical or figurative. Both are a form of an academic mind. Can you remember from English class, the bards who sung the tales of Beowulf or the tales of King Arthur? What was their goal? It was to educate through entertainment. It was to challenge the minds of the listeners to enter the minds of their heroes. To feel the battles that are so real within the listeners life. The marriage of the emotional human experience with the mind of education.

Where have the bards gone in society as a whole? More specifically to this writing, where are the bards in the churches? Sometimes I feel that churches have nearly committed an abomination turning beautiful phrases that were never meant to be cliché into clichés. Phrases like “Fill my Cup” and “God is Greater?” Who can discount these phrases, for they are true. But, how much can we constrict ourselves into a box without seeking to challenge ourselves to seek God more through LEARNING more about him.

It doesn't take long to find a study about how the church is failing with education when it comes to scriptures or even things outside scripture but biblically relevant. Honestly, I too am a part of this culture. But truly, how can the church neglect one of the proven and most powerful tools for education, music. It is as if churches believe that by singing something more educationally focused, some how it's not truuuullllyyy musical worship. We would never admit to believing that but this belief is about as intelligent as asking a pile of crap to pick itself up. Education enables us to learn God,and thus give him praise all the more. It challenges us to think. By gaining knowledge of what God has done we know more of who he is. When we were kids we sung songs about the stories of the bible in Sunday School. Why not now? Why not even sings songs with expanded doctrinal subjects. Hear this, and ponder. Perhaps your pastor and your Bible studies are sufficiently enhancing your knowledge of God (Great!) but, if I could be some humble, I will call these “supplemental” for the sake of my point. If our supplementals are not educating, then what god are we praising with our praise-and- worship/ hymns. They usually get the core of who God is, but what more! We do not perish our minds because praise and worship/ hymn lyrics are bad. They are in fact good, and sometimes simple words are all we can give from our heavy hearts. We perish our minds because we do not seek to challenge. We perish our minds because even our culture at large does not recognize the educational purpose of music. We perish our minds because we do not seek diversity of lyrics. (On a side note where are the sorrowful songs, as if King David knew nothing of the sort?)

*DIVERSITY.CREATIVITY. QUALITY.
*Choosing to not just write something that could have easily been written while being bored in a sermon.

I know this is in fact one of the major reasons why I am a metalhead.The stereotype that metal is only for drop-outs is a pathetic stereotype that needs to be buried so that it may rot. Metal in fact has often been, as I have observed, one of the few genres that actually fosters academic lyrics. There's the joke around the internet, “What if Iron Maiden was actually a conspiracy made up by English teachers to teach history and classic literature?” Nowadays, regardless of “Christian” or not, it's pretty standard, especially in the more extreme genres (i.e. deathmetal, black metal, thrash metal) to find lyrics that reflect history, mythology, literature, large vocabularies, even medical concepts (for better or for worse). You will find Eluveitie discussing the invasion of the roman empire into Germanic lands.Blind Guardian has a concept album on J.R.R Tolkein's The Silmarillion on top of their other Tolkein lyrics. Mastodon writes albums about Moby Dick. Amon Amarth's lyrics focus on Norse Mythology. Pantokrator explores that challenging portions of the Bible and non-canonical but related books. Gloryhammer writes fun goofy fantasy lyrics, but at least they share concepts of honor and courage through there fantasy. Seriously, I could go on for days.

I understand, this writing may sound a bit elitist towards metal and I don't want it to be, but it is straight from my experience. Many times in church over the years, I have heard a pastor hype some truth he is about to say.  Something that really is going to enhance your “Christian living” or understanding of God.  I get excited only to find out that I learned this from metal. It's sort of bittersweet. Now, I am sure if you search, you can find more academically focused lyrics in other genres. But frankly, it's a little sobering to me that the Christian metal scene is picking up where the church is failing. And honestly, if I was somebody who didn't like metal, I would feel this kind of ironic and not in a good way. People thirst for more! Please don't take what I about to say out of context. I don't mean to say women don't desire more educational lyrics, but for the men out there (because I have heard this with men). They want more dense lyrics, that challenge there walk with Christ. Lyrics that enhance their outward praise of God because they know him better through music. Lyrics that are not so wimpy. Lyrics that aren't so cliché and foo foo. Don't get me wrong, there is a place for lighter art. I'll tell you where it is found. It is found in diversity within a biblical worldview. I'm not saying. That the church needs to start playing metal. The church just needs to open its eyes to other lyrics.

