MovieChat Forums > Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2006) Discussion > IT APPEARS THAT SAM DUNN DOES NOT KNOW A...

IT APPEARS THAT SAM DUNN DOES NOT KNOW ABOUT CHRISTIAN METAL!!!!

posted 17 years ago by mbgraphics
68 replies | jump to latest

I was disappointed that there was no mention of Christian Metal in the movie, even though it has been, and still is a huge part of the metal scene...
Starting in the 1970s with...
• Rez Band http://www.resurrectionband.com,
to the 80s and beyond with...
• Stryper http://www.stryper.com,
• Galactic Cowboys http://www.galacticcowboys.com
• Deliverance http://www.myspace.com/thebigdlives,
• Mortification http://www.soundmass.com/rowe
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&f riendid=33577610!

For three decades now, a huge festival called Cornerstone http://www.cornerstonefestival.com has taken place in Illinois each summer! All aspects of metal's sounds and sub-genres are represented by some of the most amazing bands!
To learn more, check out
HM Magazine http://www.hmmagazine.com and
Heaven's Metal Magazine http://www.hmmagazine.com/heavensmetal to see what's up.

Sam should correct this horrendous oversite and explain why he ignored it to begin with!!

[–] mofo_111 17 years ago

huge? maybe in your part of the world, its fairly modest over here, though I have seen two local christian metal bands, one of them was crap the other awesome. Saw mortification last year and they were generally average, seen better shows from kids playing their first gig.

maybe it deserved a mention but it wasn't a 'horrendous oversight,' anyways bands like haggard and therion should have been mentioned before mortification

[–] mbgraphics 16 years ago

Yes, and I saw (insert names of your favorite bands here) play recently, and one of them was crap and the other was no better than the band that played at my high school's dance. Bla, bla, bla.
Translation: I only like my bands! They are the only ones who truly know how to play their instruments. All of the other bands are hacks and posers. And if the band is Christian, then they have no clue how to play metal.
I am so tired of hearing such narrow minded comments from the ignorant and uninformed.... the school ground equivalent of "my daddy can beat your daddy up". Seriously, if this is the limit...a prime example of the best analysis you can offer, then why bother? Just beause you may have once seen a Christian band or two that in your mind did not meet your unqustionable standards, does not mean that the rest of the intelligent and free thinking world should not have an opportunity to listen to and analyze it for themselves. The trouble is, most metal fans are not aware of this huge, underground movement which since the early 80's has included its own festivals, magazines and music labels.

[–] mephisto_magi 16 years ago

"mbgraphics :
Yes, and I saw (insert names of your favorite bands here) play recently, and one of them was crap and the other was no better than the band that played at my high school's dance. Bla, bla, bla.
Translation: I only like my bands! They are the only ones who truly know how to play their instruments. All of the other bands are hacks and posers. And if the band is Christian, then they have no clue how to play metal.
I am so tired of hearing such narrow minded comments from the ignorant and uninformed.... the school ground equivalent of "my daddy can beat your daddy up". Seriously, if this is the limit...a prime example of the best analysis you can offer, then why bother? Just beause you may have once seen a Christian band or two that in your mind did not meet your unqustionable standards, does not mean that the rest of the intelligent and free thinking world should not have an opportunity to listen to and analyze it for themselves. The trouble is, most metal fans are not aware of this huge, underground movement which since the early 80's has included its own festivals, magazines and music labels."

--

Why would you think that he is generally biased against christian metal? Just because he thought one band played "average" means nothing you moron. I have seen heaps of bands that i like that have played average live, does that mean that i'm narrow minded? No you idiot it means the band played bloody average. He was talking about the way the music was played not the style, not the sub genre or anything else you want to label it as... and anyway who gives a rats ass if your "section" of metal wasn't listed... it was a movie / doco about metal in general it doesn't have to list everything. Why is it that religious people always whinge when something they specifically want mentioned isn't? Get over yourself and watch the movie for the style it represents.

Otherwise shut up and don't listen to metal. It's that simple.

[–] CaptHilts 16 years ago

Christian Metal is NOT a subgenre of Metal. It's not even a kind of music. You can't hear a guitar riff and say, Hey that sounds kinda christian. Lyrical content does not define the genre. Your personal beliefs do not define the genre. If I write songs about how much I hate Bush, have I just invented Democratic Metal???

However, since Dunn did delve into the whole Satanic side of Metal, it would have been interesting to note that there are Born Again Christian bands, playing almost identical music. Metal is a sound, not an agenda.

"And if the band is Christian, then they have no clue how to play metal."

