Christian metal bands, also known as heavy metal or white metal, are considered as Devil’s music, and with some bands like Mayhem and Ghost, we can’t say they are entirely wrong. They have diverse genres like power metal, thrash metal, black metal, or metalcore. This music contains lyrics that glorify Christianity.
Some famous Christian metal bands are listed below.
Narnia
This is a Swedish metal band. This band was founded by the guitarist Carl Johan Grimmark and the singer Christian Liljegren. The band was named after the literary series “The Chronicles of Narnia.” The band was formed in Sweden in 1996. It disbanded in 2010 and reunited in 2014.
On 15th April 2010 the band had revealed that they would be breaking up soon. On 20th October 2010, they had announced that they have decided to organize two final concerts – one in Germany and one in Mexico. Their original keyboard artist, Martin Härenstam (Claésson), had decided to rejoin for the two last shows.
On 31st January 2014, the band had revealed that they were going to be active again. They celebrated the 15th anniversary of their “Long Live the King” album by organizing the live show. They also re-released the album as a deluxe edition.
The current members of the band are:
- Christian Liljegren – lead vocals (1996–2008, and since 2014).
- CJ Grimmark – guitars, vocals (1996–2010, and since 2014).
- Martin Härenstam – keyboards (1997–2003, 2010, and since 2014).
- Andreas Johansson – drums (1997–2010, and since 2014).
- Jonatan Samuelsson – bass, bass pedals, vocals (since 2016)
Believer
This is an American thrash metal band. It was formed during the late 1980s. The two members of the crew who created it were vocalist/ bassist/ guitarist Kurt Bachman and drummer Joey Daub. They had a debut album released in 1989, “Extraction from Mortality.”
In 1990, Howe Kraft had been replaced by Wyatt Robertson. Believer had recorded its second album by that time. It was titled “Sanity Obscure.” This album is way more technical than the previous album.
Wyatt Robertson and David Baddorf had decided to leave the band before they began the recording of its third album. Jim Winters had joined the band as a bassist. He also played some guitar parts during the recording sessions. In 1993, Believer had released its most progressive, technical, and ambitious album, which was titled “Dimensions.”
After their album “Dimensions,” the band had a mutual decision of disbanding. After disbanding, Bachman went to get his degree. Daub became a semi-professional biker. Winters joined several acts, such as the earth crisis.
In 2005, Joey Daub updated his website joeydaub.com and told that he, along with Bachman, had started writing new material for Believer.
The current members of the band are:
- Kevin Leaman – guitars (since 2007).
- Jeff King – keyboards, programming, guitars, bass (since 2005).
- Joey Daub – drums (since 1986).
- Kurt Bachman – vocals, guitars (since 1986), bass (since 1992).
August Burns Red
This is an American metalcore band. It was formed in Pennsylvania in the year 2003 when all its members were in high school.
Matt Greiner, the drummer of the band’s old egg house, was the place where original practice sessions of the band began. It was also sometimes done in the basement on the Greiner family’s farmland. The band played at many local shows within Lancaster. After that, they recorded their first EP, which was titled “Looks Fragile After All” with label CI Records in 2004.
The members of this band have been asked about the history of the name of their crew a lot of times. They have given numerous number of different stories. Although, the most popular story behind the name, is an incident where Jon Hershey, the band’s original vocalist, dated a woman named August who burned his dog Red alive in his dog house.
However, later on it was revealed in a radio interview that this story (along with others) was simply a funny story which was created by the members. Also, they told that there is no actual meaning behind the band name.
The current members of the band are:
- John Benjamin “JB” Brubake − lead guitar (since 2003).
- Brent Rambler − rhythm guitar (since 2003).
- Matt Greiner − drums, piano (since 2003).
- Jake Luhrs − lead vocals (since 2006).
- Dustin Davidson − bass, backing vocals (since 2006).
The Devil Wears Prada
This is an American Christian metalcore band. It was formed in Dayton, Ohio, in the year 2005. The name of this band is inspired by the story “The Devil Wears Prada.” All-Christian members founded this band. They even try to maintain a theme that represents their religion.
It is often thought that the band is inspired and linked to the movie titled the same, although the members have made it cleared that the 2003 book inspires it.
The band also has anti-materialistic and religious beliefs, which claim that everyone is equal in front of God.
The current members of the band are:
- Jeremy DePoyster – rhythm guitar, vocals (since 2005).
- Mike Hranica – lead vocals (2005–present), additional guitars (since 2011).
- Andy Trick – bass guitar (since 2005).
- Kyle Sipress – lead guitar, backing vocals (since 2015).
- Jonathan Gering – keyboards, synthesizers, programming (since 2019), session member ( 2012-2019).
- Giuseppe Capolupo – drums (since 2019), session member (2016–2019).
Extol
This is an extreme Christian metal band. It is from Bekkestua, Norway. It was formed it 1993. The band can play a lot of different styles of metal music. It includes progressive metal, death metal, black metal, and thrash metal.
The band had its first recording in January 1996. It was a Norwegian metal compilation called “Northern Lights.” The band also released three independent songs in 1997. The demo was entitled “Embraced.”