Prayer: Lord, Where are the bards? Why is their place underground? Is this not another way to be lukewarm?
Lord,in my frustration may my heart not be hard.  

Now before we, 
"Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
    praise him with the harp and lyre,
 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
    praise him with the strings and pipe,
 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
    praise him with resounding cymbals."
"LET THE EARTH BE SILENT BEFORE HIM""

F1R3PR00F wrote:This is long, but sometimes I write down some of my thoughts and opinions on christian living. It helps me to think through my thoughts. Often I post them on facebook for my friends to see and comment on to see their opinions... this writing may be interesting to you.

"Father, To Where Have The Bards Gone?

Perhaps one of the greatest controversies in churches throughout history has been music. This style is “holy.” This style relates to this generation. In fact, the church I grew up in had this very disagreement. It left a split church, not a unified one. The old people wanted traditional and the young wanted contemporary. Unity was lost. The conclusion I made was that our desire for musical worship was more inwardly focused than outwardly focused. Lacking an outward focus to a God who deserved our praise regardless of the genre. Whether it is the U2-modeled contemporary praise and worship or the traditional hymns modeled after old pub songs, God deserved and deserves our worship eternally. As ironic as it may sound to some, I think one of the driving factors leading to this conclusion was my taste in Heavy Metal Music. Frankly, I owe A LOT of my Christian living, my desire to know God's word, and my desire to seek Christ, to Metal.Why did Metal drive me to this conclusion? Metalheads are sort of musical outcasts, if but only to a minimum degree. You may be loved and incorporated into your church (and that is the most important thing), but people will never understand why God has chosen to encourage you with this music. That's ok. Sometimes God speaks to people in special ways that are more personal to you and Him. And those things don't always have to be shared.

I realized that I would never be in a church that really had the music that I really connected with. So where did that leave me? It left me realizing that when I attend church, I should sing his praises because he is worthy of them, period. He understands that I love him even if I don't love the music. I decided a long time ago that music would be one of the last things on my list of things to “check”when attending a new church.

That being said, I will share one of my serious concerns with “church music.” Yes, more controversy. This concern, however, may offend all. It may offend old and young, but I think this concern goes beyond my own desires, which is why I think it is important. This concern affects our outwardly declaration of praise for Christ Jesus.I usually don't tell people to “suck it up,” but quite frankly,this is an area where I have no concern telling anyone who does not like this to “suck it up.”




What is a bard? Well, the ever so reliable source Wikipedia says, “In medieval Gaelic and British culture,a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.” When I think of a bard, I think an academic. I think of a man gathering people around a fire to speak or sing of histories gone by. I think of a man who has chosen to sing the praises of the greats through tales. Tales that may have been historical or figurative. Both are a form of an academic mind. Can you remember from English class, the bards who sung the tales of Beowulf or the tales of King Arthur? What was their goal? It was to educate through entertainment. It was to challenge the minds of the listeners to enter the minds of their heroes. To feel the battles that are so real within the listeners life. The marriage of the emotional human experience with the mind of education.

Where have the bards gone in society as a whole? More specifically to this writing, where are the bards in the churches? Sometimes I feel that churches have nearly committed an abomination turning beautiful phrases that were never meant to be cliché into clichés. Phrases like “Fill my Cup” and “God is Greater?” Who can discount these phrases, for they are true. But, how much can we constrict ourselves into a box without seeking to challenge ourselves to seek God more through LEARNING more about him.

It doesn't take long to find a study about how the church is failing with education when it comes to scriptures or even things outside scripture but biblically relevant. Honestly, I too am a part of this culture. But truly, how can the church neglect one of the proven and most powerful tools for education, music. It is as if churches believe that by singing something more educationally focused, some how it's not truuuullllyyy musical worship. We would never admit to believing that but this belief is about as intelligent as asking a pile of crap to pick itself up. Education enables us to learn God,and thus give him praise all the more. It challenges us to think. By gaining knowledge of what God has done we know more of who he is. When we were kids we sung songs about the stories of the bible in Sunday School. Why not now? Why not even sings songs with expanded doctrinal subjects. Hear this, and ponder. Perhaps your pastor and your Bible studies are sufficiently enhancing your knowledge of God (Great!) but, if I could be some humble, I will call these “supplemental” for the sake of my point. If our supplementals are not educating, then what god are we praising with our praise-and- worship/ hymns. They usually get the core of who God is, but what more! We do not perish our minds because praise and worship/ hymn lyrics are bad. They are in fact good, and sometimes simple words are all we can give from our heavy hearts. We perish our minds because we do not seek to challenge. We perish our minds because even our culture at large does not recognize the educational purpose of music. We perish our minds because we do not seek diversity of lyrics. (On a side note where are the sorrowful songs, as if King David knew nothing of the sort?)

