DEATH METAL ROCK MUSIC

DEATH METAL ROCK MUSIC

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July 3, 1999 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Death Metal (also known as Black or Goth Metal, Shock Rock, or Grindcore) which arose in the 1990s in the United States and Europe, and has spread to Japan and other parts of the world, focuses on "a lyrical glorification of all things morbid and decaying" (Michael Moynihan, Lords of Chaos: The Blood Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground, 1998, p. 29). It is exercising a vast influence upon young people today, through recordings, concerts, and the Internet. "Between 1989-1993 Death Metal had become immensely popular worldwide, with bands drawing crowds in the thousands on an average night" (Ibid., p. 31). Black Metal "songs" exhibit a fascination with violence and death in general, murder, torture, rape, dismemberment, and mayhem. Death Metal groups have names like Venom, Extreme Noise Terror, Napalm Death, Unleashed, Darkthrone, Vicious Circle, Carcass, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Dismember, Deicide, Entombed, Cradle of Filth, Necropolis, and Obituary. Tampa, Florida, has been a center for some of the most popular Death Metal groups, including Morbid Angel and Deicide. Another center for Death Metal is Scandinavia, particularly Sweden and Norway. Some of the groups also praise Nazism and celebrate pagan gods. All exhibit an anti-Christian philosophy. Lead singer for the Swedish band Unleashed, Johnny Hedlund, makes "fervent declarations on the necessity of destroying the Christian religion" (Lords of Chaos, p. 30). Deicide has songs about the joy of killing Jesus. Lead singer Glen Benton, who branded an inverted cross on his forehead, named his son Daemon (”master of the supernatural”). Deicide’s bass player, Eric Hoffman, says, “Death metal is Satanic. We relay our music all into Satanism.” Varg Vikernes of the Death Metal group Burzum worships Odin, the Viking god of war and death, “the enemy of the Christian God.”

THE ROOTS OF DEATH METAL ARE TRACED THROUGH ‘70S ROCK BACK TO THE BLUES

Death Metal is more violent and anti-Christian than previous forms of rock, but only in intensity. Death Metal is more violent and anti-Christian than previous forms of rock, but only in intensity. The seeds of Death Metal can be traced to the thrash metal groups of the 1980s, such as Slayer, Metallica, Venom, and Anthrax; and to heavy metal groups of the 1970s, such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, which destroyed equipment, praised Satan, and promoted the grossest type of hedonism. This theme goes even farther back, to the Blues of the early part of this century. The most famous Bluesmen were immoral, violent, and some, such as Robert Johnson, even allegedly sold their souls to the Devil for fortune and fame. Three of Johnsonâs songs were titled "Crossroads Blues" (a reference to selling oneâs soul to the Devil at a crossroads at midnight), "Me and the Devil Blues," and "Hellhound on My Trail." Johnson lived a carousing, violent, and immoral life and died at age 27 when he was poisoned by a jealous husband.

Rock music has always been associated with an anti-Christian attitude, an immoral lifestyle, and violence. The first rock concert in 1952 (called a Moon Dog Ball), which was organized by disc jockey Alan Freed, resulted in a riot that sent mobs of young people rampaging through the streets of Cleveland, Ohio. Riots, beatings, and stabbings occurred at other Freed concerts. Following a riot in Boston in 1958, rock concerts were banned in several cities and Freed was kicked out of the concert business. Freed, called by Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock "the original Pied Piper of rock & roll," allegedly was the first to apply the term "rock and roll" to the new Blues-based music. He died in 1965 at age 42, penniless and drunken. Freed well epitomizes the wretched history of rock & roll.

Rock and its most direct predecessors÷the Blues, Ragtime, Jazz, and Boogie Woogie÷have shared a philosophy of hedonism÷whatever feels good is right, do your own thing, if it feels good do it. That is also the basic philosophy of Satanism. Famous early 20th-century Satanist Aleister Crowley (1847-1947) has had a large influence upon modern rock music. Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin scored soundtracks for films about Crowley. Images of Crowleyâs Satanist religion were woven throughout the albums of Led Zeppelin. The Satanistâs photo appeared on the Beatlesâ Sargent Pepper album cover. Ozzy Osbourne wrote a song entitled "Mr. Crowley." David Bowie referred to Crowley in his song "Quicksand." Graham Bond thought he was Crowleyâs illegitimate son. Crowleyâs philosophy was "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law." Anton LaVey (1930-1997), founder of the Church of Satan (1966) and author of the Satanic Bible (1969), also exercised a large influence upon rock music. He taught that men are like gods and that they are not bound by "the chains of Christian morality." Those statements reflect the philosophy of rock & roll. Even 1950s rock, which was "innocent" in contrast to later forms of rock, glorified sexual lust outside of marriage, which the Bible plainly condemns.

