So you have no doubt heard this before. A band classified as Christian Rock or Christian Metal. But what does that really mean? A genre is typically there to describe a type of music. To let you know what you’re in for. We typically like certain types of music because they fall into a bucket of similar attributes. This helps us to find similar bands we may like or help describe music to other people.
Think of some of genres that exist in rock and metal. If you tell someone that Testament is a thrash metal band they will have an idea of what that involves musically – high tempo, aggressive drums and guitar, with shouty vocals pissed off at the man. Tell someone that Darkthrone is black metal and they know their soul is doomed to hellfire if they listen to the lo-fi indistinct wailing and tremolo picked rhythms.
But if I was to tell you that August Burns Red, Skillet or P.OD. are Christian Rock bands, does that give you any idea as to what their music will sound like? All three of those bands are very different in overall style (within the confines of rock music) so what is the point of that label? They can easily be defined by another already established label so the fact they are Christian seems irrelevant, right?
I mean the simple fact that the band members are practicing Christians doesn’t have a huge amount of relevance on their musically style just by itself. There is no Homeowner Rock if all band members own their house. There is no Arachnophobic Punk or Partial To A Scotch Metal. Seems equally as relevant. But there must be more to it than that. Something that maybe sits outside of purely musical characteristics. Let’s take a closer look see if there is more lying beneath the surface.
For note here; I am specifically focussing on the hard rock and heavy metal side of the coin. Not on the contemporary Christian music scene, which will include softer rock bands which can focus more heavy on Christian imagery and messaging.
What is this Christianity?
I’m sure this is not something that needs extensive explanation. But important to set a context to the discussion, and at least attempt to introduce a few rules into the investigation. Let’s look at the undeniable fountain of all that is true – Wikipedia to find the definition of Christianity.
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the Christ, whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, called the Old Testament in Christianity, and chronicled in the New Testament.
Depending on the specific denomination of Christianity, practices may include baptism, the Eucharist (Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper), prayer (including the Lord’s Prayer), confession, confirmation, burial rites, marriage rites and the religious education of children. Most denominations have ordained clergy who lead regular communal worship services.
Wikipedia – of course
So if we are to try to attribute what this might mean to a genre of music, we might expect the teachings to be present in the lyrics. Nothing really prescribes what would be meant in terms of a musical style to give us any indication of how it may sound.
When I think of what I could call ‘Christian’ music, I think of Hymns and Gospel music. When I think of either of these I pretty much know exactly what these sound like, given the inherent characteristics of those types of music.
However, we never hear of gospel rock, or hymn metal. These are not being used to describe a type of music. So again I don’t really see this providing any significance to defining the musical style.
Let’s instead take the lyrical content. Being Christian rock I would expect that lyrically it would follow similar styles to gospel and hymns, being around the teaching of Christ and the Bible and such. If not quite as explicit, then teachings around using faith to find the strength, meaning and a way in this crazy world. If we go as loose as to just take general themes of dealing with pain, struggle etc. then does this really make it any more distinct than a huge amount of non-Christian rock?
So I think we can set a few basic rules for identifying a band – objectively, as a Christian band:
- Christian messaging being used in the lyrics
- Use of Christian imaging in the band aesthetics
- Traditionally performed religious musical styles being present
Christian Rock and Metal Bands
There are some hugely popular Christian Rock and Metal bands. We shall take a look through some of these most popular ones and see what similarities we can find between them.
Skillet
Memphis, Tennessee rockers Skillet have multiple gold and platinum selling singles and albums, and over 5 million Spotify listeners. They are undoubtedly a hugely successful rock band and widely regarded as being Christian rock.
So what is their style? Let’s take a look objectively, as though we were unaware any of the band members were Christian. They play typical radio friendly aggressive hard rock. In the style of Shinedown or post Infest Papa Roach. They have no sense of ‘Christian music’ influence on their instruments, no gospel choirs or reading of bible passages. Nothing that would indicate to me that they are a Christian band. So there presumably must be something in the lyrics to indicate so.
Skillet‘s most popular songs are Monster, Feel Invincible and Hero. The lyrics to Monster are about inner demons threatening to break free but are being kept at bay. Feel Invincible is about an undisclosed force given the strength to feel brave, powerful and invincible. Obvious link here to religious faith (as I know Skillet are a Christian band), but could easily be about a loved one instead. Hero is about being saved by a hero, one not afraid to die to save a life. Lyrically here not hugely distinct from Holding Out For A Hero by Bonnie Tyler, so could easily be by a non Christian band.
Now whilst this might be a small sample size, it is reflective of much of their newer material, and so in conclusion I don’t see any real evidence here to suggest calling Skillet a Christian band really goes any way to describing what their music is like.
P.O.D.
San Diego’s P.O.D. were one of the bigger names of the nu-metal revolution back in the early noughties. Their fourth album Satellite, released in 2001 during the peak of nu-metal fever reached triple platinum status. Hit singles Alive and Youth Of The Nation received huge TV airtime.
Their style has shifted slightly throughout their career (as all bands do), however they firmly sit on the rap-metal side of nu-metal from their most well known work. P.O.D. definitely have their own flavour (with clear reggae influences), helping them stand out in the nu-metal crowd. But you really don’t need to describe them any more than that to understand exactly their musical style.
Their band name is initialism for Payable On Death, which they chose to directly tie into the Christian belief of Jesus dying for our sins. I remember reading that once, but that’s as much as I know. I doubt everyone knows that, and it really doesn’t make any difference to experiencing their music if you were to delve deep into the meaning.
