Christian metal

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Christian metal

Development phase: Christian rock scene, Jesus People 1960s
White Metal and Unblack Metal 1980s - 1990s
Stylistic precursors
Christian rock • hard rock • metal
Pioneers
Stryper • Mortification • Horde
Instruments typical of the genre
Electric guitar • Electric bass • Drums • Keyboard

As a Christian Metal is metal called with lyrics Christian content. Musically it encompasses almost all varieties of metal. Bands from the respective style are often classified without the addition "Christian". The two exclusively Christian sub-genres White Metal and Unblack Metal are an exception to this .

Definition and demarcation

Christian metal moves to a large extent in its own subculture with its own distribution channels, labels , magazines and festivals .

The explicitly Christian metal scene often describes the non-Christian metal community as " secular " for self- delimitation , although this does not necessarily apply to non-Christian representatives.

history

The American hard rock band Resurrection Band live in 1988

The cornerstone of the Christian hard rock and metal scene was laid in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when musicians and bands converted to Christianity as part of the Jesus People , but retained the style of their music. So appeared z. B. 1969 Larry Norman's album Upon the Rock , which is considered one of the first Christian rock albums.

In the mid to late 1970s bands such as Jerusalem from Sweden, the Resurrection Band and the Daniel Band emerged in the hard rock sector. 1978 z. B. both Jerusalem with Volume 1 (Swedish: Volym 1 ) and the Resurrection Band (also called REZ) released their debut albums with Awaiting Your Reply , which served as pioneers in Christian metal.

The first heavy / glam metal bands from the Christian sector formed in the mid-1980s, of which the glam metal band Stryper, nominally founded in 1983, was probably the best known. In 1984 she released her first EP, The Yellow and Black Attack, and two years later her best-selling album, To Hell with the Devil , which was even awarded platinum status by the RIAA .

Christian bands did not only find their way into the mainstream metal of the 80s, but also into the much rougher Thrash Metal . At the end of the 80s z. B. Vengeance Rising from Los Angeles her first album Human Sacrifice . Another important band in this area was the Tourniquet group, founded in 1990 . In the same year Opprobrium (at that time still under the name Incubus ) released their second album Beyond the unknown , which stylistically meandered between Thrash and Death Metal , and contained songs like Massacre of the unborn , which criticizes abortion . The following year, the Australian band Mortification released the first Christian death metal album, and in 1993 the debut of the Australian death / doom metal band Paramaecium was released .

While in Norway the Black Metal underground reached its zenith in 1994 with the one-man project Horde founded the former Mortification- and Paramaecium drummer Jayson Sherlock of Unblack Metal, named after Hordes sole album Hellig usvart (Norwegian for holy unschwarz , holy unblack ); this name was the answer to the Unholy Black Metal of Norwegian bands like Darkthrone and Mayhem .

Another style-defining black metal band is the band Antestor , founded in Norway in 1990 under the name Crush Evil , which, along with Horde, is one of the first and most important unblack metal bands, although they have been known as Crush Evil from their founding until their release first real album The Return of the Black Death 1998 played more Death- / Doom Metal . Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth , guitarist from Mayhem and founder of the Norwegian black metal movement, threatened the band in the early 1990s that the satanic scene would force them to break up, which never happened. Instead, Mayhem's drummer Jan Axel “Hellhammer” Blomberg played drums on her EP Det tapte liv from 2004 and her album The Forsaken from 2005.

Besides Antestor and Horde and the 1994 founded band belongs Admonish from Stockholm to the oldest groups in the Unblack Metal. Although founded in the early days of this direction, they only released their first EP Den Yttersta Tiden in April 2005 , which ironically was presented to the public at a concert at Club 666 in Stockholm .

When Nu Metal caught on in the mainstream at the end of the 1990s , the band POD (abbreviation for: Payable on Death ) celebrated success and shortly afterwards the Californian band As I Lay Dying was able to reach the top of the metal core , far beyond the borders of the Christian ones Move out the scene.

White metal

The white metal band Stryper with an elaborate stage show in 1986

To differentiate from bands that were assigned to black metal because of their satanic lyrics , Metal Blade Records used the term white metal when promoting the doom metal band Trouble , as the lyrics of that band often deal with Christian topics. The members of the band later distanced themselves from it, but the band is still often assigned to white metal by musicians like King Diamond , who went on tour with Trouble, but did not perceive their members as "hardcore Christians" and their lyrics for vaguer than Stryper's found. In contrast to bands like Stryper, Trouble was never about converting fans to Christianity.

