I have always thought of myself as being open to many
different types of music, but there are now two types that I know I don’t
enjoy: Death Metal and African Drum music. Those African Drums are just a
little creepy, especially after the theatrical production of Jumanji.
Concerning Death Metal, the metal part could be enjoyable but the death part
puts me off. When I speak of the “death” part, I am referring to the screaming.
That must be the “death” part because they sound like they are dying, or that
they are the monster that is going to kill some one.
I went to a concert a while back, which was related to me as
one that was hosting a few “Christian” bands. I put it in quotations, because
only God knows what in the world they were screaming. I should have realized,
when I was looking up the venue, what type of music would be played at this
hole in the wall place; yet, I blindly followed my friend. She needed some one
there with her. I know I wouldn’t want to be in that place alone. I don’t know
if the genre was really “Christian Death Metal,” but the screaming and “devil
voice” parts seemed to resemble the screaming and “devil voice” parts of
regular Death Metal. Call it what you may, “Christian Death Metal” is an
oxymoron.
There wasn’t a very large crowd there. It’s no wonder. The
greasy long hair, the red lighting, the screaming, the spitting, the awkward
couple of people “dancing” like they are mentally retarded zombies… It’s not a
pretty picture; and yet, I wonder how the lead “vocalists” can keep up the
angry looks on their faces.
Death Metal musicians are simply very sad little boys that
are just too emotional to cry, so they scream like banshees. So in a way,
“Death Metal” suits them since a banshee is a spirit whose wailing warns of an
impending death. But if they claim to be Christian, they must be holding just a
little too much onto the death to sin part, and forgetting to focus on the
alive in Christ part. If they kept the metal and just changed the vocals to
joyful sounds, they wouldn’t have to be an oxymoron anymore, they could be
called Christian Alive Metal. That’s a corny way to think of it, but they don’t
really need to change. Their message was clear when they stopped the screaming
for a moment to give their mission statement. They wanted to encourage people
and let them know that Jesus loves them. As long as they are encouraging
depressed youth with banshee screaming it could be good. God can even use this
to draw people to him. It just wasn’t helping me because I couldn’t tell what they
were saying the rest of the time, while they were screaming their lyrics.
