CHRISTIAN METAL HISTORY
On this section I list some groundbreaking events and bands in the history of christian metal. I don't include all bands and albums but I try to focus on the groundbreaking and most influential bands and events. Feel free to mail me any comments about bands/events I may have missed. johannes@metalforjesus.org
1978
- RESURRECTION BAND
Resurrection Band also called REZ released their debut Awaiting Your Reply heavily influenced by a Led Zeppelin style of blues-based hard rock. Resurrection Band came from the Jesus Movement in the 70s and wanted to spread the good news about Jesus to young people that liked hard music. Their groundbreaking release Awaiting Your Reply opened the way for christian hardrock/metal bands to come.
- JERUSALEM - Volume 1
Swedish Jerusalem also saw the need to spread the word of Jesus through hardrock/metal music to a lost world. Their debutalbum Volume 1 was very groundbreaking and sold very well and people in swedish gospel stores got very surprised that heavy music like this could sell so well.
1981
- JERUSALEM - Warrior
One of Jerusalem's heaviest and most successful albums was released.
1983
- STRYPER formes this year changing their name from Roxx Regime to Stryper. Besides the namechange they also adjusted the lyrics to point to Christ full on.
1984
- STRYPER - The Yellow And Black Attack
Stryper's groundbreaking album that truly made Christian Metal came up from the underground and put it on the map for all the world to see. People were amazed that there was a christian band throwing out Bibles to the audience while at the same time playing real metal music. Stryper showed the world that it is possible to combine Jesus and Metal and opened the way for all the christian metal bands to come.
- CHRISTIAN HEAVY METAL
This year also marks the birth of the term Christian Heavy Metal. Many Christian Metal bands were coming up from the underground and there was a need for a term for this new movement and as a result the term Christian Heavy Metal was born.
- SAINT - Warriors of the Son
Saint enters the scene with their bonecrushing Heavy Metal and shows the world that there are christian bands that can rock just as hard as Judas Priest. Typical for Saint is besided their heavy music also their dark apocalyptic imagery that they use to warn people from evil and to point to the Master of Light, the Lord Jesus Christ.
- HEAVEN'S METAL MAGAZINE
With an ever growing christian metal scene there was a big need for a Christian Metal Magazine. Heaven's Metal filled this need and has meant a lot for the christian metal scene throughout the years.
- SANCTUARY - The Rock'n'Roll Refuge
Numerous people came to know Christ through Christian Metal. Unfortunately though they were not welcome in many churches but were kicked out because their long hair and different style. To help these folks Pastor Bob Beeman started up the ministry Sanctuary. Through Sanctuary christian rock'n'rollers finally had a home and a church that understood and not condemned them. First worshipleader in Sanctuary was Michael Sweet of Stryper. Throughout the years thousands of metalheads have come to know Christ and grown in faith through the ministry of Sanctuary. www.sanctuary.ws
1985
- LEVITICUS - The Strongest Power
Leviticus critically acclaimed 2nd album was released. Brittish Metal Magazine Kerrang called it "One of the best records of the year"
- STRYPER - Soldiers Under Command
With a heavier sound Stryper's popularity increased and this album even become one of the 100 best selling releases in the USA! Soldiers Under Command stayed on the Billboard 100 chart for nearly 36 weeks!
1986
- STRYPER - To Hell With The Devil
Very successful album that has sold over 1, 5 million copies! The cover shows how Satan one day will be thrown into the lake of fire. Stryper shot some videos for this album which became very successful on MTV. The videos for Free, Calling On You and Honestly were all on the MTV's top ten list, at the same time!! No other band had ever had three videos in the top ten at the same time, none! Each one of these three videos also topped the MTV's top ten list, Free stayed number one for 12 weeks straight! Needless to say Stryper's popularity skyrocked and on the upcoming world tour they sold out venues with 10 000 seats.
- BLOODGOOD - Bloodgood
Bloodgood entered the scene lead by bassplayer Michael Bloodgood and singer Les Carlsen. Michael's real surname is Bloodgood and he thought it would fit perfect as bandname, that's why they chose to call themselves Bloodgood. Bloodgood's debut contains a mix of styles and even has a thrash track called Black Snake.
- PURE METAL
This was also the year when the first christian metal label "Pure Metal" was formed. Many christian metal bands were signed to this label including Saint, Bride, Messiah Prophet and Whitecross.
- MESSIAH PROPHET - Master of the Metal
Great Classic Metal release with a very cool cover from this underground band from USA. The band unfortunately broke up some time after the release of this album.
1987
- METAL MARDI GRAS
The first big christian metal festival called "The Metal Mardi Gras" was held in Long Beach California. The festival was sponsored by the metal church Sanctuary. Over ten bands shared two stages. Metal Edge and Kerrang, two of leading metal magazines at that time wrote about the festival and solidified this new movement.
- CALIFORNIA METAL
Regency Records soon thereafter released the first christian metal compilation called California Metal. All the bands featured on this album attended the metal church Sanctuary in California. This album was very groundbreaking and introduced us to great bands like Deliverance, Barren Cross, Guardian and Mastedon.
