Living Sacrifice, a four piece metal band from Arkansas, has been around for the past two decades. One of the first openly Christian bands to gain acceptance and popularity in both the Christian and secular markets, the band has never been the one to play for safe lyrical topics or themes – some having potent apologetic content.
In 2010 the band released “The Inifinte Order”, their first full length album after a seven year hiatus. A 10-track tour de force of straightforward metal, the album explores several different lyrics topics such as the role of violence in our culture (“Overkill Exposure”), post-traumatic-stress-disorder from war (“Rules of Engagement”), and the full implications of social Darwinism (“Unfit to Live”), among other subjects.
“Nietzsche’s Madness”, one of my personal favorites from the album, is a very basic presentation of the moral argument from the existence of God. Bruce Fitzhugh, the lead vocalist of Living Sacrifice, briefly summarizes the moral argument in the second verse when he screams, “Which is the standard of man? Without God, meaningless. Which is the standard of man? No rationale for what exists.” Later in the bridge Bruce takes an indirect shot at relative morality with the lines, “What if there was a gun to your head? Would it not matter? What if there was a gun to your head? No meaning in your death.” Those interested in the moral argument for the existence of God or Nietzsche might find “Nietzsche’s Madness” an interesting listen, especially for those who enjoy their music on the heavier side.
“the album explores several different lyrics topics such as the role of violence in our culture”.
……..What irony.
I’m not sure I follow. Can you elaborate?
Austin, I want to be charitable here.
I think this is a case of the king having no clothes. I am a musician and have been exposed to every form of music for over 55 years. I cannot consider this the be in the class of music. It is noise, not music.
I know you like the lyrics, but one cannot hear the lyrics; so unless you are reading from the video, hardly a word can be made out. What one does hear is a violent shrieking. It really sounds almost like a mix of expletives combined with God’s name being taken in vain. The voice has all the marks of Satan. It is violent in every way except for the words which you cannot make out, and that’s why I find this guy’s quote so ironic. Sorry, I really am open-minded to almost every form of music and love almost all of it. But this seems like a mentally disturbed nightmare.
I would never allow any young person under my care to listen to this for fear of the effects on a developing brain. When there is such a wealth of truly uplifting and beautiful music, ancient and modern, an almost untapped supply of genius that honours God and brings us closer to Christ, why, oh why, would you choose this? This goes beyond a matter merely of taste. Unless someone is so conditioned to it, for any Christian, something here should seem terribly amiss.
–William Francis Brown
Forest, Virginia
What a great response, Mr.Brown. Is there such a thing as audio oxymoron? The sound screams evil while the words lie hidden. I find nothing appealing or inspiring about it at all.
While I appreciate the sincerity you have in your critique, Mr. Brown, your understanding of the music is highly misguided. If you are as open minded as you stated in your reply, then I think you would at least alleviate yourself from the critique of this music being “the marks of Satan” and “a mix of expletives combined with God’s name being taken in vain.”
There is a whole community (I hesitate to say “culture”) of godly men and women involved in producing this kind of music. For instance, the lead vocalist Matt Montgomery of the band For Today is a perfect example of this. Lacey Mosley of Flyleaf (although Flyleaf isn’t as heavy as Living Sacrifices or For Today) Jake Luhrs of August Burns Red, Jarod Christman of Corpus Christi, and many others. There is not much sense in trying to convince you through examples and arguments other than to just say that you are simply confused about the topic by associating this sort of music with the task of being ungodly.
Gotta love fall-time sicknesses. I would have responded several weeks ago, but I fell ill to a two-week bout of the flu and struggled to catch up with school and everything else.
First of all, I thank you for taking your time to respond to my question for clarification. You stated your thoughts well, and I appreciate it. My response is not aimed at trying to convince you of my point of view (I fully understand that metal is an acquired taste – one I personally didn’t have up until a few years ago), but you made some statements that I do wish to address so that your response to this subject in future situations (whether it be to me directly or elsewhere) will be strengthened.
First of all, contrary to whatever your experience tells you, this is, by definition, music. It uses the same scales, intervals, keys and everything else behind every other genre of music. It has a melody (albeit not an elaborate one), it has a harmony (again, not elaborate), it has rhythm (which requires great stamina and proficiency to pull off correctly), it has form. Feel free to dislike it, but it is music.
I can understand that the words are hard to make out. However, that the words are hard to make out does not justify the false witness you are bearing towards your brothers. They are *not* taking God’s name in vain (a very serious charge I plead with you not to make again), and please, enlighten me, have you heard what Satan sounds like that you are able to compare the two? It may *sound* that way, but that does not mean it *is* that way. This leads to my next point
Steven Dunn mentioned earlier some Christians who are working in this scene to reach people for Christ. Living Sacrifice opened the door for Christians to be taken seriously, and right now some of the biggest names in the modern metal scene are bands comprised of Christians who write lyrics openly rooted in Christianity. A member of the Alliance is, in fact, a former frontman for one such band. I chose this song because there are people who listen to this music, and it is a very influential style of music over the minds of many people and is very pervasive on the Internet. Feel free to voice your disapproval of the genre; it’s not for everyone. Please, though, do not paint these people with the brushes of Satanism because you do not like it. That is unloving and quite wrong. The last thing these Christians need in this scene is being depicted as the very thing they are singing/screaming out against. You are their brother in Christ – support them with your prayers.
Again, it’s perfectly fine that you don’t enjoy the song, but for the sake of the Christians working in the scene, don’t write them off because you don’t like the music. Thanks again for time to write a sincere and straightforward response.