So... my friend listens to black metal, and I've heard some pretty shocking stories that the Swedes did to church's and stuff. I'm Catholic, but I love metal, and I'm starting to like the old black metal that is Burzum, Bathory, and Mayhem.
Now, my logical understanding is that black metal has to do with some pretty evil stuff, that talk about anti-religious movement, and some even going as far as to praising the devil. Personally, I can't even understand half the shit when I listen to the song anyway, and I don't even tend to look up the lyrics to even understand what the hell is going on.
So here's my question, is listening to black metal a sin? I don't understand the lyrics so I'm somewhat not exactly acknowleding the message it has in the song, I'm only listening to the awesome guitars, drums, and of course crappy quality.
I do not plan to worship the devil anytime soon, and I highly am against the material in most songs *especially the lyrics*
This is a serious question guys, music is pretty important, but faith also comes first.
"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.”
blubbdavid Switzerland. April 22 2012 21:15. Posts 2241
I listen to a lot of proggy bands already like BTBAM, and Protest the Hero, I just want to fit in more genre's so I have a lot of substance depending on my mood.
"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.”
I wouldn't think so. To be honest, the lyrical content of most all black metal is pretty laughable anyway. If you enjoy the music, you should feel free to indulge. This isn't an amazingly satisfying solution from a rational standpoint, but I mean...in the end, I highly doubt the music itself will cause you to denounce God and hurt people or burn churches or anything.
More than 3/4 of metal has garbage lyrics, and from my experience, the majority of black metal really is just a bunch of long and archaic sounding words strung together recorded through a terrible mic to the point it's really just background noise over actual narration.
If all else fails, just hold it at arm's length. This is music they may have created out of passion for what they believe in. You can at least respect that from an outside perspective. Even if the stuff they did outside of that is monstrous (which the stuff you're referring to is), it's a stretch to go from you listening and enjoying it to condoning or supporting it...especially if you're pirating the music (;
Hello
Fishgle United States. April 22 2012 21:36. Posts 1579
how old are you? maybe you should ask your parents. >_>
you said it yourself, you don't listen to the lyrics. who cares if they're screaming "god is dead" or something. it's enjoyable, and it doesn't affect you in the slightest unless you allow it to.
I think PH hit the nail on the head on this one. I'm pretty satisfied with the way I enjoy black metal, I just disregard any of the garbage and just listen to the rest. (I stream the music on grooveshark)
@Fishgle I'm 21, but my parents don't even know where to begin if I told them I listen to a band where the members burned around 20 or something church's and killed a person, it's more complicated... haha
On the topic of black metal, any recommendations preferably true norwegian black metal? Or any other great bands?
"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.”
iTzSnypah United States. April 22 2012 21:58. Posts 1218
not all black metal is about devil and evil, if you are so deeply concerned with that, then choose black metal bands with different lyrics
and besides, if you don't mean this shit for real, why would it be a sin? You enjoy the music, i find it perfectly fine.
Some recommendations:
(get this album)
(get this album)
(more of a shoegaze)
Also listen to immortal, satyricon, negura bunget, bathory, darkthrone, forgotten woods, darkspace, gorgoroth, mayhem, rotting christ, alatyr, blut aus nord, of the wand and the moon (more folk)
Last edit: 2012-04-22 22:11:06
TheMaestro
Fishgle United States. April 22 2012 22:05. Posts 1579
On April 22 2012 21:54 zZygote wrote: I think PH hit the nail on the head on this one. I'm pretty satisfied with the way I enjoy black metal, I just disregard any of the garbage and just listen to the rest. (I stream the music on grooveshark)
@Fishgle I'm 21, but my parents don't even know where to begin if I told them I listen to a band where the members burned around 20 or something church's and killed a person, it's more complicated... haha
On the topic of black metal, any recommendations preferably true norwegian black metal? Or any other great bands?
haha ok. didn't mean to be rude or anything, just seemed a rather odd question.
umm well you're already listening to the biggest black metal bands i think. Burzum, Immortal, Emporer. Those are the only ones i've heard personally. On a less beat blast-y vein, there's Opeth, which has gone from black metal to melodic death metal to acoustic to prog. If you're looking for a band with a bit more variety, Opeth is amazing.
Some: shoegazy stuff with black metal influences
Neurosis! my personal favorite metal band
annnd you've probably heard of Mastodon, but how about the better Southern metal band, Baroness?
I can't help but chuckle every time I read something to the effect of "true norwegian black metal". It reminds me of this masterpiece:
I don't listen as much as I should to black metal since I prefer doom or death metal but this band is pretty nice.
The cur foretells the knell of parting day; The loafing herd winds slowly o'er the lea; The wise man homeward plods; I only stay to fiddle-faddle in a minor key.
sc4k United Kingdom. April 22 2012 22:10. Posts 4403
First off, a small correction - the first noteworthy black metal movement originated in norway, not sweden, and inded there were some acts of violence and burnings of churches. Metal in itself is a style of music that values individualism and non-conformity and opposes rigid power structure. Hence, most metal bands tend to reject and oppose religion as a whole, and christianity in particular since the music originates in countries with christian culture and as a result, anti-christian aesthetics are widespread in metal culture. On the bright side, this also means that you dont have to subscribe to any particular world view to "be allowed" to listen to meal music, though other metalheads will probably not understand your ties to religion and may even ridicule you for them.
