Christian metal bands that sound like normal metal bands.

LMAO, I'm laughing now looking at my statement, thinking of some
totally harsh lyrics from Christian bands, that probably aren't the
best received to support my theory!!! TURN OR BURN BABY!

krokus wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

krokus wrote:

But to me it looks like that many of the christian bands sounded like those famous bands for a reason. Not because they were influenced by RATT for exemple if we talk about WHITECROSS but because they wanted to show those none christian fans that in the christian metal movement their were bands that sounded similar and that you could be christian and still listen to the same tipe of music because you have WHITECROSS, or SAINT for JUDAS PRIEST for exemple and that you didnt need RATT/JUDAS PRIEST. Does this make sence????

I don't think that was the case at all. They were not trying to replace those other bands. I know that is the case with Ultimatum. I can't speak for other bands, but we aren't out to be an alternative to Exodus. For that matter, when we started Exodus weren't even an influence. See what I mean?

Vengeance Rising never set out to be a Slayer alternative so that kids would only listen to them and not Slayer. Rather, Slayer, S.O.D., and Venom were some of their early musical influences and they sought to offer a different lyrical approach than their influences. Then again, Deep Purple were also a huge influence on VR. They even recorded a cover in homage to DP.

Ohhh, you got my point. REPLACE those other bands is what i was trying to say. Thanks. I was not talking about ULTIMATUM because i know you to well to know that its not the case at all. VENGEANCE RISING came also out of the underground and were metalheads. but i am talking about BLOODGOOD, WHITECROSS, ZION, BRIDE (you how they start playing different and modern music when heavy metal was out of the picture) etc....

Right, but couldn't you just as easily say bands like Def Leppard and Bon Jovi also rode waves, changing styles "when heavy metal was out of the picture".

ultmetal wrote:

krokus wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

krokus wrote:

But to me it looks like that many of the christian bands sounded like those famous bands for a reason. Not because they were influenced by RATT for exemple if we talk about WHITECROSS but because they wanted to show those none christian fans that in the christian metal movement their were bands that sounded similar and that you could be christian and still listen to the same tipe of music because you have WHITECROSS, or SAINT for JUDAS PRIEST for exemple and that you didnt need RATT/JUDAS PRIEST. Does this make sence????

I don't think that was the case at all. They were not trying to replace those other bands. I know that is the case with Ultimatum. I can't speak for other bands, but we aren't out to be an alternative to Exodus. For that matter, when we started Exodus weren't even an influence. See what I mean?

Vengeance Rising never set out to be a Slayer alternative so that kids would only listen to them and not Slayer. Rather, Slayer, S.O.D., and Venom were some of their early musical influences and they sought to offer a different lyrical approach than their influences. Then again, Deep Purple were also a huge influence on VR. They even recorded a cover in homage to DP.

Ohhh, you got my point. REPLACE those other bands is what i was trying to say. Thanks. I was not talking about ULTIMATUM because i know you to well to know that its not the case at all. VENGEANCE RISING came also out of the underground and were metalheads. but i am talking about BLOODGOOD, WHITECROSS, ZION, BRIDE (you how they start playing different and modern music when heavy metal was out of the picture) etc....

Right, but couldn't you just as easily say bands like Def Leppard and Bon Jovi also rode waves, changing styles "when heavy metal was out of the picture".

Yes, thats right, like T-ROY and me already agreed that 90%of the band changed when heavy metal was out of the picture. I didnt thought about that

Shoot, even Deliverance went all circle-of-dust on me there for awhile!

Noveaux sounded a lot like Def Leppard

I thought Snakes era Bride had a generally G 'n' R sound.....


Agree with Whitecross = Ratt

and, at least vocally, Randy Rose = Danzig

I actually think that most Christian metal bands although similar due to unavoidable genre characteristics were able to find sounds all their own...

For me, early Deliverance sounded very similar to Testament, and some of the songs on Immortal Souls' Under The Northern Sky sound VERY close to Amok era Sentenced (i.e. Love Demise). Also Amos sounds a little like Draconian Times era Paradise Lost.

For the most part, I don't hear a lot of bands Christian or otherwise that sound just like other bands. There are similarities of bands in the same genre, of course. I usually think people aren't listening hard enough if people start equating bands like that.