The term white metal later referred to those Christian metal bands of the 1980s that were close to heavy metal , early power metal and glam metal . Typical representatives are Stryper , Bloodgood and Bride . The starting point and center of White Metal was the USA, there mainly starting from the American record company Enigma. Enigma signed several Christian bands of this style in the 1980s, motivated by the success of Stryper.

White metal spread quickly in the international metal scene. In Europe, for example, there were various white metal formations with the German band Creed (not to be confused with the American alternative rock band of the same name ) or the British band Seventh Angel , which were noticeable with at least moderate commercial success. The classic white metal bands of the 1980s are still very popular today, especially in South America and Japan.

In classical white metal, the grace and greatness of God or Jesus are treated lyrically in the sense of praise . But evangelism and the clear distancing from “evil” can also be found in the texts. In contrast to the later Unblack Metal, the lyrics have a positive, direct and striking effect and are strongly influenced by Reformation and evangelical influences. The band Stryper also combined their musical work with offensive evangelism, for example by giving away thousands of free Bibles during their concerts.

The term “white metal” has changed in meaning in the following years and is occasionally used by the trade press and by fans for all ideologically-Christian music of all metal styles - especially in contrast to satanic or occult varieties such as black metal and partly also Death Metal .

Representative

Unblack metal

horde
Antestor
Drottnar . The band's trademark are communist uniforms

Unblack Metal describes Christian Metal that uses stylistic elements from Scandinavian Black Metal . The term “Unblack Metal” goes back to the only album Hellig usvart , Norwegian for “Heilig unschwarz” , by the Horde project . The term itself is often viewed with suspicion and is rarely used by both the Christian and non-Christian scenes. Instead, the definition via the musical characteristics is preferred, but this in turn meets with rejection in traditional Black Metal, which is defined via Satanism .

The central theme in Unblack Metal is the Christian faith. However, in contrast to the sometimes bold worship texts of White Metal, the focus is on a gloomy angle. In Unblack Metal primarily negative aspects of life such as melancholy , sadness and inner despair , the arduous search for God or hatred and anger are illuminated. Bands like Crimson Moonlight let prophecy flow into their lyrics. But a clear distancing from evil also finds its way into strongly anti-satanic texts, such as those found on Hordes Hellig usvart, for example . Metaphor , biblical symbolism and an archaic style of language are typical linguistic features.

Positive poetry also finds its place in the form of prayers (e.g. Faader Vaar from Vaakevandring) and psalm settings, calls to faith (e.g. Fall of Man from Vaakevandring) or songs of praise and thanksgiving (e.g. Silent Witness from Vardøger).

The Unblack Metal scene is generally independent of Black Metal itself. All important record labels and distributions in the scene almost exclusively carry Christian bands. In Europe, however, partial collaboration with the non-Christian scene can also be observed, but only since the murder of scene founder and leading figure Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth and the departure of many scene members from Satanism and thus from traditional Black Metal itself. Stian, for example, produced Aarstad, then keyboardist for Dimmu Borgir , performed the demo of the Christian band Vaakevandring in 1997. Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg , drummer in Aarseth's band Mayhem , played in 2004 as a guest drummer for Antestor . An explicit demarcation is also not always desirable on the part of Christian bands. The German band Sacrificium sign z. B. 2006 signed a record deal with the Greek label Black Lotus Records, whose founder was an avowed Satanist. Also, some bands do not always present Christian topics openly and do not always deal with purely Christian topics. Slechtvalk's third album At the Dawn of War can be interpreted secularly without any effort.

In America, however, there is a more radical, strongly anti-satanic black metal scene with bands like Zurisadai, Azbuk, Moriah and Divine Symphony from Brazil or Hortor from Mexico, especially in the southern part of the continent. Their song lyrics often show a certain radicalism, which allows a willingness to use violence and an approval of the crusaders. The eschatological struggle between “good” and “bad”, as it is described in the Revelation of John , is a frequently used motif in black metal. Also on Charles Peter Wagner's idea of clergy warfare resorted to such. B. by Elgibbor and Frost like Ashes . In the USA, bands such as Eulogium or Horrific Majesty released in the scene labels Son of Man Records, Gud Er Sannhet and EEE, which exclusively lead black metal bands. Recently, however, the emergence of a more radical unblack scene can also be observed in Europe. For example, the Polish bands Firethrone and Elgibbor are pioneers.