Michael Moynihan researched the violence and occultism of Death Metal for his 1998 book Lords of Chaos. Moynihan, who, to my knowledge, makes no claim to Christianity and who writes sympathetically to rock music, traces a direct connection between the Blues, â70s rock, and Death Metal.

"Bathoryâs [a Swedish Death Metal group] bizarre bloodline of demonic inheritance÷and that of Black Metal itself÷can be traced straight back through Venom, Mercyful Fate, and other darker-themed Metal bands of the early Î80s, to the Heavy doom-ridden sounds of Black Sabbath and the mystical Hard Rock of Led Zeppelin, to their bluesy antecedents the Rolling Stones, and all the way to a poor black guitarist from the American South who may have sold his soul to Satan in a lone act of desperation. An unlikely Black Metal pedigree, but there it stands, helped along the way by countless others who poured their own creative juices into an evolving witchesâ brew" (Moynihan, Lords of Chaos, p. 22).

Black Metal is simply pushing the envelope of wickedness and blasphemy that has always been present in rock music. Even the Beatles, who were Sunday School boys by comparison to many Death Metal groups, were viciously anti-Christian and blasphemous and thus did their part to pave the way for Death Metal. The Beatlesâ press officer, Derek Taylor, testified: "Theyâre [the Beatles] completely anti-Christ. I mean, I am anti-Christ as well, but theyâre so anti-Christ they shock me which isnât an easy thing" (Saturday Evening Post, August 6, 1964). In 1970, Paul McCartney stated, "We probably seem to be anti-religious ... none of us believes in God" (Hit Parader, January 1970, p. 15). In 1966, John Lennon created a furor by claiming: "Christianity will go. Weâre more popular than Jesus now" (Newsweek, March 21, 1966). Though he claimed that he was misunderstood and gave a half-hearted apology, it is obvious what the head Beatle thought about Christianity. In his book A Spaniard in the Works, which was published by Simon and Schuster, Lennon portrayed Jesus Christ as Jesus El Pifico, a "garlic eating, stinking little yellow, greasy facist bastard Catholic Spaniard." In his hugely popular song "Imagine," Lennon mused: "Imagine thereâs no heaven · No hell below us, above us only sky. · no religion too/ You may say Iâm a dreamer, but Iâm not the only one/ I hope some day youâll join us, and the world will live as one." That is a blasphemous denial of Almighty God and His Holy Word. The description of other blasphemous rock & rollers from the â50s, â60s, â70s, and â80s would fill a large book.

THE VIOLENCE AND BLASPHEMY OF DEATH METAL

The Norwegian group Mayhem, which was formed in 1984, is considered the father of Black Metal in Europe. The founder of Mayhem, Oystein Aarseth (1967-1993) (who originally called himself "Destructor" but changed later to "Euronymous," allegedly meaning "the prince of death"), was stabbed to death in 1993. He was murdered by another Death Metal rocker, Varg Vikernes, of the group Burzum. Aarseth was 26 years old. Other band members were called "Necro Butcher," "Dead," and "Hellhammer." One of the trademarks of Mayhem and other Norwegian Black Metal groups is the wearing of "corpsepaint," which is black and white makeup designed to create a morbid appearance. Aarseth operated an occultic bookstore/record shop in Oslo that was very influential upon young people. It was called "Helvete," which is the Norse word for Hell. The vocalist for Mayhem, Per Yngve Ohlin (whose alias was "Dead"), blew his brains out (literally) in April 1991 with a shotgun. His body was found by Oystein Aarseth. Before the police arrived, Aarseth took pictures of Ohlinâs shattered body and collected pieces of his brain and skull. Describing the death of his fellow band member, Aarseth replied with complete lack of concern, "Yeah, Dead killed himself." Aarseth made necklaces with the skull pieces and cooked some of the brain and "ate it so he could claim himself to be a cannibal" (Michael Moynihan, Lords of Chaos, p. 59). Ohlin had once stabbed Aarseth with a knife. Ohlin also hated cats and tried to cut them with knives. Ohlin, who saw himself "as a creature from another world," had an obsession with snuff films that depict real deaths by horrible torture.

