Christian rock is not a genre. Absolutely any rock can be Christian: everything depends only on the lyrics and religious beliefs of the musicians themselves. Moreover, this is not at all about quoting the Bible and preaching. Christian rock is rather about bright ideals and a Christian view of life and social problems. And although the trend has existed since the 60s, many fans of heavy music still have an ambiguous attitude towards it. They say that Christian rock is boring and generally against all the ideals of rock and roll. Of course, this is not true.
The reason for the selection was the release of the new album of the group Red. This is one of the most famous Christian bands on the heavy scene - practically a symbol of the entire movement. The band hails from Nashville and has been churning out a Christian blend of metalcore, nu metal and stadium rock since 2002. Musicians speak openly about their religious beliefs and promote them through the lyrics of many of their songs. But this doesn’t make them sound any less heavy—that’s why they deserve respect.
Demon Hunter
A band from Seattle, which since the year 2000 has made its way from nu and groove metal to melodic modern metal in the spirit of modern In Flames. At the beginning of its existence, Demon Hunter was sometimes close to Slipknot in terms of heaviness. The band never broke the charts, but was always in good standing among nu metal fans. And now she’s not completely settled down - she knows how to charge both cheerful riffs and punching extreme vocals.
Despite the rather brutal sound (although the group has plenty of ballads) and the aggressive appearance of the members, they have always positioned themselves as Christian rock. Demon Hunter vocalist Ryan Clark has repeatedly stated in interviews that the band initially spoke firmly about their religiosity in order to be honest with the fans.
Rock as a path to faith
It may be easier for a rocker to come to faith than for someone who listens to pop music. How easier it is for a person who has an extra 50 kilograms to start losing weight than for someone who has only an extra 5 kilograms. Rockers often see more keenly the imperfections of civilization and the illness of the human soul, so they have a bottom from which they can push off. Although there are also “old school” rap artists who also try to say something important in their works. When a person starts looking for a way out, he finds it. And there is only one way out - to God. Everyone may have their own path, but there is only one way out.
My paradox is that I first came to faith, and then came to the rock party. I already talked about this when we talked about informals.
POD
Payable on Death is a cult group from San Diego that has been playing rapcore for 30 years. What is significant is that they are not known at all because of their religious views. They are revered as classics of nu metal and rapcore, on a par with Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit. Compared to the beginning of the 2000s, their fame has, of course, faded somewhat now, but the group still feels good. In addition, they have hits for all times in their arsenal, which have successfully survived the change in musical fashion: Alive, Boom, Satellite, Youth of the Nation and many others. And Sleeping Awake was actually on the soundtrack of The Matrix.
POD is sometimes classified as ragga metal. The rapping style of band vocalist Sonny Sandoval really often smacks of ragga. However, Sonny is strong not only in the rap sections - he is also an outstanding vocalist.
Christian rock bands: foreign
The list of groups preaching Christianity in their work is not small and continues to grow every year. Among the popular groups it is worth highlighting:
- Skillet, formed in Memphis back in 1996. Over the course of their long career, the band has been nominated more than once for the Best Rock Gospel Album award.
- Thousand Foot Krutch is a Canadian musical group formed in 1997. One of the most successful VIA performing rock music in general and Christian rock in particular. Throughout history, more than one and a half million copies of their discs have been sold.
- Red is a relatively young (formed in 2004) American rock band that has become one of the leading Christian rock bands. It’s interesting that the guys started their careers by drinking Christian hymns.
- POD is one of the few bands performing Christian rap-core, giving preference to recitative, mixing it with heavy riffs and blast beats of drums. The team has been nominated for a Grammy Award many times. The name of the group comes from the metaphor of Payable on Death, associated in their understanding with Jesus, who atoned for the sins of all mankind.
Starfield, FM Static, Antestor, Pillar, War of Ages and many other lesser-known bands also play in this genre.
August Burns Red
Well known metalcore bands from Pennsylvania. The group has existed since 2003, and Adam Dutkiewicz himself from Killswitch Engage helped them record their debut album. In the early years of its existence, the gang spoke openly and often about its religious views. In 2015, the band's vocalist stated in an interview that Christianity is really important to all band members and is reflected in their lyrics. But musicians do not go on stage to preach or lead someone to God. Their goal is simply to spread positivity. Today the group does not position itself as Christian; this decision was made back in 2012.
