STRYPER Tours!

Yes, that's right, folks, the '80s glam-metal-turned-heavy-metal band from Orange County, STRYPER [Isaiah 53:5 - Salvation Through Redemption Yielding Peace, Encouragement, and Righteousness] is back! I know, I know, in THE GREAT DEBATE: Stryper: Christian or not? I ultimately reached the conclusion that they were but had gone apostate. I have been listening to some of their more recent albums and would like to correct that conclusion. I think around 2009 they were starting to come back to Christ but were still growing in their faith, but I think by their 2013 album No More Hell to Pay and definitely by 2015's Fallen, Stryper has returned, for good (which, honestly, is just amazing to me that they still are that talented and yet are over 50!)

But believe it or not, they are one of the few Christian metal bands left that are still touring! Yes, you heard me right! Just visit their website to see when and where they are playing in your area! Who knows, maybe I might see some of you there!

Q&A Session Deadline Now Extended To March 1st

See title above, and see Q&A post for rules.

Christian Metal Comparison Chart (updated 1/2/16, 1/3/16, 1/15/16, 1/26/16, 6/12/16)

Sorry for not posting very regularly. But here I have made a Christian Metal comparison chart, in which I will attempt to do my best to list different Christian metal bands and their secular counterparts. Please note that this is not a complete list. If you know of any answers to the blank spots, please do not hesitate to fill them in.

Secular Band                                      Christian Band                               Genre
Bon Jovi                           Stryper, Siloam (Sweet Destiny album)        Glam metal, heavy metal
Guns 'n' Roses                                      Traxter (only one album released)  Hard rock/glam metal
AC/DC                                                X-Sinner                                        Hard rock
Ratt                                                    Whitecross(the similarities are amazing) Heavy metal
                                                          Theocracy                                       Prog. power metal
                                                             Bride                                             Heavy/thrash metal
'Tallica (Metallica)                            Bloodgood                                       Heavy metal
Nirvana/Green Day                           Skillet                                             Alternative metal, hard rock
Nirvana                                             Disciple                                            Alternative metal
The Clash                                        Altar Boys                                               Punk rock
                                                           War of Ages                                     Death metal
Iron Maiden                                      Holy Soldier                                   Glam/heavy metal
Queensrÿche (I think that's how it's spelled) Barren Cross, Sacred Warrior   Hair/heavy metal
KISS, Twisted Sister                        Messiah Prophet                             Heavy metal/hard rock
Van Halen                                         Shout/Ken Tamplin                      Glam metal/hard rock



Hope you found this helpful, and again, if you have more to add, please feel free to do so!

Q&A Session!

Ok, I am going to do a Q and A session on here, so comment any Christian metal questions you have and I will do my best to answer them!

Rules:

• No swearing or insulting
• Questions have to be related to Christian metal, Christianity in metal, etc. (no random stuff)
• No spam
• It has to be a question - stuff like (Thrash metal rocks!) will not be counted
• Deadline is New Year's Eve
• Please no spoilers (for anything - there are a lot of Christian metal bands I've never listened to)
• Feel free to include suggestions for Christian metal bands along with your question
• Have fun!

Have Yourself A Metal Little Christmas (Updated 12/20/15)

Helloooo, everyone! Good dawn/morning/afternoon/evening/dusk/night/whatever-time-of-day-you-are-reading-this!

Today I am going to give you a list (with links) to several YouTube videos of metal Christmas songs. Seeing as this is a Christian blog, I have ruled out the following:

• Songs mentioning the Satanic church
• Songs that do not mention the Nativity (e.g. Deck the Halls, Jingle Bells, etc.) - EXCEPTION: Carol of the Bells (because that was so good I could not leave it out)

I have included the following:

• Instrumentals only (there are some; I have indicated them)
• Songs with vocals

If you know of any other Christian Christmas metal songs, please comment! Also, if you want to see a certain Christmas song metalized, let me know! There may not necessarily be a metal cover in existence, but that doesn't mean I won't make one! :) (Although it'll take me awhile so it probably won't be out until next Christmas).