So you're saying that if the guitarist from Anthrax were to become a Christian, he would cease to know how to play Thrash Metal?? Wait....HE DID. And he can still kick ass.

Heavy Metal is NOT a direct response to religion. Religion is mentioned so much because of the dark themes, and apocalyptic visions, etc. And if you want to play music that sounds evil, well, why not sing about the devil.

And DFLE.........we're trying to dicuss METAL!!!!!!!! Leave Midnight Oil out of this. They suck ass. They are the most UNoriginal pop band ever to make the One Hit Wonder List. And making a reference to religion doesn't make you a Christian band. We already know you're ignorant. Why do you feel the need to spend so much time proving it.

Hey man, you gotta joint?
No man, not on me.
It'd be alot cooler if you did.......

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] tadgooserelli 16 years ago

You moron!!! Why wouldn't the reviews on freakin Amazon.com be anything but good. Most of the people wo are going to Amazon.com and buying Midnight Oil are doing it with that sole purpose in mind. At this point in time nobody just "happens upon" Midnight Oil.

You say casual listeners could say Metallica is a one hit wonder? Dude, "One", "Enter Sandman", "Unforgiven", "Sad But True", "Until It Sleeps", etc...obviously there isn't a single person that could logically argue that Metallica is a one hit wonder band.

I have listened to Coldseed and I do kind of like their sound. However, what they are doing is not even close to being groundbreaking. Metallica was.

Now, this for everyone. Yes, metal needs to have a certain sound, certain feel. But metal, in whatever shape it takes, is a product of its environment. Plain and simple. There are different genres of metal that I hate! But just because I hate doesn't make it "not metal". It makes it crap music, but it is still metal.

But I must warn everyone. Remember what I said; metal must have a certain sound. Just because you like it doesn't mean it is metal.

[–] Meven_Stoffat 16 years ago

Dfle3, as usual you're injecting your bullsh-t into such an intelligent thread, and you already did it multiple times in this thread.

Again with the Paris Hilton? What are you gonna call me? Caught Somewhere In Paris Hilton?

Midnight Oil are a cruddy pop band who's boring, and Just because YOU like them, doesn't mean we like them.

If you think crud like "Kill 'em all" and "Ride the lightning" are 'classic', you don't know what you are talking about

REALLY? So because we like what are considered some of the best Metal albums of all time, we don't know what we are talking about?

And HOW MANY FREEKIN' TIMES DO YOU HAVE TO MENTION ABBA???????

LAST FILMS SEEN:
Layer Cake: 8/10
Iron Maiden: Live After Death (concert): Infinite/10

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] BaalMan78 16 years ago

He didn´t mention many other styles, such as gothic metal and doom, so stop crying

[–] mbgraphics 16 years ago

Christian Metal is not just "another style"...it is a complete sub-genre covering all aspects and styles of metal. It even has different festivals around the world each year. The big one each year here in the USA is
Cornerstone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Festival
http://www.cornerstonefestival.com
Christian Metal most definitely is HUGE!

[–] mofo_111 16 years ago

just saying man that I see a lot of local acts and a few of the national bands and as many international tours as I can afford and mortification didn't really put that much effort into their show (though it wasn't the greatest venue and the crowd was small). Maybe they've got good albums and have done some mad live performances but based on what I saw they didn't deserve a mention in headbanders journey, they just lacked the spirit that bands playing their arse off do. and I said one the LOCAL christian bands was good, awesome thrash metal, the other just had boring songs, you know?

anyways they talked about toms (slayer) religion, he's a catholic. Or is denomination important when it comes to christian metal?

[–] crystal_castles 16 years ago

I hate that sucky christian bands like P.O.D and Switchfoot seeem to get the most attention, from both christians and music fans. There are loads of very intense/heavy christian metal bands who are all trying to do their own thing. For example:

August Burns Red-Amazing christian metalcore, better than all the other metalcore bands.
Extol-Very bleak and experimental black/progessive metal, some weird as *beep* sounding stuff on their latest album.
Norma Jean-Experimental hardcore, one pf my all time favorite bands who quite frankly sound like the audiable version of someone being burned alive. Absolutley insane.

To name a few.

Ironically, im not christian. But I respect how good the christian metal/hardcore scene is at the moment.

Mosh 'N Roll

[–] beast_regards 16 years ago

I can't believe people are fighting for Christian Metal to be featured on a HEAVY METAL DVD, it would kind of...contradict the whole point of his documentary. Fact is: Christian Metal isn't Heavy. Therefore wasn't included. End of. Stop your bitching.

and PMSL to the guy who said Kill 'Em All and Ride The Lightning aren't classic albums.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] RagingDoug 16 years ago

That's because it doesn't exist. Metal and metal culture is a direct reaction to christianity, and the two can never coexist. They are completely fundamentally and ideologically opposed. There may be Christian heavy music, but there is no such thing as Christian metal.