But August Burns Red still tours frequently with other Christian bands, and has even been featured on the cover of Christian Music Magazine. The image of Christians cannot be washed away so easily. But the main thing is that the group is respected by metalheads who are far from religion. August Burns Red play really high-quality, quite heavy and catchy melodic metalcore in the spirit of As I Lay Dying and the same Killswitch Engage.
Christian rock music and Christian denominations
It would seem that the main interests of clergy are very far from rock music, but among this category there are people who not only own musical instruments for themselves, for the soul, but also play rock in fairly well-known groups. An example is the head of the order of Benedictine monks named Notker Wolf.
He is very into hard rock and writes music and also plays guitar. The Capuchin monk Cesare Bonizzi became famous for performing heavy metal at the level of professionals in this field.
It is also impossible to ignore the curious fact that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland holds “metal” masses. And the Australian Hillsong Church uses rock instead of sacred music, this is its calling card.
It is not necessary for groups that often use Christian images in the themes of their songs to be immediately classified as Christian rock. Christianity is often mentioned in the lyrics of U2, Blind Guardian, Dream Theater, Megadeth, Nightwish, Within Temptation, Evanescence, Queen. Among Russian rock, Mashina Vremeni, DDT, Aquarium, Aria, Legion, Catharsis, Black Coffee, Grand Courage, Epidemic were noticed at this event.
After all, the very meaning of “Christian texts” does not mean rhyming quotes from the Bible and retelling of the Gospel. What makes texts Christian is the point of view on certain things that is characteristic of Christians, a life position similar to them, for example, disagreement with living in a consumer society, protest against social injustice, unwillingness to put up with totalitarian control of the individual. This also includes introspection and recognition that society is imperfect.
It should also be remembered that Christianity as a religion is very broad, as it consists of many denominations. And it often happens that the position of one denomination is offensive to another, but both are nevertheless Christians.
Phinehas
Another American metalcore band. But now from Los Angeles and more fierce. Gravitating towards breakdowns, classic, rawer genre sounds and intricate solos in the spirit of Periphery. Phinehas also quite successfully mix thrash metal style riffs into metalcore, which they are very proud of (and rightly so). However, this does not cancel the melodic pop choruses. The group has existed since 2001, but released its debut album only in 2011.
Phinehas, unlike August Burns Red, do not shy away from their status as a Christian band. It is even published on the Solid State Records label, which specializes in Christian rock. Solid State is a satellite of another "Christian" label, Tooth & Nails. These two companies generally published or still publish many of the bands in the selection.
Christian metal
This musical direction is often contrasted with “black metal” and called “white metal”. Bands performing music in this genre try to encourage and inspire the listening audience and, unlike their peers, completely ignore the theme of brutality and murder. Among the popular representatives it is worth highlighting:
- Stryper is an interesting band performing glam metal music. The group was formed back in 1983, but experienced a collapse and did not exist in the period from 1993 to 2003. The group members use verses from the book of the prophet Isaiah in the design of their discs.
- Petra is perhaps the first musical group to officially call their work Christian rock. It is symbolic that the group was formed by students of the Christian Training Center, right during their studies there. The band's sound resembles a mixture of country music and hard rock. In 2006, the group broke up.
Impending Doom
Surprisingly, there are quite a few death metal bands in the world that position themselves as Christian. Such bands take only the sound from death metal, and in the lyrics, of course, they turn to God. They can sing about violence and all sorts of dirt, but in an instructive way. Parables from death metal.
One of the most striking such groups is Riverside's Impending Doom. Apart from the Christian message, this is a fairly typical, but very high-quality and dark deathcore. No easier than the creativity of some Thy Art is Murder. At concerts they have a frenzy and mosh, as expected. The band’s musicians even came up with a separate genre for their sound - gorship, which means serving God through aggressive-sounding music. A perfect illustration of the quote from Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman: “Why give the devil all the good music.”
Rock missionary work in the Russian Orthodox Church. Chronology
Rock missionary work in the Russian Orthodox Church. Chronology 1991
The “Orthodox” rock group “Galactic Federation” (A. Vishnyakov, S. Knysh, P. Lyalin, V. Pogutkin, A. Bukreev) receives a blessing for its activities from the rector of the St. Nicholas Marine Cathedral, Fr. Bogdana Soyko.
1992
April - the rock band "Galactic Federation" performs at the "Awakening" festival in Sergiev Posad.
1993
in St. Petersburg, the Orthodox Musical, O. Arefyeva and the group “Ark”, the group “If”, “New Testament”, “Monomakh”, etc. are created.
