Metalcore....what comes to your mind when you think of this music genre? "It's Satanic!" "I don't listen to this "music"..."I LOVE it!!!" I'm sure you've heard many perspectives throughout your life. I would say right now, this is the favorite genre of music in my life. Growing up, when I went to Christian music festivals, I was absolutely TERRIFIED of this kind of music. I would purposely always avoid the heavy metal stage at all costs.
I remember one time when I was about 13 years old, it was the middle of Sonshine Festival (Minnesota's largest Christian music festival) and my three friends literally DRAGGED me to the heavy metal stage, and I painfully slid through the doors. For the first time in my life I heard these horrifying screams and I kept walking close and closer. Out of nowhere, I turned around and there was this young man, lng brown flowy hair that went down past his shoulders, ear gauges, tattoo sleeves on both his arms that smiled at me and was like, "Hey, how are you? you should totally come to our show this evening!" I just stood there in absolute horror, and RAN as fast as my Lietuve legs could carry me out of the heavy metal stage arena.....(Honestly, looking back on this hilarious situation, if I were to run into that same musician guy today, I would have thought he was totally a cutie....) funny how things can change....
As you may have noticed I used "Christian" and "Metalcore" in the same sentence. Is this legally possible you may say? YES. indeed it is. Growing up I was told that metalcore music was "Ungodly" and for a while I believed it. I would say up until I was 19 years old, I didn't particularly listen to this genre. and now, at the age of 20 I absolutely LOVE it. If you listen to the lyrics of some Chrismetalcore bands, you will quickly discover that they are literally screaming the gospel and screaming about Jesus. How much more beautiful can that be? For some, they find this reality appauling, but for me, it's a soul melody to my heart. What changed you ask? I would say the past 3 years of my life have been the most life changing as I continue to walk in my relationship with Jesus. He has brought me through places I never dreamed in my life I would get to experience. My passion for Jesus has grown so much in the past several years, I've simply gotten to the point in my faith walk where I can't simply worship Jesus with just a sweet melody, but rather my heart is telling me to PASSIONATLEY SCREAM of JESUS LOVE. This act is my true heart reflection back to what Jesus has done in my life and continues to do. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy worshipping Jesus by singing a calm worship song every now and then, but in this current season of my life, screaming is where my heart is at.
It's funny how the concept of metalcore culturally crosses over. I have been confronted several times with various religious people in Europe where they have told me that my passion for Christian metalcore music is "Ungodly" As they looked me in the eyes I just kinda stood there and pretended to cough on a chunk of dislodged banana that was non existent stuck in my throat. In all honestly, I COMPLETELY disagree. It's NOT the music genre which is UNGODLY rather, the intention and affect the music has on someone." When it comes to music ministry evangelism, I believe that PROVACATIVE ART is going to change humanity....let me repeat....PROVACATIVE ART.........(this is a concept I learned at my missions school in Germany this past summer) By provocative, I mean controversial art with a meaningful Christian message that gets humanity's attention. There's nothing wrong with cute fluffy pink cupcake art, it's just that in today's society, to get humanity's attention about Jesus, you have to be willing to go that extra creative kilometer. So for me personally, I consider metalcore with a Christian message to be a provocative art....
Just from traveling around Europe the past several years, I have noticed a huge trend in metalcore music in countries such as Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, and many more countries in south eastern Europe. I guess Lithuania, has yet to see it's first Christian metal core band.....one of these years....=) I can only imagine the impact Christian metal core can have on humanity, especially in this part of the world if a few people were willing to step up and make that bold difference.......
btw, if you haven't already, feel free to check out my favorite Christian metal core band: FOR TODAY........Out of all the metalcore band's I've ever listened to in my life, I firmly believe they are one of the few bands who have truly captured the art of "SCREAMING OF JESUS LOVE"..........<3
I remember one time when I was about 13 years old, it was the middle of Sonshine Festival (Minnesota's largest Christian music festival) and my three friends literally DRAGGED me to the heavy metal stage, and I painfully slid through the doors. For the first time in my life I heard these horrifying screams and I kept walking close and closer. Out of nowhere, I turned around and there was this young man, lng brown flowy hair that went down past his shoulders, ear gauges, tattoo sleeves on both his arms that smiled at me and was like, "Hey, how are you? you should totally come to our show this evening!" I just stood there in absolute horror, and RAN as fast as my Lietuve legs could carry me out of the heavy metal stage arena.....(Honestly, looking back on this hilarious situation, if I were to run into that same musician guy today, I would have thought he was totally a cutie....) funny how things can change....
As you may have noticed I used "Christian" and "Metalcore" in the same sentence. Is this legally possible you may say? YES. indeed it is. Growing up I was told that metalcore music was "Ungodly" and for a while I believed it. I would say up until I was 19 years old, I didn't particularly listen to this genre. and now, at the age of 20 I absolutely LOVE it. If you listen to the lyrics of some Chrismetalcore bands, you will quickly discover that they are literally screaming the gospel and screaming about Jesus. How much more beautiful can that be? For some, they find this reality appauling, but for me, it's a soul melody to my heart. What changed you ask? I would say the past 3 years of my life have been the most life changing as I continue to walk in my relationship with Jesus. He has brought me through places I never dreamed in my life I would get to experience. My passion for Jesus has grown so much in the past several years, I've simply gotten to the point in my faith walk where I can't simply worship Jesus with just a sweet melody, but rather my heart is telling me to PASSIONATLEY SCREAM of JESUS LOVE. This act is my true heart reflection back to what Jesus has done in my life and continues to do. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy worshipping Jesus by singing a calm worship song every now and then, but in this current season of my life, screaming is where my heart is at.
It's funny how the concept of metalcore culturally crosses over. I have been confronted several times with various religious people in Europe where they have told me that my passion for Christian metalcore music is "Ungodly" As they looked me in the eyes I just kinda stood there and pretended to cough on a chunk of dislodged banana that was non existent stuck in my throat. In all honestly, I COMPLETELY disagree. It's NOT the music genre which is UNGODLY rather, the intention and affect the music has on someone." When it comes to music ministry evangelism, I believe that PROVACATIVE ART is going to change humanity....let me repeat....PROVACATIVE ART.........(this is a concept I learned at my missions school in Germany this past summer) By provocative, I mean controversial art with a meaningful Christian message that gets humanity's attention. There's nothing wrong with cute fluffy pink cupcake art, it's just that in today's society, to get humanity's attention about Jesus, you have to be willing to go that extra creative kilometer. So for me personally, I consider metalcore with a Christian message to be a provocative art....
Just from traveling around Europe the past several years, I have noticed a huge trend in metalcore music in countries such as Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, and many more countries in south eastern Europe. I guess Lithuania, has yet to see it's first Christian metal core band.....one of these years....=) I can only imagine the impact Christian metal core can have on humanity, especially in this part of the world if a few people were willing to step up and make that bold difference.......
btw, if you haven't already, feel free to check out my favorite Christian metal core band: FOR TODAY........Out of all the metalcore band's I've ever listened to in my life, I firmly believe they are one of the few bands who have truly captured the art of "SCREAMING OF JESUS LOVE"..........<3
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