Till now, the band has released five albums and two EPs. The band was formed by the two cousins, drummer David Husvik and guitarist Christer Espevoll. They were both 16 at the time. They both had jammed together since fall 1993, and they even wanted to start a band together.
Peter explained the band’s name in an interview, “Extol means to exalt, to lift what you give glory to, and that is what we are all about.”
The current members of the band are:
- Peter Espevoll – lead vocals (1993–2007 and since 2012).
- David Husvik – drums (1993–2007and since 2012).
- Ole Børud – guitar, sung vocals (1996–1999, 2003–2004 and since 2012), bass (since 2012), flute (1996–1999).
Mortification
This is an Australian Christian metal band. It was formed in 1987. The band used to play thrash metal, death metal, and grindcore during the early 1990s. Then their album “Scrolls of the Megilloth“ was released in 1992.
The bass guitarist and vocalist Steve Rowe, along with Murray Adams on guitar, Steve Johnson on vocals, and Errol Willenberg on drums, formed the metal band, which was initially named “LightForce.”
In the early 1990s, the band was known as Australia’s foremost Christian-inspired death metal band worldwide.
There was an interview in 2016 in which Rowe spoke about a re-pressing of Post Momentary Affliction on vinyl. Rowe also told that the former drummer Jayson Sherlock has redesigned the artwork and did some fantastic job, as we all know. On 1st January 2018, Rowe had revealed that he and Mick Jelinic have also reunited, that they were going to jam some of their old material, with possible new material to be written.
The current members of the band are:
- Steve Rowe – vocals, bass (since 1990).
- Lincoln Bowen – rhythm and lead guitars, backing vocals (1996–2001 and since 2011).
- Andrew Esnouf – drums (since 2011).
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Tourniquet
This is a Christian metal band. This was formed in Los Angeles, California, in the year 1989. It was founded by Ted Kirkpatrick, Gary Lenaire, and Guy Ritter. This band is primarily interested in a mixture of progressive, neoclassical metal, and thrash. This band is also influenced by non-rock forms of music, which include classical and world music.
The band released its first album in 1990. It was named “Stop the Bleeding.” Bill Metoyer of Metal Blade Records produced this album. And the album was released by Intense Records.
In 1992, the band had released the album, which is considered to be their most technical and dark album,” Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance.” The vocalist guy of the band, Ritter, was very dissatisfied with the musical direction of the band. He didn’t care much about the more aggressive material which the rest of the band had been writing. After the recording of “Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance,” he left the band due to these musical differences.
The music of this band has received a lot of notice in the mainstream media, and even the CCM market.
The current band members are:
- Ted Kirkpatrick – drums (since 1989), bass (1989–1990, 1996–1998, 1998–2002and since 2008).
- Aaron Guerra – guitar, vocals (1994–2003, and since 2005), bass (since 2008).
- Les Carlsen – vocals (1993 and since 2018).
- Andy Robins – bass (since 2017).
- CJ Grimmark – Guitars (since 2019).
- Theocracy
This is an American Christian power metal band. It was founded in the year 2002 by the sole founder of the band, Matt Smith, who is a resident of Athens, Georgia.
To date, the band has released four albums and some Christmas singles. This band started as a one-person project. In its debut album “Theocracy,” all the instruments and vocals were performed by Matt Smith.
The debut album of the band was released on 1st January, 2003. MetalAges Records released it. This debut album had been out of print for many years. The fans have asked for a re-issue.
The second album of the band, “Mirror of Souls“ was its first album, which was released as a full band. This album was released on 21st November, 2008. It was released through Sweden’s Ulterium Records. In Japan, it was released on 26th November, 2008. There it was released by Soundholic Records.
The album “As The World Bleeds” was released in North America on 21st November 21, 2011. And it was released in Europe on 25th November 25, 2011. After the release of their new album, the band had released their first official music video from the new album. It was entitled “Hide in the Fairytale” and it was released on 5th September 2012.
The current band members are:
- Matt Smith – lead vocals (since 2002), keyboards (2002–2008), lead guitar, bass (2002–2009).
- Jonathan Hinds – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, keyboards (since 2006).
- Val Allen Wood – lead guitar, backing vocals (since 2009).
- Jared Oldham – bass, backing vocals (since 2009).
- Ernie Topran – drums (since 2016).
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Stryper
This is an American Christian metal band. It was formed in Orange County, California, in the year 1983. Its original name was Roxx Regime. The band had soon changed their name to “Stryper.” They also changed their musical message and tried to reflect their Christian beliefs.
In the 1980s, the band used to represent the popular metal style of the time. Highly visual performances characterized it. One of essential elements of this band is that all their outfits, instruments, and sets are painted in yellow and black stripes.
With everything, the band has not been free of controversies itself.
To date, the band has sold over 10 million recordings throughout the world. It is also estimated that their non-Christian metal bands made nearly two-thirds of their sale
The current band members are:
- Michael Sweet – lead vocals, guitar, piano (1982–1992, 1999–2001, 2003–present)
- Robert Sweet – drums, percussion (1982–1993, 1999–2001, 2003–present)
- Oz Fox – guitar, backing vocals (1983–1992, 1999–2001, 2003–present), lead vocals (1992–1993)
- Perry Richardson – bass guitar, backing vocals (2017–present) Christian metal bands