1994
O. Vsevolod Chaplin writes a preface to the album “Anthology of Christian Rock in Russia,” published with the participation of the All-Church Orthodox Youth Movement.
O. V. Chaplin reports: Recently, rock performers performed in Volgograd, on the embankment, where the service had been held before, as part of the Sergius celebrations organized by the diocese. The “Awakening” festival, held in Moscow in mid-October with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', was also dedicated to St. Sergius of Radonezh. Church choirs and rock bands took to the stage of this festival.
2000
On radio "Radonezh" for the first time touches on the topic of rock music about. Sergiy (Rybko), rock music fan and former hippie.
2001
O. A. Kuraev: Yuri Shevchuk (DDT group) read my books and invited me to his concert in 2001. Just in time for his birthday. In May 2001, my student from the theological institute literally took me by the hand and took me to Gorbushka. He said that it was Yuri Shevchuk’s birthday and there would be a concert to which Shevchuk was inviting me. That's how I went to a rock concert for the first time.
2002
A brochure by Hieromonk Sergius (Rybko) “Modern culture - Satanism or God-seeking?” was published, which caused a wide resonance.
2003
rock festival "Rock to Heaven"
January 14 — the rock festival “Rock to Heaven,” organized by the St. Petersburg Diocese, took place in St. Petersburg at the Ice Palace sports and concert complex. It was attended by Fr. Andrey Kuraev, Konstantin Kinchev, Vyacheslav Butusov, Boris Grebenshchikov, Yuri Shevchuk, Olga Arefieva, also Sergey Kalugin and the group “Orgy of the Righteous”. The event is sponsored by the Youth Policy Committee of the St. Petersburg Administration.
Cooperation begins about. Sergia (Rybko) with Konstantin Kinchev as part of the Alice-Peter Army website.
autumn – “Orthodox rock tour” Fr. A. Kuraev and K. Kinchev in the cities of the Urals.
O. Sergius (Rybko) at the Church of St. Sergius in Bibirevo opens a rock club called the “Youth Center in the name of St. Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg.” At the entrance there is a plaster monument to Viktor Tsoi on a motorcycle.
September 9 - Fr. Sergiy (Rybko), together with the group “If,” takes part in the youth music event “Why did I come into this world,” held in Yaroslavl.
2004
Deacon Andrei Kuraev’s book “Rock and Missionary Work” is published. Conversations with the Theologian."
The website Pravaya.Ru begins to regularly publish articles covering the phenomena of Russian rock music.
April 14 - Fr. Sergius (Rybko) performs a “sermon” at the “Cucumber” club at the invitation of Vyacheslav Kaporin (rock band “Granny’s Tales”).
June 24 - in the Moscow "R-club" - "sermon" by Fr. Sergia (Rybko) at the rock concert of the group “If”.
the group “If” releases a collection of acoustic ballads “We drink from the cup of being” with the blessing and help of Fr. Sergius (Rybko).
2005
June 25 — a rock concert “NEdrugZHI” took place in the Kemerovo “Park of Miracles” with the participation of the group “Kalinov Most”. The concert was initiated by the youth department of the Kemerovo diocese.
July 31 to August 4 - the “Sky of the Slavs” festival was held in Vitebsk with the participation of rock bands.
2006
January 19 - the “Light of Christmas” festival was held in the hall of the Pilgrimage Center of the Moscow Patriarchate with the participation of rock bands.
January 20 – Moscow festival “The Sun of Christmas” with the participation of rock bands.
May 20 - a charity event for the disabled on a bike - with the blessing of Abbot Sergius (Rybko). The program includes performances by three rock bands.
late May - early June - a rock concert was included in the program of the church-wide exhibition and forum "Orthodox Rus'". Presenter Fr. Sergius (Rybko).
July - rector of the church in the village of Ocheretino, Donetsk region, Fr. Georgy Streltsov creates a parish rock band. Before the ordination of Fr. G. Streltsov played drums in the Ukrainian punk band Side Effect.
September 20 - rock festival in Krasnoyarsk “Look at the Sky”. The event is held under the auspices of the Krasnoyarsk diocese. Participants of the rock festival: Krasnoyarsk rock bands and the famous team “Survival Instructions” led by Roman Neumoev. Organizers: Orthodox youth organization “Common Cause”, youth club “AriZona” with the support of Pravoy.Ru.
2007
January 7 - rock festival "Light of Christmas" in the Concert Hall of the Cosmos Hotel with the participation of Fr. Sergius (Rybko).