Death Metal in Scandinavia has been connected with the burning of many churches. Since 1992 there have been at least 45 to 60 church fires, near-fires, and attempted arson attacks in Norway alone. Roughly a third have a documented connection to the Black Metal scene (Lords of Chaos, p. 79). In every case that has been solved, the Kripos (Norwegian national investigation department) found that the arsonists were Black Metal "Satanists." A fire fighter was killed while battling one of the blazes. Black Metal rocker Varg Vikernes (1973- ), who is strongly suspected of setting the first fire in 1992, of an ancient church building in Fantoft, Norway, is in prison for 21 years for the murder of Oystein Aarseth and for setting other church fires. There were roughly a dozen church fires in Germany from late 1993 to early 1997. Most have a proven link to Black Metal and Satanism.

Death Metalist drummer Bard Eithun of the group Emperor is in prison for brutally murdering a homosexual with a knife for no reason other than the lust of killing. That was in August 1992. He stabbed the man 37 times. A fellow band member of the Death Metal group Emperor said Eithun had been fascinated with serial killers for a long time. The day after the murder, Eithun participated in a church burning.

The members of the German Death Metal group Absurd, composed of three high school students (Hendrik Mobus, Sebastian Schauscheill, and Andreas K.), murdered a 15-year-old classmate in April 1993. The group also called themselves "Children of Satan." Band leader Hendrik Mobus stated in an interview that we are at "the dawn of the New Aeon, when Christendom will perish and a neo-heathen state will arise" (Lords of Chaos, p. 260).

A member of the Swedish Death Metal band band Dissection was imprisoned for desecrating 250 graves.

In 1992 at a Halloween celebration attended by members of the Swedish Death Metal groups Dissection and Abruptum, an elderly man was stabbed repeatedly in the neck by an 18-year-old who had been instructed to prove that he could kill without compunction (Lords of Chaos, p. 268). Another member of Dissection, Jon Nodtveidt, was charged in 1997 with another Satanist in connection with assaulting people.

Members of British Death Metal band Necropolis assaulted churches and cemeteries in 1994.

A member of the French Death Metal band Funeral, Anthony Mignoni (who uses the pseudonym "Hades"), says he created the group "to spread my ideas based on the destruction of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions, and on the purity and supremacy of the true Aryan race" (Lords of Chaos, p. 275). He was convicted of desecrating a grave in 1996. He and three others exhumed the body of Yvonne Foin, who had been dead 20 years, and placed a cross in the cadaverâs heart area. Another youth police believe to be associated with Mignoni, David Oberdorf, murdered a priest by stabbing him 33 times with a dagger. He then carved on the body after the man was dead. He had confronted the priest with the words, "I am possessed by the demon÷I must annihilate men of religion!" Investigators found a collection of death metal CDs in the teenâs room, and neighbors testified that they had heard "gnawing music, hard and stressful" blaring from his room.

Violence has been committed by young people intimately connected with the music of the popular Tampa, Florida, Death Metal group Deicide. In January 1993, two 15-year-old boys mulilated a neighborâs dog, Princess. They later told police that their fascination with Deicide led them to commit the atrocity. In April 1994, a female employee of a convenience store was brutally murdered and another woman nearly murdered in Eugene, Oregon, by teenagers. The families of the dead woman sued, claiming the youth were heavily influenced by the music of Deicide and Cannibal Corpse. The killer told police, "I did it in essence of Glen Benton and Chris Barnes [lead singer of Cannibal Corpse]." The youths had allegedly been listening to Deicide music in a church parking lot shortly before the bloodbath (Lords of Chaos, p. 290). The cases were settled out of court, with the record labels paying substantial sums while "expressly not admitting guilt" (Ibid.).

In July 1995, three teenagers in California, who were members of a Death Metal band called Hatred and who were "fanatical Slayer fans," murdered 15-year-old Elyse Pahler as a Satanic sacrifice. The three were Royce Casey, Jacob Delashmutt, and Joseph Fiorella. As Pahler prayed to God and called out for her mother, they stabbed her at least 12 times and left her to bleed to death. They chose Pahler be