*DIVERSITY.CREATIVITY. QUALITY.
*Choosing to not just write something that could have easily been written while being bored in a sermon.

I know this is in fact one of the major reasons why I am a metalhead.The stereotype that metal is only for drop-outs is a pathetic stereotype that needs to be buried so that it may rot. Metal in fact has often been, as I have observed, one of the few genres that actually fosters academic lyrics. There's the joke around the internet, “What if Iron Maiden was actually a conspiracy made up by English teachers to teach history and classic literature?” Nowadays, regardless of “Christian” or not, it's pretty standard, especially in the more extreme genres (i.e. deathmetal, black metal, thrash metal) to find lyrics that reflect history, mythology, literature, large vocabularies, even medical concepts (for better or for worse). You will find Eluveitie discussing the invasion of the roman empire into Germanic lands.Blind Guardian has a concept album on J.R.R Tolkein's The Silmarillion on top of their other Tolkein lyrics. Mastodon writes albums about Moby Dick. Amon Amarth's lyrics focus on Norse Mythology. Pantokrator explores that challenging portions of the Bible and non-canonical but related books. Gloryhammer writes fun goofy fantasy lyrics, but at least they share concepts of honor and courage through there fantasy. Seriously, I could go on for days.

I understand, this writing may sound a bit elitist towards metal and I don't want it to be, but it is straight from my experience. Many times in church over the years, I have heard a pastor hype some truth he is about to say.  Something that really is going to enhance your “Christian living” or understanding of God.  I get excited only to find out that I learned this from metal. It's sort of bittersweet. Now, I am sure if you search, you can find more academically focused lyrics in other genres. But frankly, it's a little sobering to me that the Christian metal scene is picking up where the church is failing. And honestly, if I was somebody who didn't like metal, I would feel this kind of ironic and not in a good way. People thirst for more! Please don't take what I about to say out of context. I don't mean to say women don't desire more educational lyrics, but for the men out there (because I have heard this with men). They want more dense lyrics, that challenge there walk with Christ. Lyrics that enhance their outward praise of God because they know him better through music. Lyrics that are not so wimpy. Lyrics that aren't so cliché and foo foo. Don't get me wrong, there is a place for lighter art. I'll tell you where it is found. It is found in diversity within a biblical worldview. I'm not saying. That the church needs to start playing metal. The church just needs to open its eyes to other lyrics.

Prayer: Lord, Where are the bards? Why is their place underground? Is this not another way to be lukewarm?
Lord,in my frustration may my heart not be hard.  

Now before we, 
"Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
    praise him with the harp and lyre,
 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
    praise him with the strings and pipe,
 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
    praise him with resounding cymbals."
"LET THE EARTH BE SILENT BEFORE HIM""

Fireproof I agree 100 percent and could not have said it better myself. There is an extreme  lack of diversity in the way we convey the message. I think those simple songs have their place in worship but like you said education of the scriptures is strongly lacking in the church especially in worship.

And metal is indeed one of the few genre's of music in the industry today that still follows that form of music.

Thanks for taking the time to post that.

Lots of good thoughts all around.  F1R3PR00F, please keep sharing these things as you feel like it.

My two cents:
I think the lack of creativity in Christian music comes from a lack of creativity from the Christian culture as a whole.  It seems like most of our sermons are topical but on the same topics over and over again - not wrong, but it becomes one-dimensional over time.  When was the last time you heard a sermon from 2 Kings?  To pick up on undead toaster's comment, I had a pastor who used to like to say "the main things are the plain things in the Bible," which is true but if we stop at the "main things" we miss the depth of it.  We have a lot of "programs" in the church that aren't bad by themselves but too often replace relationships and many times don't deal with the deeper issues (topics or theology) we should.  I just commented to a friend tonight that a lot of times Christian music is shallow (then pointed out Theocracy's lyrics as an exception to that).  I guess we shouldn't be surprised that a lack of depth in Christian culture overall is echoed by a lack of depth in Christian music.

Forgive the ramble, I hope it makes sense.