- WHITECROSS - Whitecross
A christian guitar hero was born and his name is Rex Carrol. His blazing guitarsolo on the track Nagasake is an all time classic. The combination of Rex's guitarplay and Scott Wenzel's raspy voice immediately set Whitecross as one of the top bands in the christian metal scene.
- BLOODGOOD - Detonation
This is the album many Bloodgood fans hold as their best featuring classics like The Messiah and the anti-suicide song Alone In Suicide.
1988
- STRYPER - In God We Trust
The title says it all. Stryper are not ashamed to stand for Christ. The cool thing with this album is that the band used the text on american dollars which is something we meet everyday to remind people about a spiritual truth. Actually this album is almost like a theme album with many lyrics talking about not to trust in money and things of this earth but instead keep your trust in the One who will never let you down, God. Musically this album features a more commercial sound than other Stryper releases.
- SAINT - Too Late For Living
Saint's heaviest and best album. Great Heavy Heavy Metal and one of the all-time-classics.
- VENGEANCE RISING - Human Sacrifice
This was just as groundbreaking for the christian thrash scene as Stryper's The Yellow And Black Attack was to the Heavy Metal Scene. An album showing the world that christian thrash is just as good if not better than the satanic thrash bands. The album has a megacool cover showing how Jesus became a human sacrifice when he took our sins and died for us on the cross.
- JERUSALEM - Dancing On The Head of The Serpent
An album showing Jerusalem at their best with heavy tunes mixed with ballads and loud'n'clear lyrics. The cover of the album is a picture of an army boot kicking Satan's head. Very cool cover but it caused plenty of controversy when it came and the album was banned from many gospel shops in Sweden because of it.
- CALIFORNIA METAL - Volume 2
Another great release with more cool metal from the Sanctuary bands. This release introduced us to great bands like Recon, Soldier and many more.
- SACRED WARRIOR - Rebellion
The debut of this great progressive heavy metal band that's always been very Christcentered which clearly shows, especially in the fantastic track He Died. Typical for Sacred Warrior is also Rey Parra's vocals that reminds of Geoff Tate.
- JOSHUA - Intense Defense
Joshua's classic release featuring guitarist Joshua Perahia and singer Rob Rock. Great melodic metal with plenty of hooks.
- INTENSE RECORDS
Many of the seculars labels didn't want to sign any christian metal bands because of the christian message while many christian labels didn't want to sign christian metal bands because the music was too hard. To overcome this problem a christian metal label called Intense Records was started. This label has meant more than any other label for the christian metal scene. Many of the best bands like Sacred Warrior, Vengeance Rising, Deliverance and Bloodgood has released albums on Intense Records.
1989
- ANGELICA - Angelica
Dennis Cameron on guitars and Rob Rock on vocals made this album a melodic metal masterpiece.
- DELIVERANCE - Deliverance
Deliverance took christian metal to a new level with their bonecrunching speed metal. Their selftitled album was a big success right from the start and took the world with storm delivering a bold christian message with real speed metal. They are also known for their motto Faster For The Master!
- RAGE OF ANGELS - Rage of Angels
Commercial Metal was growing and one of the best bands in this genre was Rage of Angels. Unfortunately they only released this album before they broke up.
- X-SINNER - Get It
X-Sinner's amazing debut was very groundbreaking and they blowed AC/DC away offering a faster, crunchier and heavier sound than AC/DC ever have had.
- LEVITICUS - Knight's of Heaven
For this album the band got help with the production by John and Dino Elephante. They did a great job with the production and the result was a melodic metal album with plenty of hooks, harmonies and a sound in the vein of Europe.
- SHOUT - In Your Face
Commercial Metal at it's finest. Incredible hooks and singalong songs with Ken Tamplin and the other members in Shout.
- SACRED WARRIOR - Master's Command
Much heavier than their debut and one of the all-time-classics in christian heavy metal.
- BARREN CROSS - State of Control
Wellproduced album showing progressive Heavy Metal band Barren Cross at their best with many hits like Crying Over You, Out of Time and the title track. This is Barren Cross most successful album when it comes to albumsales. The Crying Over You video was also played on MTV.
- WHITECROSS - Triumphant Return
An excellent album showing Whitecross at their best filled with melodic guitar leads, flashy solos and Scott Wenzel's cool raspy voice.
- BLOODGOOD - Out of the Darkness
Bloodgood's heaviest album and one of the best christian heavy metal releases ever.
- BELIEVER - Extraction from Mortality
The Progressive Thrashers Believer became wellknown to the public through this release.
- PAKADERM RECORDS
John and Dino Elephante had a studio of their own and wanted to help promising christian bands to release their albums, so they started up their own label called Pakaderm Records on which they released bands like X-Sinner, Guardian, Mastedon and many more.
1990
- RECON - Behind Enemy Lines
Recon's debut album filled with great Heavy Metal with plenty of crunchy rhythmes and guitarsolos.