In Sweden there is a small, specifically Roman Catholic scene around the bands Reverorum Ib Malacht and Döddföd , the former was founded by the former Ofermod guitarist Karl Hieronymous Emil Lundin and Karl Axel Mikael Mårtensson , among others . After they converted to Catholicism in 2010, the orientation of the content also changed. Although Reverorum ib Malacht pronounce meanwhile against Satanism, whose guitarist Nicklas Johan Lingvall is simultaneously anti-cosmic and satanic bands like Grav or Draug active.

The Polish band Batushka is also controversial , whose album Litourgiya deals with Russian Orthodox liturgy and leaves open whether their lyrics are to be seen from a Christian, satanic or anti-religious perspective.

In Europe, the Blast of Eternity festivals in Neckarsulm (Germany) and the Nordicfest in Oslo (Norway) are important centers for Unblack Metal.

Representative

Christian bands in other metal sub-styles

In addition to the two categorizations just mentioned, there are also bands that do not fall into the classic pattern of White or Unblack Metal and are at most called White Metal in the ideological definition for all Metal styles.

Heavy and Power Metal

The German power metal band Seventh Avenue at the Elements of Rock 2008

Bands like Seventh Avenue from Germany , Narnia and Divinefire from Sweden and Rob Rock and Sacred Warrior from the USA are among the most important and well-known in the field of Power Metal . For example, before founding his solo project, Rob Rock sang in bands and projects such as Impellitteri and in the band of guitarist Axel Rudi Pell and in the metal opera Avantasia by Edguy front man Tobias Sammet , where he lent his voice to the character Johann von Bicken. Ex-Narnia singer Christian Rivel, on the other hand, is the owner of the Rivel Records label , while his bandmate Carl Johann Grimmark plays the electric guitar in bands like Rob Rock and Savior Machine . Christian elements can occasionally be seen in Power Metal. Examples are Hey Lord from Helloween , Sadly Sings Destiny from Blind Guardian and Pray from Gamma Ray .

Death- and Melodic Death Metal

Aki Särkioja, bassist and singer of the melodic death metal band Immortal Souls , Metalfest 2007 Bad Hersfeld

The most important band in the field of Christian death metal bands is Mortification from Australia . Steve Rowe, singer and bassist of Mortification, founded the first exclusively Christian metal mail order company Rowe Productions, where he also reissued Horde's album Hellig usvart . Other important bands include the death / doom metal band Paramaecium from Australia and, more recently, Sacrificium from Germany.

In 1996 the Norwegian band Schaliach released Sonrise, one of the few melodic death metal albums in the Christian sector, but broke up after this CD. Sonrise was re-released by Momentum Scandinavia in 2005 with an additional song. One of the most important melodic death metal bands currently active is Immortal Souls from Finland , which was founded as a death metal band in the mid-1990s. In 1999 they released the split CD Divine Wintertime / Through the Woods, Towards the Dawn (the second part comes from a now defunct black metal band called Mordecai) in the direction of Melodic Death Metal. Immortal Souls have released four albums so far. Renascent also comes from Finland, some of which can be attributed to Melodic Death Metal.

Doom metal and subgenre

Topics with Christian connotations have been part of the Doom Metal scene since the Black Sabbath album Master of Reality from 1971, which included the track After Forever . After Forever is considered by some metal and rock chroniclers to be the very first Christian rock piece. The piece was often re-enacted by Christian metal bands and served as inspiration for some groups. With Trouble , the first lyrically completely Christian doom metal band was founded in 1979. Alongside Place of Skulls by Pentagram guitarist Viktor Griffin, they are one of the most important Christian-oriented bands in classic Doom Metal. Other groups such as Faith , Nomads Sons , Pÿlon or Troglodyte Dawn established themselves after the turn of the millennium, but did not achieve the popularity of the benchmarks Trouble and Place of Skulls. David Benson founded the doom metal band David Benson's Dbeality in 2006 after a number of commercially successful solo projects in heavy metal and hard rock . Robert Sweet from Stryper plays the drums, while session musicians are CJ Grimmark and Andreas Olsson from Narnia .