Without further ado, here is the one, the only:

ULTIMATE CHRISTIAN CHRISTMAS METAL LIST (UCCML):

• Pastor Brad's Shred Metal "O Little Town of Bethlehem" - Instrumental
• Royal Anguish's Metal "Mary Did You Know?"
• Theocracy's Power Metal "O Come O Come Emmanuel"
• Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Progressive Rock "Carol of the Bells" - Instrumental
• LOUDMOUTH's Heavy Metal "Away in a Manger"
• Twisted Sister's Hard Rock "O Come All Ye Faithful"
• Jesus Love's Amazing Rock "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"
• The Human Tim and Cole Rolland's Rock/Metal "Good King Wenceslas" - Instrumental
• August Burns Red's Metalcore "Joy to the World"
• Jorge Niño Latina's Metal "O Holy Night" - Instrumental
• Deliverance's Thrash Metal "Silent Night"
• Orion's Reign's Power Metal "The First Noel" - Instrumental
• Steve Ouimette's Metal "We Three Kings" - Instrumental
• Forging Utopia's Metal "What Child is This?" - Instrumental

Enjoy, and have a very metal Christmas as we remember the Son of God!

Rock/Metal Band Rating System

Hello, everyone!

In the past, I have published some ratings on my favorite metal bands, and I would like to now clarify the rating system in which I have been using. This rating system applies to all metal and rock bands, not just Christian ones (although Christian bands are more likely to get higher ratings on message/content than secular bands).


Message/Content:

Qualifications:

Agrees with Scriptural teachings
Promotes Biblical values
Disagrees with secular worldviews

Musical Quality/Talent:

Qualifications:

Good quality guitar distortion
Complicated, aggressive riffs
Talented singers with good voices
Ability to understand what they are saying (even while they're screaming)

Now, to delve into the number system:

Message/Content can receive up to 10 points, while Musical Quality Talent can receive up to 5.

For Message/Content:

1/10 = Promotes secular worldviews, mocks biblical values and teachings
2/10 = Promotes secular worldviews, denies biblical values and teachings
3/10 = Promotes secular worldviews, does not address biblical values and teachings
4/10 = Promotes secular worldviews, addresses biblical values and teachings but doesn't necessarily mock them
5/10 = Does not address secular worldviews or biblical values and teachings
6/10 = Promotes biblical values and teachings, addresses secular worldviews but doesn't necessarily disagree with them
7/10 = Promotes biblical values and teachings, does not address secular worldviews
8/10 = Promotes biblical values and teachings, disagrees with secular worldviews
9/10 = Promotes biblical values and teachings, points out flaws in secular worldviews
10/10 = Promotes biblical values and teachings, points out flaws in secular worldviews and disagrees with them

For Musical Quality/Talent:

1/5 = Very poor quality distortion (or not even distorted at all), simple, non-aggressive riffs, poor quality singers with bad voices, unable to understand what they are saying (even when they're not screaming)
2/5 = Poor quality distortion, simple, slightly aggressive riffs, poor quality singers with average voices, barely able to understand what they are saying (even when they're not screaming)
3/5 = Average distortion, average, moderately aggressive riffs, average quality singers with average voices, somewhat able to understand what they are saying (even when they're screaming)
4/5 = Good quality distortion, talented, aggressive riffs, good quality singers with good voices, mostly able to understand what they are saying (even when they're screaming)
5/5 = Excellent quality distortion, highly talented, very aggressive riffs, high quality singers with excellent voices, completely able to understand what they are saying (even when they're screaming).

I have gone back and edited my ratings of Christian bands accordingly. If you disagree with this system or with any of my ratings of Christian metal/rock bands, let me know what you think I can fix!

Songs I've Been Practicing On The Elec. Guitar

Hey everyone! Just thought I'd share these songs I've been practicing on the electric guitar! Probably won't be doing this too often, because I had to record it through QuickTime, upload it, download it to iTunes, upload it to GarageBand, upload THAT to iMovie, and then I finally got this. So here it is.