Interesting Metal
(for the uninitiated):
Metal that is actually Gospel
(Posted: December 25, 2023)
Styper
Stryper are every bit as heavy as you would expect from any respectable 80s Heavy Metal band and then some. You will not believe how powerful their music is: clean—yet edgy—guitars, powerful drums, powerful voice, and choirs that will give you the goosebumps.
As you feel those harmonious choirs and crescendos reach your very soul, be reminded that there was no Auto-Tune or any other digital fakery back then, at the time these albums were recorded; the voices you are hearing are all their own, pure and true.
These guys are serious about their inspiration, and even more so about their mission.
I discovered Stryper in 1986, and their music has always been a part of my collection, ever since. Below are the two albums I think everyone should experience in their quest for a new kind of high:
To Hell with the Devil
“We’d like to let him know where he can go…”
In God we trust
(Posted: December 25, 2023)
Trouble
“The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of trouble…”
Trouble’s music is 100 shades darker than Stryper’s and their approach is—to say the least—unorthodox, but the message remains the same.
Masters of Doom, their music might sound a little rough around the edges to you, but those in the know will tell you otherwise: their sound is unique.
James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett (Metallica) once sneaked onto Trouble’s stage, after a concert, just to see how Trouble had their amps set up for that unique sound.
Psalm 9
Don’t let the bad artwork deceive you; Psalm 9 is serious Metal, and it is as hard core as it is Gospel.
That said, because those of us in the know understand that nothing is gratuitous, in the realm of metal, except, perhaps, for vice, sex, violence, satanism, and, in general, low morals… I would like to submit the following to you, not that it’s earth-shattering or in any way impactful, but, what the hell, you have already read this far and only one more paragraph remains:
This is pure speculation on my part… and it’s not like I have spent hours looking at the picture under different types of lighting while experiencing different moods; I am not an art critic; I am not a scholar; it just jumps at me like a king cobra in a fertility ritual: the bad artwork of this album is alluding to Golgotha: notice the shape of the tree… on top of a skull-shaped hill… They could have done a better job for sure, but it’s not like they had AI to draw the picture, in 1984, like everyone does nowadays for the vacuous, money-making shorts people post on YouTube and TiKToK to keep generations of morons effortlessly entertained and separated from the reality they live in. I bet you regret reading this last paragraph now.
(Posted: December 25, 2023)
Black Sabbath
Yes, the title above is Black Sabbath. Why? Because it is time to set the record straight both about Ozzy’s Black Sabbath, and about Ozzy himself.
My case is simple: Below are the words to the song After Forever; please read and be amazed. This song dates back to 1971.
After Forever
Have you ever thought about your soul - can it be saved?
Or perhaps you think that when you're dead you just stay in your grave
Is God just a thought within your head or is he a part of you?
Is Christ just a name that you read in a book when you were in school?
When you think about death do you lose your breath or do you keep your cool?
Would you like to see the Pope on the end of a rope - do you think he's a fool?
Well I have seen the truth, yes I've seen the light and I've changed my ways
And I'll be prepared when you're lonely and scared at the end of our days
Could it be you're afraid of what your friends might say
If they knew you believe in God above?
They should realize before they criticize
that God is the only way to love
Is your mind so small that you have to fall
In with the pack wherever they run
Will you still sneer when death is near
And say they may as well worship the sun?
I think it was true it was people like you that crucified Christ
I think it is sad the opinion you had was the only one voiced
Will you be so sure when your day is near, say you don't believe?
You had the chance but you turned it down, now you can't retrieve
Perhaps you'll think before you say that God is dead and gone
Open your eyes, just realize that he's the one
The only one who can save you now from all this sin and hate
Or will you still jeer at all you hear? Yes! I think it's too late.