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I know I'm being subjective, I hope it's not coming across like I think religion needs to be criticized in metal lyrics or it isn't metal--I'm just saying that the ideologies in metal are what tend to make things like religion, politics etc get criticized or opposed. So I guess I should re-phrase. It's necessary for metal to continue to be a subversive music genre, and so naturally it's going to take a position of challenge when it deals with things about society.

Intolerance and xenophobia are ubiquitous. They're not specific to religious cultures' date=' but they're certainly not absent from them. They're also not absent from the metal community; musically speaking, albums that build on past successes are more widely preferred than complete departures, and lyrically it's nearly impossible to find anything truly transgressive - fossilized aggression that's just a regurgitation of tired themes is far more common. To say that metal is the "music of rebellion" is misleading. One album's rebellion too often becomes the next album's canon.[/quote']Yeah, I agree with that. And yeah, I see what you mean about certain themes getting recycled over and over until they're not unique anymore (the anti-political lyrics in 80s thrash, anti-Christianity in 90s black metal), but I think the whole 'anti' pathos is still a big part of metal, even if a particular band isn't making unique statements for each album.
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It's a tired, cliche, theme to touch upon. However music has and always will be about expression just as every other form of art is about expressing oneself. Is it necessary? No, of course not, however if an artist feels compelled to touch upon the subject that's their choice. When you consider how old music is in general it is extremely difficult to break new ground from both a musical and lyrical perspective so you can understand why the tried and true themes tend to repeat themselves over decades.

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[Emphasis mine] Firstly, I know the difference between an observation and a normative statement, and I'm not about to accept this blatant attempt to conflate the two. The claim that religion bashing is not just 'natural and fitting' but 'necessary' is about as close to an 'ought' as one could get - it is not a simple observation of lyrical themes. Second, stating that 'religion' is the epitome of 'authority, power and the status quo' -rather than observing that this is a common sentiment - is a normative statement. Third, to refer to 'religion' as a 'hate-mongering, mind-controlling system' and to say that it has been this way 'throughout history' is yet another pair of normative statements, rather than observations.
In fairness there are historic accounts of religious oppression so suggesting things have been that way throughout time is less a normative statement and more an implication of long-standing trends worded rather clumsily.
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Well, I was saying that his characterization of religion was a normative statement, but I think I constructed the sentence poorly. You're entirely correct, that latter part is not a normative statement. It is, however, a shallow, misguided and inaccurate analysis.

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The whole "anti-religion" thing really depends what genre and type of song your creating in Metal. However, some bands from metalcore, deathcore, post-hardcore or any types genre talks about anti-christianity and Satanic opposition 1st Example: In deathcore, some bands like Whitechapel and possibly Chelsea Grins have some songs talking about politics and sociality in our lifes how we are, some songs from Chelsea Grins however talks about anti-christian or Satanic opposition in some songs like "The Second Comming": Lyrics of Chelsea Grins's "The Second Comming" song: "No more saviours." (Mocks jesus the saviour of the world) "Promise me promise me that with a crown of thorns." (Crown of Thorns was put on Jesus to mock him) "I lead the path unto a blackened world" (Passage walkway path to Hell) "I drank the blood of the saints." (Killing of Christians/Saints) "I'm a vessel of unholiness" (Demonic Possession) =================================================== 2nd Example: A metalcore/deathcore band called "Bring me the Horizon" has made a song that is anti-religion or anti-christianity of the song called "Crucify me" from the album called "There is a Hell, Belive me i've seen it, There is a Heaven, Let's keep it as a secret!!" As the album title says is satanic which the meaning of it is they want to send their soul to hell which they're invited by the band callled "Bring me the Horizon". =================================================== 3rd Example: In black metal, there is always a place to talk about the atmospheric feature elements about Satan. But not only that but Burning Churches down... Drinking cold blood and other gory satanic stuff what they use to do in bands called "Gorgoroth"... If you type in the band called "Gogoroth Live Concert", by watching makes it feel like it's the most evil band in the world; you can see some poor innocent humans got sacrificed in a Christian Symbol like real, beheaded goats and real blood concerts like KISS. =================================================== Last Example: The band called Megadeth made songs about war and politics instead of anti-religion thing because of their popularity growing more. =================================================== I know you guys are tired of reading this but that's just my opinion of it. Thank you. -Feidz

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Sorry I stopped reading the moment you mentioned chelsea grin. From then on it was going to be impossible for me to take the post seriously. As I said before the idea that any theme could be necessary for the continued existance of a genre is laughable. Music is an artform and by its very nature allows for free expression of any subject the artist feels particularly strongly about.

