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I can only name one self proclaimed Christian Heavy Metal band and I have serious doubts as to whether they are or are not actually a Heavy metal band. On the other hand almost all heavy metal bands use Christian symbolism in one way or another. There are of course a few notable exceptions. So what makes a band Christian Heavy metal? Any band that uses Satanic imagery in their lyrics can make the claim since Satan is a major figure in Christian Mythology.

I don't see the rise in Christian Heavy Metal that this title is talking about. Perhaps I am just blinded by the fact that its not very popular and never has been. Metal is about rebellion and Satan is the rebellious child of God and so most metal bands focus on him as opposed to his father. Of course if one considers all the bands that glorify Satan as being Christian Heavy Metal then it is easy to see a continuation of the rise of Christian Heavy Metal bands.

So really how do we define a band as being Christian? Is it just dabbling in the imagery of the Christian Myths? If so then Many bands qualify but I get the impression that this is not the intended definition. So how do we define rise? I guess we would have to define it as being more than one since I can only name one band and that is from the 80's.

It is unlikely that Christian Metal heads will ever mount the numbers that Heavy Metal fans in general have attained, since to attract normal heavy metal fans the music has to be better than there competition in order to overcome the subject matter of the music. In addition most Christians simply are not fans of heavy metal and this makes converting Christian listeners to a genre of music where there is little to choose from that is appealing becomes problematic.

In conclusion I must say that the rise of Christian Heavy Metal has been highly exaggerated and will never be able to compete with mainstream Heavy Metal.

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