January 14 - in the Kaluga region, the governor and brethren of the monastery in honor of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the village of Klykovo hold a rock festival. Executive Producer - Fr. Ignatius, former rock musician.
In the village of Inskaya, Kemerovo region, the rector of the local Trinity Church creates a rock group “Mission” with the participation of parishioners.
2008
A rock missionary page “Informal” has opened on the website of the community of the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit at the Lazarevskoye cemetery in Moscow.
A rock tour dedicated to the 1020th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' is taking place in the cities of Ukraine, with the participation of O.A. Kuraeva, O. Evgenia Maksimenko (Dnepropetrovsk diocese of the UOC), rock groups “DDT”, “The Brothers Karamazov”, “S.K.A.Y.”
At the Poltava Missionary Theological Seminary, the rock band “Instant Eternity” was created by students and teachers. The group includes 5 students of the Theological and Missionary Department of 1-4 years. The words of the songs are written by the students themselves; they also use poems by Anna Akhmatova, Boris Pasternak, and Marina Tsvetaeva.
A rock club was created at the Church of St. Vlkmch. Barbarians in Arkhangelsk. Rector - Fr. Daniil (Plotnikov).
February 16 - a rock concert was held in the building of the government of the Bibirevo district of the North-Eastern district of Moscow. Organizers: Bibirevo district administration, community of the Church of St. St. Sergius of Radonezh in Bibirevo and the Youth Cultural Center in the name of St. blzh. Xenia of St. Petersburg with the participation of the Union of Orthodox Banner Bearers and the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods.
April 7 - an “Easter rock festival” was held in Moscow’s Ostankino Park with the participation of Fr. Sergius (Rybko).
September 26 - in the city of Vyazniki, Vladimir region, a rock club was created at the Church of the Presentation of the Mother of God (rector - Father Anthony).
2009
The rock group “DDT” recorded the album “Now You Let Go” together with Fr. Evgeniy Maksimenko (Dnepropetrovsk diocese of the UOC).
In April, on the talk show “Only at Night” (TVC television company) in the episode “Informals - a threat to society?” o. Sergiy (Rybko) and Yuri Ageshchev spoke out in defense of the informals.
May 9 – presentation of the rock opera “Alexander Nevsky”. Before the presentation, Fr. Sergius (Rybko).
July 17 - 19 - 2nd international biker festival "Narva Bike 2009" in Narva. During the festival, a rock concert took place with the participation of Fr. Sergius (Rybko). In the photo: Rockcrime group, Father Sergius (Rybko) and others.
2010
The Moscow club “Casta” hosted a presentation of the album of the rock group “If” - “Nevsky Prince”. The welcoming speech was delivered by Fr. Sergius (Rybko).
comp. A.T.
The Devil Wears Prada
The Dayton metallers, who with their latest album The Act, made it into our top 10 best albums of 2021. The Devil Wears Prada have been on the scene since 2005 and most often their music is also called post-hardcore and metalcore. In fact, there is much more mixed in there. The basis is rather screamo, plus on at least the last two records of the group one can feel the strong influence of doom metal, post-rock and classic heavy metal.
The group was originally founded by Christians. Like other bands in the selection, The Devil Wears Prada do not preach, but convey to listeners values close to them. The religious label of their status does not bother them at all; they even perform calmly at Christian festivals.
10 Best Metal Albums of 2019
Church opinion
Representatives of the clergy take different positions in their opinions. Of course, there is no justification for rock, which carries within itself the ideas of sexual promiscuity, Satanism, satisfaction of harmful passions such as alcoholism, drug addiction, and the like. Everyone is unanimous here.
But, as for the creativity of groups that sing about God, about love, about the vicissitudes of life, there are both defenders and opponents. The Church does not approve of anything that can lead a person to a state of despondency or sadness, or arouse in him other emotions of a similar nature. And the songs of rock musicians, it must be admitted, often evoke just such a mood.
The line is very thin. Much depends on the person himself, because everyone passes information received from outside through the prism of their life experience. Therefore, the conclusion emerges by itself - the problem is not in rock as a genre, but in the people who play and listen to it.
Important! God will not judge music, but every person.
Priest's opinion
Priest Sergei Lepin is a bright personality in the vastness of the modern Internet. He runs his own blog, which many consider the most missionary in the entire blogosphere.
Not long ago, one of the publications published an interview with the priest, during which he was asked many questions, including about rock. As it turned out, Father Sergei himself came to faith through rock music. In his youth, he even had his own group, which he organized.