Personally, i dont think that black metal is inherently satanistic. Opposition to christian teachings is often achieved by either embracing that which christianity condemns (eg sin and pagan or devil worship) or perverting that which it upholds. Black metal is, in my opinion, however inherently nihilistic and generally rejects the value of life and authority. (all out satanism would affirm that there are sutructures and authorities that are worth upholidng, which is not very blak metal in my opinion).
As a result, i would argue that, if you listen to black metal because you find its musical aesthetics pleasing, but dont allow its antireligious and nihilistic world view into your head, you should be fine. the only problem i see is that you might end up "in between two chairs" (i dont know if that figure of speech exists in the english language): you might alienate yourself from other metal fans because they dont understand that you cling to your faith, while at the same time your friends and/or elders in the faith will probably have trouble in coming to terms with your choice of music. this, of course, also depends on how conservative your congregation truly is.
If you dont want to compromise, you can try some bands outside of the original norwegian school of black metal. the american band "wolves in the throne room" plays a decent black metal, but their lyrics are focused on the broken relation between human society and nature. There is also a movement of "Unblack Metal", which uses the musical elements of black metal, but with a christian and life affirming outlook in the lyrical content. It is heavily debated in the metal community whether or not this is truly black metal (in my opinion it is not), but the musical elements are the same. I cant point you to any bands here, but some googling might do the trick.
hope i could help! \m/
"I'm still confused, but on a higher level" ~Fermi
On April 22 2012 21:54 zZygote wrote: I think PH hit the nail on the head on this one. I'm pretty satisfied with the way I enjoy black metal, I just disregard any of the garbage and just listen to the rest. (I stream the music on grooveshark)
@Fishgle I'm 21, but my parents don't even know where to begin if I told them I listen to a band where the members burned around 20 or something church's and killed a person, it's more complicated... haha
On the topic of black metal, any recommendations preferably true norwegian black metal? Or any other great bands?
haha ok. didn't mean to be rude or anything, just seemed a rather odd question.
umm well you're already listening to the biggest black metal bands i think. Burzum, Immortal, Emporer. Those are the only ones i've heard personally. On a less beat blast-y vein, there's Opeth, which has gone from black metal to melodic death metal to acoustic to prog. If you're looking for a band with a bit more variety, Opeth is amazing.
wait, what? I mean, Opeth is amazing and should have a place in everyones music collection, but when were these guys ever black metal? 0.0 (sorry for OT)
"I'm still confused, but on a higher level" ~Fermi
shucklesors Singapore. April 22 2012 22:17. Posts 1136
On April 22 2012 21:18 zZygote wrote: I listen to a lot of proggy bands already like BTBAM, and Protest the Hero, I just want to fit in more genre's so I have a lot of substance depending on my mood.
I think those two bands are fine. Metalcore offers a lot of christian bands with extremely meaningful lyrics though, if you could try appreciating them it'd be very rewarding, otherwise it may just not be your thing
Well, mostly the "anti-christian" stuff there is just that which come from the hipocrisy of christianity. Like, I don't have anything against christianity but choose not to believe.
However, when it comes to music I don't think that you should stop listening to a genre or something just because some of the bands are satanic, the music is awesome. So just go for it.
（╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Fishgle United States. April 22 2012 22:21. Posts 1579
On April 22 2012 21:54 zZygote wrote: I think PH hit the nail on the head on this one. I'm pretty satisfied with the way I enjoy black metal, I just disregard any of the garbage and just listen to the rest. (I stream the music on grooveshark)
@Fishgle I'm 21, but my parents don't even know where to begin if I told them I listen to a band where the members burned around 20 or something church's and killed a person, it's more complicated... haha
On the topic of black metal, any recommendations preferably true norwegian black metal? Or any other great bands?
haha ok. didn't mean to be rude or anything, just seemed a rather odd question.
umm well you're already listening to the biggest black metal bands i think. Burzum, Immortal, Emporer. Those are the only ones i've heard personally. On a less beat blast-y vein, there's Opeth, which has gone from black metal to melodic death metal to acoustic to prog. If you're looking for a band with a bit more variety, Opeth is amazing.
wait, what? I mean, Opeth is amazing and should have a place in everyones music collection, but when were these guys ever black metal? 0.0 (sorry for OT)
not 100% black metal, but the influence is obvious. still i should have just said death metal, i guess. @ about 4:30 is the black metal part.
MasterOfPuppets Romania. April 22 2012 22:41. Posts 3488
Opeth's Black Metal influences were never that predominant, at least not since 1995's Orchid. That said they are insanely good.
Personally I'm not that much into Bathory/Burzum/Darkthrone/Mayhem because I cannot stand the production but I can respect people's opinions and sort of understand why they find it enjoyable.
If you're not that fond of the lyrics prevalent throughout the genre, I wholeheartedly recommend Agalloch and Enslaved (particularly Enslaved's last albums), not to mention that they push the genre's boundaries by incorporating folk and prog rock influences respectively.
is listening to black metal a sin?
This is honestly a pretty stupid question though. It's just music.
well, my point would be: dont care about the lyrics too much. 1) most of the time you cant understand them anyway 2) ist like an image they have to keep up and sell to the listeners 3) its music, just listen too it 4) metal has pretty strange lyrics in 98% of all songs. power-metal ppl seems to be obsessed by steel, death metal by cutting, carving or do other stuff, pagans by hugging trees etc pp. dont think too much about the kind of music.
Store