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Sorry I stopped reading the moment you mentioned chelsea grin. From then on it was going to be impossible for me to take the post seriously.
I read the whole thing. It seems inchoate, and seeing BMTH mentioned didn't help matters. Not a terrible analysis but I had a bit of trouble understanding it.
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You know guys. Fear Factory had some anti religion songs. Like piss Christ. Christmanic. On. Mechanize. Here is some lyrics. To piss Christ crown of black thorns. Human. Skin Ripped and Thorn. Where is your savior. Now. But hell it was awsome. The funny. Wsou 89.5. On. Senton hall which was a Christian. College. Play that song. They called it PC. Kinda. Funny huh.

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I wouldn't go so far as to call it an analysis.
I thought I'd give 'being nice' a spin, just this once. My guess is that this guy's English isn't fantastic. He has the germ of a good idea but it's obfuscated by his poor communication.
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He replied to you once in French, and he claims to be 13. So, yeah, you're right. The only "point" in there was that some genres might be more open to the use of anti-religious content than others. While he immediately backtracked on that, I bet he's at least mildly right, although I also bet that counterexamples would abound. Not that any of it matters. I wonder why this thread and the "pozer" thread get so much traffic, especially from newcomers. I suppose I'm mostly here for the popcorn, myself... :D

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I'm not aware of any-religious metal, rather anti-christian metal, and it is hardly surprising. Metal deals with negative emotions, and those come from "problems" we can't deal with; many people are born to christian parents, parents naturally convey their beliefs to their children, this can easily become oppressive if the child does not choose for this religion and the parents do not wish to accept this decision. Also a lot of different gods are mentioned/tributed more positively in metal I don't think anyone knows of anti-budhist metal ?

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brilliant question bro.. anti religion is not necessary but metal is rebellion.. its a weapon to get wat u r supposed to get.. burning down churches in sweden i wouldnt say is an anti religion act coz ppl of sweden wer supposed to be viking thats their religion their gods are different namely the might thor, the great surtur, n so on.. due to the mass conversion the Christianity took up after the king of rome took up Christianity as his own religion ppl from many parts of the world wer literally forced into christianity... and the genre black metal started as the rebellion towards the mass conversion and thats y termed by ppl as anti religion and the ppl of Sweden term it as a religious... watch the documentary "black metal satanica" ul know better off this topic...

this link will get u to the documentary must watch if u r searching for a better answer
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brilliant question bro.. anti religion is not necessary but metal is rebellion.. its a weapon to get wat u r supposed to get.. burning down churches in sweden i wouldnt say is an anti religion act coz ppl of sweden wer supposed to be viking thats their religion their gods are different namely the might thor' date=' the great surtur, n so on.. due to the mass conversion the Christianity took up after the king of rome took up Christianity as his own religion ppl from many parts of the world wer literally forced into christianity... and the genre black metal started as the rebellion towards the mass conversion and thats y termed by ppl as anti religion and the ppl of Sweden term it as a religious... watch the documentary "black metal satanica" ul know better off this topic...[/quote'] Alternatively, read a book written by historians.
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we all are just starting to learn what all this means... we will get its exact meaning when we experience that need of rebellion.. as to why the churches where burnt? and why people in Indonesia love metal even though metal gigs are banned over there?.. and why there is "slayer" sprayed on the walls of government buildings in UAE?.. and upto my knowledge till date i feel that all this is because of the spirit of rebellion, the spirit of fighting provided by metal.. else why would Brazil celebrate its freedom with a metal fest..?

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I know this thread is old, but I just wanna say that I have faith in God. I don't go to church or any of that. I'm definitely not overly religious, I hardly ever speak aloud about God. I mostly just keep my thoughts about him to my self or when I'm talking to my dad and my good friend. Ok I gotta go to bed, have good night yes?

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