- DELIVERANCE - Weapons of Our Warfare
This is a real classic combining speed metal and strong spiritual lyrics or as the band said themselves "Bible study with music". A very strong release both musically and spiritually. A video was also made with the title track, which became successful and even made it to MTV! The cover of the album is one of the coolest ever done picturing the apostle Paul and behind his back the raging fight between an angel and a demon.
- HOLY SOLDIER - Holy Soldier
Commercial Metal with plenty of hooks. A glam metal masterpiece.
- GUARDIAN - Fire and Love
Melodic Metal with a bluesy feel and some of the very best ballads ever done made this album to an outstanding release.
- MASTEDON - It's A Jungle Out There and Lofcaudio
The Elephante brothers entered the scene with a boom. John Elephante that previously sang with Kansas had some tunes ready and he got help by his brother Dino and plenty of guestmusicians to do two albums under the name Mastedon. The result is two critically acclaimed commercial hardrock/metal albums that got plenty of fans. Eventhough Mastedon was a studioproject they played live once, at the festival Cornerstone in 1991.
- BELIEVER - Sanity Obscure
Believer's second album filled with Technical Thrash at its finest. Extremely tight album by great musicians.
- SEVENTH ANGEL - The Torment
The groundbreaking debut of this brittish thrash band known for their heaviness and their to-the-point-lyrics.
- TOURNIQUET - Stop The Bleeding
Tourniquet hits the scene with an unique mix of progressive thrash and classic music. Lead by drummer extraordinarie Ted Kirkpatrick their unique sound broke new ground and the band immediately got thousands of fans all over the world.
- VENGEANCE RISING - Once Dead
Vengeance Rising's 2nd album taking off where their first release Human Sacrifice left us. Very brutal cover but extremely good music eventhough it's slower than their debut. The lyrics are like Bible studies and there are references to over 100 Bible scriptures!
- TAMPLIN AND FRIENDS - An Axe To Grind
Fantastic guitar metal album with Ken Tamplin. For this project he got help from people like Ken Mary, Lanny Cordola, Joey Tafolla and many more.
- CRYSTAVOX - Crystavox
Crystavox is latin for the voice of Christ and their lyrics are really Christcentered. Crystavox's selftitled debut is filled with great commercial metal with tons of hooks and singalong songs.
1991
- MORTIFICATION - Mortification
First Christian Death Metal album. This album was extremely brutal when it came out and far more brutal than any other christian releases ever released at that time. Australian band Mortification is truly the pioneers of Christian Death Metal.
- TOURNIQUET - Psycho Surgery
Tourniquet thrash's on with their progressive thrash. Many fans hold this album as their favourite Tourniquet album.
- ONE BAD PIG - I Scream Sunday
The pig thrashers third and best album. With an unique mix of thrash and punk topped with Carey "Kosher" Womack's characteristic screaming voice this is a band that truly stands out from the rest.
1992
- MORTIFICATION - Scrolls of the Megilloth
Very brutal death album and still unto this day considered a classic by many.
- BRIDE - Snakes In The Playground
Bride's most popular album to this date. The dirty groovy sound Bride has on this album immediately got plenty of fans especially people into bands like Guns'n'Roses and Skid Row took this album to their hearts. An outstanding release of dirty groovy metal.
- VENI DOMINE - Fall Babylon Fall
Veni Domine enters the scene with their slow majestic heavy metal sound containing a great deal of doom metal influences. Caracteristic for their sound is also Fredrik Ohlssons high pitched vocals that many say reminds of Geoff Tate. With an unique and heavy sound Fall Babylon Fall is truly a timeless classic.
1993
- MORTIFICATION - Live Planetarium
A fantastic live album showing Mortification at their best. This show was also released on a fullength video. Live Planetarium was the last release where excellent drummer Jayson Sherlock played the drums.
- TOURNIQUET - Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
Tourniquet's heaviest album. Full on progressive thrash with lots of timechanges.
- GUARDIAN - Miracle Mile
Bluesy melodic metal with Jamie Rowe's raspy voice made this album a winner.
- XT - Taxfree
Guitarist Björn Stigsson from Leviticus teamed up with talented vocalist Sonny Larsson and released three albums. This is their 2nd release and in my opinion also their best filled with harmonies, hooks and guitarsolos.
- CHRYSTYNE - Tales of Paradise
Great release with this melodic metal band hailing from Germany. Superb production and tons of hooks and hittunes. Truly melodic metal at its finest. Unfortunately though, this is the only album the band released before it disbanded.
1994
- MODEST ATTRACTION - The Truth In Your Face
Cool mix of 70s and 80s Metal. Vocals were done by Christian Rivel who a few year's later would be one of the forming members of Narnia.
- HORDE - Hellig Usvart
First christian black metal album. Extremely raw, brutal and groundbreaking when it came. All the tracks were made by one person called Anounymous that is still anounymous to this day.
- ROWE PRODUCTIONS
Steve Rowe from Mortification wanted to help all the up'n'coming christian hardrock/metal bands in Australia, so he decided to form the label
Rowe Productions that is still active to this day.
More info to come so stay tuned...
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