I guess it comes down to people saying "sounds like" vs. "sounds exactly like"/"is a clone of".

Deliverance kinda sounds like early Flotsam and Jetsam, but not really. Or maybe Metallica, but not really. And Flotsam and Jetsam and Metallica don't really sound the same.

These comparisons usually don't provide much useful, accurate information.

AGREED.

krokus wrote:

MICHAEL SWEET debut like BON JOVI, come on guys put some too please lol.

I always thought he had been listing to "waking up the neighbors" by bryan adams over and over before he recoreded his solo debut

ultmetal wrote:

For that matter, I remember in the 80's when everyone said that Krokus were an AC/DC clone.

On the Christian side, many say that X-Sinner were and AC/DC clone. I don't hear that. Certainly they have an AC/DC influence, but they are actually much closer to bands like Def Leppard, or for that matter, Krokus, than AC/DC themselves.

I hear the AC/DC influence, but I complete agree with you that they were heavily influence by Def Leppard

Barren Cross were called a Maiden clone - especially Mike Lee being call a Bruce clone

Deliverance is too hard to place as a "clone" - heavily influenced by the CA Speed/Thrash movement, but I wouldn't call them anyone;s clone

I don't really like to call someone a clone of anyone. Even if a band sounds EXACTLY like another one down to the vocals and lyrical content, it is not a clone it is a separate entity.

Too many times a band is dismissed as a clone of so and so even though their music is hight quality and should be judged on its own merit. Thunderstone is very similar to Stratovarius but the vocals are much harsher. Primal Fear are very similar to Priest, but Ralf Scheeper's voice is slightly different. Both bands are awesome but are over looked on many occasions due to the clone label.

Absolutely agree.

thejokeriv wrote:

Barren Cross were called a Maiden clone - especially Mike Lee being call a Bruce clone

Deliverance
is too hard to place as a "clone" - heavily influenced by the CA
Speed/Thrash movement, but I wouldn't call them anyones clone

Totally, Deliverance is one band, that DOESN'T sound exactly like
anybody. Which is why I think their one of the all-time best.

ultmetal wrote:

I don't think that was the case at all. They were not trying to replace those other bands.

Maybe the bands themselves weren't trying to "replace" the secular bands they sounded like, but I'd bet that from a marketing stand point, that was definitely a consideration.

I remember the Christian bookstore where I used to buy most of my music in the early 90s definitely treated them like "replacements" for secular bands. They even had a dry-erase board on the wall over the tapes and CDs with stuff written on it like "If you like AC/DC, try X-Sinner! Judas Priest fan? Try Saint! Queensryche fans, check out Recon!"

Also, the first time I ordered from RadRockers years ago, they included a "Music Comparison Chart" poster that listed dozens and dozens of Christian bands, old and new, accompanied by the names of secular bands that they sounded like. It was actually kinda helpful for discovering some newer Christian bands I hadn't heard, but on the other hand I continue to scratch my head at why they thought Deliverance sounded like "The Cult, Sentenced, Nevermore."

In those two instances, the message seemed (to me at least) to be "You don't need to listen to secular bands, because here are some nice clean safe Christian bands that SOUND JUST LIKE THEM!"

But that is true! They are clean, safe, all those things. Which for a
Christian is a good selling point. Its something worth advertising to
people. You wouldn't see that on a Slayer or Diamond release. "if you
love Satan, get this band, they love him too".....

The point is though, they didn't decide to make these bands to compete or replace the secular ones.

T-Roy wrote:

The point is though, they didn't decide to make these bands to compete or replace the secular ones.

Exactly! One of the most important reasons those bands were formed was because the people loved metal but were tired of all the sex, drugs, and satan aspects of the music and wanted to give metal fans an alternative to the negativity. While the rest of the Christian community had given up on metal heads, Pastor Bob and bands like Deliverance, Vengeance Rising, Tourniquet, Mortification, etc. were determined not to let them stay lost. The comparisons were just there to pique the interest of the common metal head who would otherwise think of Christian metal as being lame or not possible (How could devil music possible glorify God?).

T-Roy wrote:

But that is true! They are clean, safe, all those things.

