It seems as if the words "Christian" and "heavy metal" will never find themselves side by side in one phrase or sentence. After all, Christianity is synonymous with holy and soft while heavy metal is the exact opposite of these. Most Christians probably would not go near anything that has a label "heavy metal" on them, especially with the term having demonic connotations. However, the following bands are few of the many Christian metal bands out there who will prove this wrong:
Antidemon
As the name suggests, this is an extreme metal band but with Christian leanings. An anti demon is currently active with Carlos Batista on vocals and bass, Juliana Batista on drums, and Marcelo Alves on guitars. Juliana is Carlos' wife, and she replaced previous drummer Wanderlinden Oliviera.
According to metal fans, their music is similar to death metal bands Suffocation and Morbid Angel. They were able to produce four studio albums so far with Demonicido in 1999, Anillo de Fuego in 2003, Satanichaos in 2009, and Apocalypse now in 2012. They were expected to release their fifth album in 2018.
Demon Hunter
This Seattle-based band is another group of metal musicians whose band name shows they are on heaven's side. They are known for incorporating metalcore with nu metal elements to their music. They started in 2000 but the current members are vocalist Ryan Clark, bassist Jon Dunn, lead guitarist Patrick Judge, drummer Timothy "Yogi" Watts, and rhythm guitarist Jeremiah Scott.
Don Clark, brother of Ryan Clark and previous band member, stated that they got "older, maybe wiser," and admitted that they are a Christian band. Fans, most especially Christians, were happy about the band being honest. This earned the respect of non-Christian bands and fans as well.
The US military based in Iraq was using Metallica during their interrogations, but the popular heavy metal band requested for it to stop. One of the Navy SEALS who was part of the operations claimed that the Christian metal band reached out to them. Instead of playing Metallica songs, the military used Demon Hunter tracks during the interrogations. The soldiers were also given CDs and patches, with one claiming that he wore a Demon Hunter patch when they attacked Bin Laden.
However, the Christian metal band claimed that they never sent their music to the military. They did appreciate the soldiers wearing their Demon Hunter patches.
Saving Grace
This Christian metal band is currently composed of Nicholas "Nick" Tautuhi on vocals, Ross McDougal and Vasely Sapunov on guitars, George White on bass, and Shaun "Drum Ferret" Anderson on drums. Their fourth studio album Urgency went straight to Top 3 on the New Zealand Top 20 albums chart and even reached Number 59 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart. "Saving Grace" graced the covers of HM Magazine, a publication that focuses on Christian hard music, in January 2014.
They were able to create five studio albums thus far with Behind Enemy Lines in 2008, Unbreakable in 2010, The King is Coming in 2011, and The Urgency in 2014. The Christian metal band also had a track list called Into Hell but it remained unreleased.