^ I happen to agree with every post on this thread. WOW that may be a first 
I worship with all my heart to songs that I think are terribly written, cause God getting the glory is all that really matters. It makes me glad that those with less knowledge of the Bible (and lesser taste in music  ) can worship God in the way they can. It is a deeper problem with the Christian culture in general, but I may slightly differ from your opinion with how this would be solved. I haven't heard anyone say though. I solve it for myself by listening to worshipful music (I hesitate to say worship music because the deepest stuff that connects me with my God is not strictly "worship music") that speaks to me and incites praise of God's many sides and wonderful complexity. But in most circumstances I don't blame churches for doing as they do. A lot of divisions admittedly come from people being so adamant about their fringe beliefs, that a unified church often must stick to core teachings and merely encourage its members to look deeper on their own. In a perfect world we could young and old discuss nephilim and the end times and if the witch of endor actually conjured Samuel's spirit. Thankful CMR exists! Rock on, guys.

Friday13th wrote:^ I happen to agree with every post on this thread. WOW that may be a first 
I worship with all my heart to songs that I think are terribly written, cause God getting the glory is all that really matters. It makes me glad that those with less knowledge of the Bible (and lesser taste in music  ) can worship God in the way they can. It is a deeper problem with the Christian culture in general, but I may slightly differ from your opinion with how this would be solved. I haven't heard anyone say though. I solve it for myself by listening to worshipful music (I hesitate to say worship music because the deepest stuff that connects me with my God is not strictly "worship music") that speaks to me and incites praise of God's many sides and wonderful complexity. But in most circumstances I don't blame churches for doing as they do. A lot of divisions admittedly come from people being so adamant about their fringe beliefs, that a unified church often must stick to core teachings and merely encourage its members to look deeper on their own. In a perfect world we could young and old discuss nephilim and the end times and if the witch of endor actually conjured Samuel's spirit. Thankful CMR exists! Rock on, guys.

And again I agree with you to.

But you know when I think about it, history proves that nothings new under the sun here. I mean the creative freedom for Christian artists wasn't exactly better hundreds of years ago.
 
I think to a degree sticking to the essential doctrines of the Bible is kind of a necessary evil. I guess its like you said, a person does ultimately have to take responsibility for their own walk. In the end a Church can't do that for them. But a "healthy" Church," or maybe I should say a healthier "Church"  should always be challenging believers to increase their knowledge of the scriptures as well as encouraging respectful discussion and discourse. Easier said than done though.

Still I agree with Fireproof that a little more balance in worship lyrics and teachings would definitely be nice. I think we could really benefit from having more songs lyrically like Wisdom Calls.

StarFire wrote:Heck power metal bands always sing about dragons and wizards but the Bible speaks of giants, a world wide flood, the three horseman and war between angels and demons not to mention God countless of times delivering his people in battle.

Maybe its just me but it just seems like so many of these stories would be a perfect fit for metal.

That's what I thought was so cool about Saviour Machine's Legend series. I just feel like Christians don't always take full advantage of the inspiration that is provided in the Bible when writing songs and that there is still a lot of unexplored territory.

I'm gonna disent here a bit. I think if someone is writing songs about giants, a destructing flood, war, etc just because it sounds " metal " I think we've missed the point of these things in scripture.

StarFire wrote:

Friday13th wrote:^ I happen to agree with every post on this thread. WOW that may be a first 
I worship with all my heart to songs that I think are terribly written, cause God getting the glory is all that really matters. It makes me glad that those with less knowledge of the Bible (and lesser taste in music  ) can worship God in the way they can. It is a deeper problem with the Christian culture in general, but I may slightly differ from your opinion with how this would be solved. I haven't heard anyone say though. I solve it for myself by listening to worshipful music (I hesitate to say worship music because the deepest stuff that connects me with my God is not strictly "worship music") that speaks to me and incites praise of God's many sides and wonderful complexity. But in most circumstances I don't blame churches for doing as they do. A lot of divisions admittedly come from people being so adamant about their fringe beliefs, that a unified church often must stick to core teachings and merely encourage its members to look deeper on their own. In a perfect world we could young and old discuss nephilim and the end times and if the witch of endor actually conjured Samuel's spirit. Thankful CMR exists! Rock on, guys.

And again I agree with you to.

But you know when I think about it, history proves that nothings new under the sun here. I mean the creative freedom for Christian artists wasn't exactly better hundreds of years ago.
 
I think to a degree sticking to the essential doctrines of the Bible is kind of a necessary evil. I guess its like you said, a person does ultimately have to take responsibility for their own walk. In the end a Church can't do that for them. But a "healthy" Church," or maybe I should say a healthier "Church"  should always be challenging believers to increase their knowledge of the scriptures as well as encouraging respectful discussion and discourse. Easier said than done though.