Lets again take their biggest songs and analyse the lyrics. Their first big hit hit was Alive. The song is about appreciating life and feeling alive for the first time. I guess you could attach general religious belief and faith to these lyrics, but they could also be written by any band pushing a positive mindset. Youth of the Nation is their most well known song. It tells stories of being a young adult in the USA. In particular the first verse is in response to school shootings prevalent in the US. Other themes are explored such as self respect and suicide which can come from a young life of isolation or abandonment. Nothing particularly religious in this song as it is focussing on raising awareness of particular matters outside of faith.
Boom rounds off three tracks from their breakthrough album Satellite. Focussing on the band themselves – rising from the streets of San Diego to stages worldwide. Generally though when you look through the lyrically content across P.OD.‘s discography, they generally are written from the perspective of leaning on faith and taking guidance from a higher power. Nothing really containing any Christian symbolism or explicitly stating any Christian figures.
I think here we can safely say that Christianity is very influential on the style of writing extorted by P.O.D. – and they are very widely known as a Christian band. But definitely no influence on the music itself. It is without a doubt typical nu-metal music and could only sound more 2001 if they were wearing red caps.
August Burns Red
For our final band we shall look at Pennsylvania’s groovy metalcore veterans August Burns Red. For much of their career they have been regarded as a Christian metal band. In this case I feel like the association is much looser. At least from personal perspective I don’t see the Christian label attached to them as much as Skillet or P.O.D.
August Burns Red‘s style is a mix of classic metalcore, with intertwined progressive elements. Very much in the vein of that mid-2000s style. Absolutely nothing to suggest any form of Christian influence over the music. The last hope of some sort of correlation is going to be if we see any influence over the lyrics. To the Spotify Machine!
Marianas Trench and White Washed off their third album Constellations both feature themes of dealing with struggle and include minor mentions of a religious relief. Invisible Enemy pretty much explains itself. Maybe I’m missing the point but I don’t think lyrically it’s anything special. Again definitely no obvious religious connection.
Seems relatively easy in this instance to say that the allocation of the Christian Metal label to August Burns Red is largely irrelevant with describing their style of music. You could listen to any metalcore playlist on Spotify and when these fellows pop up not notice any significant variance.
Initial Conclusion
Disappointingly, nothing really to report as of yet then. A relatively small sample size, but 3 of the biggest names in the Christian metal scene should have thrown up some similarities from which to draw a conclusion. Yes there is generally a theme of positive or introspective lyrical content. But so is there from countless other non Christian bands. Musically these 3 bands are of differing styles. Not a sniff of anything resembling any traditional styles.
I would have expected something to surface here. However looks like we are going to have to try another method. There must be something else beyond the music itself. Some reason why it is appropriate to give these bands the prominent label of Christian music.
Time to take a Different Approach
Looking into this subject I came across something I had no idea existed. There is a separate album chart purely for Christian and Gospel music here in the UK. Maybe there is something not specifically relating to musical style that warrants the categorisation as a Christian band. Although as of 10/12/2020 (that is 10th December for the Americans!), Skillet have 4 albums on the top 20 so I don’t think rock music is particularly well represented on this chart!
There are also plenty of Christian music festivals across the US. I can safely say that I have no idea what happens at these festivals. However the biggest one is called Creation Fest, with the tagline “Celebrating the good news of the God who loves us”. So I am guessing a heavy amount of all things hallelujah going on well beyond the confides of Christian Rock music.
There are also specific Christian record labels, the largest being Capitol Christian Music Group. Plenty are also attached to the contemporary Christian music scene and their labels. I’m sure this greatly helps with commercial access, acceptance and notability for bands. However this can keep a band stuck solely within the Christian music scene.
August Burns Red for example released their latest album Guardians through Fearless Records, a non-Christian label known for punk and metal bands. Skillet, comfortably one of the biggest names in Christian rock, released their latest album Victorious on Atlantic Records. Atlantic Records (and it’s affiliates within Warner Music) being on the biggest names in the record label stratosphere. Cardi B, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran. Some of the very biggest names in music today on this label. No Christian labels here.
Clearly here it seems that the Christian music scene is tied to helping bands with getting their music out there. With some clear lucrative availability within the Christian festival scene. But the biggest bands eventually move to mainstream labels to get wider publication and not get pigeonholed into just the Christian scene.
So What Have We Learnt?
It clearly seems that within the hard rock and heavy metal scene, being labelled a Christian band really doesn’t mean a huge amount when describing how a band sounds. Lyrically there is often a loose resemblance, but nothing that plenty of other bands don’t do.
It seems to have more resonance within the Christian music scene. Especially with regards to the touring scene and support for upcoming bands. But this is more relevant to contemporary Christian music when the link to religion and faith is far more obvious. It can harm bands wanting to hit the global scene, especially in the hard rock and heavy metal universe if they are purely labelled as a Christian band.
And let us not forget that legendary Slayer vocalist/bassist Tom Araya is a devout Roman Catholic. A band widely recognised (for the uneducated) as Satan worshippers! So in conclusion, I think outside of the specific Christian music scene, this designation has very little relevance.
A Side Note…
I do find the simple notion of Christian Rock as oxymoronic. Rock music has always been a method of straying from the norm, breaking the rules and generally disobeying society and leadership. The conflict between the Christian hierarchy and the rise of rock music through the 50s and 60s is well documented.
It’s amusing how early blues and roots music was influenced by Christian rooted gospel and country music. Which then influenced rock music. In turn rock being reaccepted back into the Christian music sphere. Life has a habit of coming full circle!