The death doom band Morphia

The epic doom band Veni Domine from Sweden is one of the most popular representatives of Christian epic dooms. Veni Domine drummer Thomas Weinesjö also plays in the Doom Metal influenced dark rock band Savior Machine . Savior Machine, one of the best-known Christian metal bands, became known far beyond the US borders with their musical trilogy Legend , which describes the apocalypse , the end of the world, in addition to the personality cult around singer and co-founder Eric Clayton . Other epic doom bands like Mirador or Forsaken are rare. In addition, groups of other Doom Metal subgenre deal with Christian topics. For example the death doom and gothic metal bands Paramaecium , Ashen Mortality , Seventh Angel , Century Sleeper (all four with the participation of guitarist Ian Arkley), Morphia and Virgin Black as well as the stoner doom bands Starchild , HypnoGog and Goliath . With Callisto there is also a Christian post-metal band.

Folk metal

There are also Christian bands in the folk metal sector, which are more likely to be classified as black metal, but also have - sometimes strong - folk influences. The Ukrainian band Holy Blood, for example, implements these borrowings through the use of flute and bagpipe , while the Norwegian bands Vaakevandring and Vardøger rely heavily on keyboards , the latter partly on the use of anthemic male vocals , as is often the case in Viking Metal is found, falls back.

Nu Metal and Metalcore

As I Lay Dying at the "With Full Force Festival" 2007

The best-known Christian Nu-Metal band is the American group POD , which achieved worldwide success with their album Satellite , especially around 2001 . A Christian worldview is more common in metalcore . With As I Lay Dying , August Burns Red , Blessthefall , For Today , Underoath , Disciple and Demon Hunter , some of the best-known American metalcore bands profess their beliefs and process corresponding motifs in their lyrics. Especially Facedown Records and Solid State Records have many less well-known US-based Christian metalcore bands under contract.

In Germany, Guideline Records is a well-known label, the Cologne band Arson combines emocore with Christian texts. Although there are few commercially successful Christian metalcore bands in Europe, Powermetal.de states in a review of the sampler Songs to Set Hearts on Fire : "In Europe, things seem to be going well with the Christian hard sausage." ( Lasse Rosenberger in November 2003 )

Other representatives

Controversy and criticism

The Christian rock band 2Tm2,3 performing in a church

Christian metal is at the focus of criticism in two ways.

Criticism from Christians and the public

On the one hand, the bands are accused by some conservative Christians that rock music is generally the devil and should not be heard or played by Christians. As evidence for these hypotheses are u. a. the preoccupation with occultism in metal, even in its beginnings ( Black Sabbath , Venom , Mercyful Fate , the later Black Metal movement), and alleged or actual backward messages . Furthermore, some rock bands are said to have an occult connection, so the name of the group KISS is supposed to stand for Knights in Satan's Service , Kings in Service of Satan or something similar. Those arguments often become the subject of anti- heretical writings against rock music and metal in particular.

On the other hand, Pastor Bob Beeman founded the Sanctuary International church in 1985, which endorses Christian metal. Pastor Bob, as he is called by the scene, has already given several speeches at festivals such as the Bobfest (which has nothing to do with the pastor's name, but a joking reference to the Christian festival Tomfest in the USA) and the Elements of Rock .

Criticism from the metal scene

The second focus of criticism comes from some parts of the non-Christian metal scene . Opinions range from ignoring and rejecting religion to mild ridicule to open hatred and direct contempt for Christianity. Christian metal is partly understood as an infiltration of the basic idea of ​​metal. This kind of criticism is especially present in the more extreme varieties, especially in Black Metal , which is generally anti-Christian and satanist . So said Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth from Mayhem in an interview regarding the band Crush Evil (later Antestor ):

“BUT - when it comes to bands like Crush Evil, we must take serious action. It's bad enough to have a couple of society bands, but a CHRISTIAN band is too much. But don't worry, we have plans. They will not continue for a very long time. "

“BUT - when it comes to bands like Crush Evil, we have to take serious action. It's bad enough to have some social bands, but one CHRISTIAN band is too much. But don't worry, we have plans. You won't go on much longer. "

- Øystein Aarseth

In the beginning, the open hatred of Christianity was an essential element in the entire black metal culture; in Scandinavia, for example, in the beginning of the local scene there was arson at churches and the like. a. by Varg Vikernes , sole member of the Burzum project and intermittent bass player for Mayhem.

The behavior of the church throughout history is often cited as a reason for rejecting Christianity . Events such as the forced missions , the Crusades , the Inquisition , and the persecution of witches and heretics are judged negatively. For example, the band XIV Dark Centuries talks about the origin of their band name in an interview:

“XIV Dark Centuries means the appropriation of the Germanic world by Christianity, which has been going on in our area for 14 centuries. We keep this time period for the dark centuries and it is time that the Germanic world turned back to the light. "

- Tobalt and Michael from XIV Dark Centuries : Interview for Legacy magazine

Dealing with power on the part of the church in the Middle Ages and early modern times also ensured that it was to be rejected. This rejection is carried over to the whole of Christianity by the followers of the corresponding scenes. These conclusions and associations are a constant element in the lyrics of many black metal bands.