Still I agree with Fireproof that a little more balance in worship lyrics and teachings would definitely be nice. I think we could really benefit from having more songs lyrically like Wisdom Calls.

+1

To this point, there's been plenty of talk about bands NOT doing these types of songs. While I don't disagree with the points that have been made, these songs immediately came to mind. 

sentient 6 wrote:

StarFire wrote:Heck power metal bands always sing about dragons and wizards but the Bible speaks of giants, a world wide flood, the three horseman and war between angels and demons not to mention God countless of times delivering his people in battle.

Maybe its just me but it just seems like so many of these stories would be a perfect fit for metal.

That's what I thought was so cool about Saviour Machine's Legend series. I just feel like Christians don't always take full advantage of the inspiration that is provided in the Bible when writing songs and that there is still a lot of unexplored territory.

I'm gonna disent here a bit. I think if someone is writing songs about giants, a destructing flood, war, etc just because it sounds " metal " I think we've missed the point of these things in scripture.

Why? If God gives me the gift to write songs, and people listen to them and are edified, why does it automatically mean I've missed the point if that song is about giants or war?

To go a step further, does the song Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho miss the point of that story? If the whole Bible is inspired by God, why can't the whole Bible inspire believers?

Gandalf the White wrote:
Why? If God gives me the gift to write songs, and people listen to them and are edified, why does it automatically mean I've missed the point if that song is about giants or war?

To go a step further, does the song Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho miss the point of that story? If the whole Bible is inspired by God, why can't the whole Bible inspire believers?

+1

Rob Rock writes songs about the apocalypse, fighting hell, etc. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. Also, one could write songs about the spiritual battles and the warriors that fight them as portrayed by Frank Paretti. Or how about a metal song about the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

Maybe some of you will like or enjoy our debut release with songs about
Genesis, ancient scriptures, visions, psalms, prophets, death and salvation.
Our style is old school Doom `N Thrash.


More informations when the time is ripe for more and the cd is ready for press.

Cailen / Adorned Graves

Cool, definitely keep us posted Cailen!

Kerrick wrote:Cool, definitely keep us posted Cailen!

+1

I don't care two bits what anybody wants to write a song about, I really don't.  OT, NT, your girlfriend's boyfriend, write about whatever you want to.

But for for what it's worth (not much), yes, "Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho" completely and totally misses the point of the story in legitimately shockingly epic fashion.  God legitimately isn't even mentioned.  Joshua led and obeyed, which is awesome, but there's no question God fought the battle of Jericho, and the song doesn't even touch on that.  I think Joshua himself would be horrified by the song.

I get what you're saying, Gandalf, and actually agree.  Maybe not the best example, is all I'm saying.

Yes, yes. Poor example but the point is still valid. Perhaps I should have gone with Battle Hymn of the Republic? Or maybe... Onward Christian Soldiers? Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus?

Thank you for your kind words. Here is something I read after writing it that might be worth considering. http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=02-04-019-f

^ "fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music" lol C.S. Lewis saying it how it is

sentient 6 wrote:

StarFire wrote:Heck power metal bands always sing about dragons and wizards but the Bible speaks of giants, a world wide flood, the three horseman and war between angels and demons not to mention God countless of times delivering his people in battle.

Maybe its just me but it just seems like so many of these stories would be a perfect fit for metal.

That's what I thought was so cool about Saviour Machine's Legend series. I just feel like Christians don't always take full advantage of the inspiration that is provided in the Bible when writing songs and that there is still a lot of unexplored territory.

I'm gonna disent here a bit. I think if someone is writing songs about giants, a destructing flood, war, etc just because it sounds " metal " I think we've missed the point of these things in scripture

Hello Sentient! Nice to finally get to meet you.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I agree it shouldn't be done just because "its metal" but that's the whole reason why I think its important for believers to not neglect these scriptures. I think its the secular bands like Metallica who write songs like Creeping Death just because "its metal." I think these musicians themselves approach the Bible just like they would any mythology.

We can agree to disagree but God charged us with spreading his message and he created us to be creative musical beings to worship him and wants us to remember all of the Bible's stories whether it was how he delivered Goliath to David because of his faith or flooding the world because of man's wickedness so I really don't see the problem with bringing Bible stories to life with music anymore then I do with movies. As long as they don't deviate from the original scripture and message that is. In other words all glory and praise must be given to God. Not to the people who were merely God's instruments.