Music question.

What is white metal?
Is there black metal too?

Back in my teenage years (before Christ), I used to listen to several bands that were considered "Black Metal" - Venom, Slayer, King Diamond, Dio, and others that openly, blatantly mocked Christianity and hailed Satan as master...
(sad)

Many people refer to all Christian metal music as "White Metal".
Apologetix is right, Black Metal started a movement in the late 80's that included very anti-Christian bands such as Venom & Slayer.
More recently it has evolved into a particular style of metal with a distinct sound. While it seems that most Black Metal bands still have anti-Christian themes, there are actually some Christians artists that play "Black Metal" with Christian lyrics. I have heard this sometimes called "Unblack Metal".

But I'm no expert, I have never liked any of this type of music Christian or secular.

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I believe the first official reference to "white metal" was in an old issue of the White Throne magazine.

I was going to ring in and tell you all about this, but all the bases have been covered.

I have more music questions.

What about hair metal and glam metal?

Not much difference is there guys ?
A description from 2 different angles ?

I would say Hair metal is just the fun 80s metal that included Whitesnake, Van Halen, maybe Crue (Christian=Barren Cross, Bloodgood)
... then Glam metal was the Glamorous bands like Poison, Faster pussycat, (Christian= Brighton)

I'm probably wrong, but that's my take on the 2

I think there are several bands that may be considered hair metal without being glam metal. But most glam metal bands would probably be considered hair metal as well (how confusing is that).



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apologetixfreak wrote:

Back in my teenage years (before Christ), I used to listen to several bands that were considered "Black Metal" - Venom, Slayer, King Diamond, Dio, and others that openly, blatantly mocked Christianity and hailed Satan as master...
(sad)

Parts of this are on target but other parts are WAY off-base. Slayer is thrash. Dio is classic metal. Neither are "black metal".
Just because someone sings anti-Christian lyrics does not make them black metal. Black Metal is a genre or style of music. It is played very fast and usually has lots of blast beats on the drum. The vocals are usually "shrieked". Similar to death metal growls only higher pitched. Examples of black metal bands are: Old Man's Child, Emperor and Cradle of Filth.
Modern black metal sometimes incorporates symphonic elements as well. The old school style is sometimes called "grim" black metal as it is more raw and primitive sounding. The original black metal movement was in Norway and indeed it did involve a certain mindset of anti-Christian themes. Most all secular black metal bands are anti-Christian. However, there are now many Christian black metal bands such as Crimson Moonlight, Antestor, Horde and Vardoger. Horde is a great example of Christian black metal.

I also wanted to address the misconception that Ronnie James Dio is anti-Christian. He is not. He has some songs that might appear that way at first glance but if you ever talk to him or read interviews with him about what his songs are about and his personal religious beliefs you will find Dio is agnostic (meaning he is unsure about God) and has no problems with true Christianity. He was hurt very badly as a child in Catholic school and he dislikes organised religion. Most of his songs are metaphors for common every day things. His song "Killing The Dragon" is about computers and how they have taken over. He is against some technology and that is what that song is about. He has many songs that talk about child abuse and other social ills. He works with an organization called Children Of The Night that helps runaway teens get off the streets and stay away from drugs and prostitution. As a human being he is a very kind and decent man. He just needs to know Jesus.

Sorry for all the rambling. I got on a roll.

Yes staybrite that's very confusing for me.
Is it the same name for two music styles?

Hey rageofcreation thanks for the great info. I'm definitely not an expert on the styles, I always assumed that Black metal was more what was sung about and not an actual style... shows how much i know.
And about Dio, I had heard some great things about him as a person... but i still have reservations about his lyrics as simply 'agnostic'. I had a few of his records back in the day and I recall not just occult topics but anti-Christianity as well. I'm saddened that so many are hurt by humans "representing" Christianity... I pray that, as Alice Cooper did, Dio will one day look past all the junk and see the True God who loves him.

Quote :

“And a little white sheep looked down at me and said, Heaven is where you ought to be. He said, Come with me cause I know just what to do.And I said, Go away!, I’m staying right here with you, you, you!" -Dio in concert

I am aware of that quote from Dio you posted (there are various versions and some use different wording such as "light" instead of "sheep" but they all mean the same thing). That really is bad. It was during the live version of Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath that he said/sung those words. I would agree they are anti-Christian. I don't like those words. I had forgotten about that particular quote and you are correct on that. I don't believe that is the way he thinks most the time though and I think he has softened a bit to Christianity over the years (people can change a lot over 25 years). I would also argue though that it's not at all "typical" of Dio (especially his newer material) as he has a lot of other songs and topics. I also wish he would come to know the God who loves him. I have an interview where Ronnie admits to being "afraid" of the God of Christianity. He seems like he has a massive fear that keeps him from coming to faith in Christ. He at one time considered himself a Taoist.
Taoism: philosophical system developed by of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu advocating a simple honest life and noninterference with the course of natural events.

My apologies for taking this thread so far off-topic.

avdb,
Do you have any other questions on musical styles or genres?

Regarding glam and hair metal...
I have always kinda used those terms interchangeably along with pop metal. (Heck even Dio got lumped into the "hair metal" scene at times.)
To me those styles were the very catchy pop metal style of the 80's played by bands with makeup and big hair (Stryper, Poison, etc...).
For some reason nowdays people like to make fun of those styles and it really bugs me because there were a few bands that had massive talent that were in that L.A. scene like Dokken, Stryper and Whitesnake.

People talk all about the blurring of the lines between genres today. But, even back then, there was the same thing going on. Some bands who would have been considered hard rock were also lumped in as metal. Some traditional metal bands were called hair metal because of their look--not the sound.

It's really too difficult to know every little detail about genres of rock & metal. I just know if I like it or not.

I always have struggled with music styles.
I don't know exactly what every music style is.
For is better to know if I like the music than to know exactly what band playes what music style.

I agree with alldat - it's either good, or it stinks.... those are the only 2 titles I need

alldatndensum wrote:

People talk all about the blurring of the lines between genres today. But, even back then, there was the same thing going on. Some bands who would have been considered hard rock were also lumped in as metal. Some traditional metal bands were called hair metal because of their look--not the sound.

It's really too difficult to know every little detail about genres of rock & metal. I just know if I like it or not.

I agree with you there and am actually becoming more and more that way myself. A lot of bands I like and consider metal I post about on other forums and then people tell me things like "no they aren't metal, they are only rock". So, I just like what I like and if it sounds metal to me then thats what I call it. I know there are many genres but the lines do get blurred a lot of times.

Too hilarious.

Now that was funny!