Try telling that to some Pat Boone/Sandi Patti fan who comes into a Christian bookstore and hears Vengeance Rising for the first time tho!!

ROTFLMAO! CAN YOU IMAGINE!? "OH THE HORROR"!

....clean up on isle 7

DallasBlack wrote:

The comparisons were just there to pique the interest of the common metal head who would otherwise think of Christian metal as being lame or not possible (How could devil music possible glorify God?).

I agree, except that for the most part you couldn't find a lot of these records in "regular" record stores (i.e. Sam Goody, etc.) and let's face it, you couldn't DRAG most "common" metal heads into a Christian book store to check the bands out. (I happened to be an exception; a college friend who was a full-on Christian rocker turned me onto a lot of these bands and whenever he took a trip to "his" bookstore I'd go with him to catch up on the new stuff).

firestar wrote:

Hmm I'd like to hear this Rose band if they sound like Danzig.

Randy Rose's SACRIFICIUM is a pretty blatant steal of the sound on the first Danzig album. The second one (done under the band name "Rose"), HEALING, isn't quite as blatant but the influence is still pretty obvious. That one sounds a lot like a mix of the Cult and Danzig.

It might not be the most original stuff but it's very well done and I actually enjoy those two discs more than most of Danzig's catalog!

Fat Freddy wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

The comparisons were just there to pique the interest of the common metal head who would otherwise think of Christian metal as being lame or not possible (How could devil music possible glorify God?).

I agree, except that for the most part you couldn't find a lot of these records in "regular" record stores (i.e. Sam Goody, etc.) and let's face it, you couldn't DRAG most "common" metal heads into a Christian book store to check the bands out. (I happened to be an exception; a college friend who was a full-on Christian rocker turned me onto a lot of these bands and whenever he took a trip to "his" bookstore I'd go with him to catch up on the new stuff).

Agreed, not many common metal heads go into those stores unless a friend turns them onto it. However, before I was able to drive I'd have to get my dad to approve a CD before I got it. If it had blood & gore, sexual or satanic imagry, or parental advisory logo I wasn't allowed to get it. At the time I really liked death metal and all death metal had one of those things on it. So I started to look for Christian death metal (which a friend brought to my attention) and the best place to find those were Christian bookstores.

Also when I became a Christian I was a HUGE metal fan and could not give up on metal so I went to every Christian bookstore I could find to fill my hunger for heavy music. Before I discovered Blast Beats, with the help of the comparisons I was able to discover bands like Saviour Machine, Narnia (two of their songs were on a compilation disc I found there), Extol, Tourniquet, Vengeance Rising,etc.

Fat Freddy wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

The comparisons were just there to pique the interest of the common metal head who would otherwise think of Christian metal as being lame or not possible (How could devil music possible glorify God?).

I agree, except that for the most part you couldn't find a lot of these records in "regular" record stores (i.e. Sam Goody, etc.) and let's face it, you couldn't DRAG most "common" metal heads into a Christian book store to check the bands out. (I happened to be an exception; a college friend who was a full-on Christian rocker turned me onto a lot of these bands and whenever he took a trip to "his" bookstore I'd go with him to catch up on the new stuff).

I'm one of those people. Up until about a year or 2 ago, my knowledge of Christian metal was summed up in one word...Stryper. I never knew there was such a thing. Back in the day, I never would imagined going into a religious store to look for metal music. Thanks to the web and this message board, I've been enlightened to a whole slew of new bands out there creating great metal. I was raised Catholic, but I not practicing and I'm pretty cynical when it comes to religion, but as far as music goes, if I like it, I buy it. Just as I don't take Slayer's lyrics to heart, I don't look too deep into Christian metal. They can preach all they want about God, but it's not gonna change my feelings on religion. Nor would listening to black metal make me burn down a church. To me, it's all entertainment.

If you're talking about replacing bands ...

don't new bands like Trivium get marketed as "the next Metallica" and stuff like that? Same deal.

I remember being interested in Annihilator because the ad said they were "Canada's answer to Metallica".

I think it's pretty natural to sell new bands by comparing them to bands people are already familiar with. It's certainly not exclusive to the Christian scene.