[–] mofo_111 16 years ago

I was going to ask were there any christian black metal bands, but you say extol? I'll have to keep my ears open. Is Virgin Black a christian metal band? They sounded alright but a bit depressing for me.

Metal would be anti all organised religion, just most of the major bands are from countries where christianity is the dominant religion. So I hear their are metal bands in the middle east? Would they not be anti-islam?

Anyways most metal musicians and fans don't really give a *beep* about any religion, as long as they are free to drink beer and listen to the music they like.

[–] JamesValentine1979 16 years ago

I was going to ask were there any christian black metal bands

Hi mofo 111. Give 'Antestor' http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&f riendID=64087705 and 'Crimson Moonlight' http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&f riendID=61330404 a go. I've got the latest 'Antestor' album and it's pretty cool progressive, melodic black metal.

In response to the original poster- this doco was only 80ish? minutes long and IMO did a great job of covering a very diverse genre in that short time. Plenty of subgenres were missed and to be honest, although Christian metal would be fascinating from an anthropological perspective it isn't influential enough to justify inclusion in such a short doco. While I agree there've been some bad Christian bands the ones typically cited ('Stryper' and 'P.O.D.') are really no worse than most glam and nu bands.
_________________________________________________________________
"Sex and violence. I love children's television", Frazz- Press Gang

[–] closebutnocigar 16 years ago

well said

[–] steveo375 16 years ago

nice spam a -sshole!

[–] kingcarcas 16 years ago

Uncosher Jew speaks the truth, that is because they are False Metal.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Scottdk 16 years ago

And he left out Hindu metal!!! And buddhist!!! And Muslim!!! AND Atheist as a choice of belief.

But they're not real religions anyway, are they ;)

Maybe the show is just about the music... hmm...
Maybe the bands are chosen on their musical merits and universal historical importance...

Hey, I think I get it. It WAS a show about MUSIC, not about religious labels applied to bands. Yeah, that could be it! That could be why they left out a bunch of bands that most of us have never heard of (unless we specifically seek out a band that labels itself to be aligned with our belief system - then we would have heard of them. Somehow the label "Christian" is isolating them from a larger audience. What if they shed the label, and played for anybody. Maybe their message would get through to some new people)

[–] varathron1 16 years ago

the only xtian metal band i like is HORDE, who play un-black metal...

[–] Quanfa 16 years ago

Another State of Mind (punk) had a small piece on christian punk and it was hysterical. In the end there's just no way to make christianity cool - no matter how hard someone might try, it just ends up something to laugh at.

[–] varathron1 16 years ago

For sure. Just look at HORDE's song titles..."Release and Clothe the Virgin Sacrifice", "Silence the Blasphemous Chanting", "Invert the Inverted Cross", etc lol

[–] JamesValentine1979 16 years ago

Ummmm... the author of those Horde song titles (Jayson Stevens IIRC) was having a laugh. He's a sincere Christian but that album was at least partly intended to be a joke. You know, tongue firmly in cheek?
_____________________________________________________________________________
"Sex and violence. I love children's television", Frazz- Press Gang

[–] Sodominion 16 years ago

Christian Metal is not a very known or prominent genre. Sam not covering doom, gothic and progressive metal is something to be bothered about though. In fact he hardly covers any extreme form of metal (viking, doom, death, grindcore and even black for that matter) properly.
But even then it was over all a very decent documentary.

[–] seekndestroy 12 years ago

you're the hero of this thread, dude.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] aliens-are-pussies 16 years ago

he didn't put christian metal in it because christian metal just *beep* sucks
balls. it doesn't deserve to be on the same chart as those other bands such as slayer,pantera,dimmu borgir,etc..

so yeah theres your answer, it sucks so there was no need for it in the movie,i would have been very disapointed with this movie if there had been any christian metal band mentions in it, because metals not about jesus, its about burning jesus.\m/

[–] mcrock316 16 years ago

all cristian music sucks
Lets Get Stoned and watch the King of Queens

[–] closebutnocigar 16 years ago

christianity has no place in metal.

Some seek shelter in the church
A refuge for those with faith
But we know how to smoke them out
A pyre will be raised

But those who choose to stand and fight
Will die with dignity
For the unfortunate few who survive
Waits a life in slavery

Amon Amarth - Gods Of War Arise