Today, open hatred of Christianity is no longer omnipresent in Black Metal and the adjacent varieties. The number of musicians and metal fans who are openly hostile and who seriously demand the destruction of Christianity or at least Christian metal is now quite low.

So played z. B. Jan Axel Blomberg of Mayhem also drums on Antestor's album The Forsaken , although Mayhem was founded as a satanist band. Nevertheless, the hatred of Christianity and Satanism remain both a stylistic device that is very often taken up in song lyrics and graphic art in the scene and a point of identification for traditional black metal bands.

Trend-setting albums

Here some albums are mentioned that were and are formative for Christian Metal and its subgenres.

  • Soldiers Under Command (1985) by Stryper for white metal
  • Scrolls of the Megilloth (1992) by Mortification for Christian Death Metal
  • Hellig usvart (1994) by Horde for Unblack Metal
  • The Return of the Black Death (1998) by Antestor for Unblack Metal
  • "Escaping the stupor" (2006) and "Prey for your gods" (2014) by Sacrificium for death metal

media

Was the first major print media of the Christian metal scene in 1985, first published and which the Americans Doug Van Pelt launched Heaven's Metal magazine, which over the years become an important platform for unknown Christian bands such. B. Blindside , Project 86 , POD . In 1995 the magazine was renamed HM Magazin and from now on also reports on Christian rock and hard rock music. The HM magazine has become the most important and commercially successful magazine for Christian rock music and primarily serves the US market. In 2004 van Pelt started a new edition of Heaven's Metal as a fanzine and has been running both HM Magazine and Heaven's Metal since then .

In Sweden , Noizegate Music magazine reports on Christian and non-Christian music in the field of hard rock and metal . The Portuguese language magazine Extreme Brutal Death Mag is particularly important for the South American black metal scene . Individual editions are also published in English and are distributed internationally.

There are also pages and communities on the Internet that explicitly support Christian Metal and some have a lively forum life . Examples of this are the association Unblack from Switzerland from German-speaking countries , which is also closely associated with the annual Elements of Rock festival .

The documentary A Light In Darkness - Nemesis Divina by Stefan Rydehed examines the Unblack Metal in the form of interviews with Christian musicians and musicologists. A pre-release version of the film celebrated its world premiere at the Endtime Festival 2006 in Sweden and its German premiere at the Blast of Eternity Festival 2009 in Heilbronn .