Archpriest Sergius Lepin was a former rock musician
And my acquaintance with the church began in a rather extraordinary way. One day, he and his friends decided to invite the priest to one of their “parties.” Sergei went to church. As a result, the shepherd was not invited, but his stay in the temple could not help but leave its mark on the young man. The second significant meeting was a joint trip on public transport with an unfamiliar elderly man who sold Sergei a small pocket Bible.
The young man began to secretly read the book and soon realized that he wanted to connect his life with God. He decided to enter the theological seminary, which predetermined his future life.
Today, speaking about rock, Father Sergei focuses on the fact that music is just 7 notes arranged in a certain sequence. Everything else is human.
There is a lot in rock that deserves condemnation according to all the laws of God. But at the same time, according to the priest, rock exposes many social problems that deserve society’s attention. However, as Sergei Lepin noted, today rock music has become more glamorous and pop and no longer plays the same ideological role as before. This is due to the fact that the new generation of youth has other ways in which they can express their disagreement and protest.
Important! Speaking about how the clergy reacts to such music and what it is connected with, the priest said that condemnation, as a rule, is caused by infernal motives. But they are not present everywhere.
Antestor
Antestor are the founders of Christian black metal and true Norwegian rebels. Christian black metal in itself is something impossible, given that the whole essence of the genre was originally precisely hatred of Christianity. Therefore, today the direction set by Antestor is usually called unblack or even white metal, although the musicians themselves describe their sound as sad sorrow metal.
The band's musicians, being ardent Christians, were dissatisfied with the popularity of neo-pagan and satanic music, and therefore decided to promote their Christian ideals in black music. And they succeeded: without knowing the history of the gang, it’s not easy to notice the catch. Moreover, in 1991 they managed to publish their debut album on the Cacophonous Records label, where, for example, Dimmu Borgir and Sigh were published. When the label's management found out about Antestor's views, there was a scandal. Among black metal fans there is still an ambiguous attitude towards the band; many sincerely hate them, although the group has gained many unblack followers over the years.
Domestic Christian rock bands: list
Russian bands, as well as foreign ones, quickly picked up this practice and began to fill their music with religious texts and references. Among the musicians from the domestic scene there were many deeply religious people who founded entire groups with a Christian direction. Among the most famous are the groups:
- “Alice” is a Soviet VIA, which originated in 1983 in the city of Leningrad. One of the most famous and popular groups in the history of Russian rock music. One of the first to start writing texts related to religion. The group exists to this day.
- “Black Coffee” is a Soviet rock project by Dmitry Varshavsky, performing heavy rock and Christian metal with a heavy sound. The team was formed in 1979 and is still active, performing and recording new songs in Russian and English.
Among the domestic performers of the genre, it is also worth mentioning such Christian rock groups as “August”, “Legion”, “Voice of the Prophet” and “Trumpet Call”.
Blaster the Rocket Man
With Christian punk everything is much more complicated than even with Christian black metal. There are not many interesting groups in this “genre”, because punk ideology is too far from any religious movements. Christian punks most often receive hatred from both sides: Christians do not want to recognize punks as their own, and punks refuse to accept Christians. Religious themes can only creep into pop and post-punk, as well as straight edge hardcore. But representatives of more classic punk, even if they are inside the Christian industry (for example, publishing on a Christian label), still prefer not to emphasize religiosity in their lyrics.
But there was one completely crazy Christian punk band - Blaster the Rocket Man. These guys from Indianapolis played, for a minute, Christian horror-punk from 1994 to 2002. In their texts, they told horror and sci-fi stories, using them as allegories for biblical stories. Well, it sounded like a mixture of the Sex Pistols and classic rock and roll. The concept is still unique.
History of the genre
Even during the formation of such genres of music as rock and roll and rhythm and blues, many clergy spoke negatively both about the musical direction in general and about the people performing this music in particular. Later, rock musicians began to resort to increasingly provocative imagery, often linking their music with mysticism, the occult, and devil worship. Many metalheads and rockers often behaved scandalously, used drugs and alcohol in exorbitant quantities, thereby exacerbating the situation and the negative attitude towards rock music.
The situation began to change with the advent of rock bands and musicians performing so-called Christian rock. The pioneers in the genre were the groups Mind Garage and Petra. Over time, this direction only developed, a festival appeared in which only Christian rock bands took part. Similar progress in the world of music did not bypass Russia, where new groups began to appear, writing texts related to Christian themes.
