Christian metal
Christian metal
Stylistic
origins
Jesus music
Heavy metal
Psychedelic rock
Blues-rock
Hard rock
Christian rock
Cultural
origins
Late 1970s United States and
Sweden in Jesus movement
Typical
instruments
Electric guitar - Bass guitar -
Drums - Keyboards (occasional)
Mainstream
popularity
Gained worldwide popularity
during its "golden era" in the
1980s. During the 1990s
underground era, popularity
was low, however, the
movement was revived in the
2000s.
Fusion genres
Unblack metal
Regional scenes
United Kingdom, United States, Australia,
Brazil, Italy, Germany, Norway, Sweden,
Finland
Other topics
Bands
Christian metal is a form of heavy metal
music which, as well as its many subgenres,
contains Christian lyrics and themes.[1]
Christian metal came to existence in the
late 1970s Jesus movement, and was pion-
eered by the American Resurrection Band
and Swedish Jerusalem. Los Angeles’ Stryper
brought the genre into media spotlight dur-
ing the mid 1980s. The term ”Christian met-
al” itself was born in 1984,[2] around the time
when heavy metal music divided into numer-
ous subgenres. At the same time the secular
label Metal Blade Records came up with the
term "white metal" in contrast to the rising
black metal movement to market the doom
metal band Trouble, known for its Biblical
lyrics.[3] As a result, "white metal" was used
interchangeably with "Christian metal" until
the early 1990s when the mainstream pop-
ularity of the scene ended and the movement
went underground. After that, English-speak-
ing countries (North America, Australia, Un-
ited Kingdom etc.) and Central and Northern
European scenes adopted the "Christian met-
al" term, while "white metal" remained in use
in
South
America
and
southwestern
Europe.[4] California’s Tourniquet and Aus-
tralia’s Mortification led the movement in the
1990s. The metalcore groups Underoath, De-
mon Hunter, As I Lay Dying, and Norma
Jean, dubbed by Revolver Magazine as "the
holy alliance," pioneered the music’s revival
in the 2000s, achieving ranks in the Billbo