Christian metal festivals

Christian music labels

See also

Web links

Commons : Christian metal music groups  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Larry Norman Dotcom ( December 1, 2006 memento in the Internet Archive ) accessed November 26, 2006.
  2. ↑ Albums by Jerusalem ( Memento of July 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) accessed November 26, 2006.
  3. ↑ rezflash , accessed on 26 November of 2006.
  4. ↑ Christian Metal History (English) accessed November 26, 2006.
  5. ↑ Christian Metal ( Memento from August 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English) accessed November 26, 2006.
  6. ↑ The Stryper Story ( Memento from March 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (English) accessed November 26, 2006.
  7. ↑ BNR Metal Pages - Vengeance Rising ( Memento of August 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English) accessed November 26, 2006.
  8. ↑ Erasmus: Horde ( Memento of December 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (English) accessed March 13, 2007.
  9. ↑ "The opening of the record store Helvete happened a few months after [Dead's suicide]. That's the creation of the whole Norwegian Black Metal scene — it's connected with that shop, the influence Euronymous had on the young customers in the shop, and how he convinced them of what was real and not real in this world. A lot of the guys in Immortal and Dark Throne [sic!] Were all into normal Death Metal and Euronymous showed them what Black Metal was really like, how things should be, and they followed him. Looking at the first Dark Throne album compared to the second, you can see Euronymous' influence on the second one, A Blaze in the Northern Sky . That's the first Norwegian Black Metal album after Deathcrush which was really big and an influence on the rest of the scene. [...] The whole Norwegian scene is based on Euronymous and his testimony from his shop. [...] He was always telling what he thought, following his own instincts to the true Black Metal stuff like corpsepaint and spikes, worshiping death and being extreme. " Michael Moynihan , Didrik Søderlind: Lords of Chaos . First edition. Feral House, 1998, ISBN 0-922915-48-2 , p. 39.
  10. ^ "Euronymous, his band Mayhem and other key figures in the scene would transform Venom's quasi-Satanic stage theatrics into a form of cultural expression unique from other forms of metal or Satanism. The early Nordic scene often suggested that they had no interest in making the world a better place or alleviating suffering; on the contrary, they asserted a desire to increase human suffering. Euronymous was the central figure involved in the formation of the Norwegian black metal scene. He established the look, sound and philosophy of the Norwegian scene and black metal as it exists today would not have existed without Euronymous. "Benjamin Hedge Olson: I am the Black Wizards: Multiplicity, Mysticism and Identity in Black Metal Music and Culture (PDF ) Bowling Green State University, May 2008, p. 27.
  11. ↑ a b Bård G. Eithun : Interview with Euronymous, done by Faust from Emperor for his zine Orcustus. In: Orcustus. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007 ; accessed on January 15, 2010 (English).
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  16. ↑ a b Luxi Lahtinen: Interview with Trouble.
  17. ^ Mike Meyer: Trouble . Unlucky Number Seven .
  18. ^ A Brief History of Christian Metal.
  19. ↑ a b Mark Putterford: A Kind of Magic. In: Kerrang! , 1987, pp. 10f.
  20. ↑ Götz Kühnemund : A History of Horror. In: Rock Hard , No. 282, November 2010, pp. 20-27.
  21. ↑ TROUBLE Drummer Talks Touring plan RETRO GRAVE Project. ( Memento from October 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  22. ↑ ANTESTOR: The Forsaken ( Memento of the original from January 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 2, 2006. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.crossover-agm.de
  23. ^ Antestor / Det Tapte Liv (EP) - Review , accessed December 2, 2006.
  24. ↑ Vardoger / White Frozen - Review , accessed on December 2 of 2006.
  25. ↑ Black Metal Primer Redux , Heaven's Metal # 67 2-3 / 07.
  26. ↑ http://www.invisibleoranges.com/reverorum-ib-malacht-interview/
  27. ↑ Reverorum Ib Malacht: De Mysteriis Dom Christi (Review / Critique) - Album Review (Black Metal / Ambient)
  28. ↑ Rock Hard - REVERORUM IB MALACHT - In the Ra Distare Summum Soveris Seris Vas
  29. ↑ Identity, Orthodoxy and Ambiguity in Extreme Metal Engagements with Religion - Contemporary religion in historical perspective
  30. ↑ Dead Languages, Divided Fans, Divinity Inverted: Inside Batushka's Polarizing Vision - Revolver
  31. ↑ Series: “Invert the inverted cross” - Metal for Christ . Retrieved February 2, 2007.
  32. ↑ BLACK SABBATH's GEEZER BUTLER: 'I Always Felt That God And Jesus Wanted Us To Love Each Other'. Blabbermouth, June 10, 2015, accessed March 8, 2018 .
  33. ↑ Aleksey Evdokimov: Doom Metal Lexicanum . Cult Never Dies, London 2017, ISBN 978-0-9933077-6-8 , Place of Skulls, pp. 187 f . (English).
  34. ↑ Lasse Rosenberger: Various Artists / Songs To Set Hearts On Fire - Review on Powermetal.de , November 23, 2003 (German), accessed on August 15, 2007.
  35. ↑ Alan Yusko, Ed Prior: RELIGIOUS ROCK ... The music of devils in the CHURCH (English) accessed December 19, 2006.
  36. ^ KISS Knights In Satan's Service.Retrieved December 19, 2006.
  37. ↑ a b c The Urban Legends of KISS .
  38. ↑ Christian Rock: Question and Answers Page (English) accessed March 7, 2007.
  39. ↑ Alan Yusko, Ed Prior: RELIGIOUS ROCK ... The music of devils in the CHURCH !!! (English) accessed March 7, 2007.
  40. ↑ a b What Cannibal Corpse Says ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English) accessed March 4, 2007.
  41. ↑ Markus Eck: xivdarkcenturies.de ( memento of September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) accessed March 10, 2007.
  42. ^ Andy Langer: Heaven's Metal . HM Editor / Publisher Doug Van Pelt's Hard-Rocking Christian Empire (English). Retrieved September 20, 2006.
  43. ↑ Weekly News - The Phantom Tollbooth (English) accessed September 20, 2006.