[Note September 2015: Once in a great, great while, I'll update the list at the bottom of this. I don't want it to be a full catalog of artists, just a sample. If you can think of a band, especially in one of the sections where there aren't many links yet, that you think would help, please tell me!
--> imperialkodnarok AT gmail DOT com <--- ]
I've left behind the esoteric and occult nonsense that used to plague me, I've accepted Jesus as my savior, but even today, even though I do not face punishment from God any longer, I still get punished by my own mind for it... Simple things like certain roads, even sunsets and certain kinds of scenery make me think of those things. Important note: I don't want, for even half of a second, to go back to them. I know what they do, they feel bad, and God has changed my life for the better in so many ways since I gave it all up. However, I'm still reminded of it. A scene may remind me of a negative band's album cover, for example. I hate feeling like that. I want to be able to enjoy simple creativity, simple nature scenes without being reminded of spiritual negativity. I want to be able to see again what other Christians see in nature, and I can already fully perceive it, I just have trouble seeing it through my memories, but I know it's there.
Don't make the same mistakes I did. Don't get sucked into it. Ideology does matter. You're not proving anything by listening to evil music. It doesn't make you cool, it doesn't make you "brutal". It may seem better than popular Christian music, but there are many Christian bands* with similar sounds to those bands, who are equally enjoyable. If you are a Christian but find evil bands singing about subjects with which you agree (especially spiritual ones) don't embrace it; find the flaws and change them. Nature worship is poisonous, paganism is poisonous, esotericism is poisonous, it's all bad in the end. It doesn't matter how good it sounds, either. The point is the deeper element: the spiritual element, their intent. Christian black metal may sound vicious, it may challenge the best and fastest-playing artists in the rest of the scene, but it's generally not "malicious". It's subtle, but there's a fundamental difference in songs depending on the spiritual state and intent of the artist(s). You need to realize it. I am not a fundamentalist because the church told me to be one. I am not a fundamentalist because I hate gays and black people and foreigners and whatever you want to say, which I don't. I believe 100% in the Bible because in light of my experiences, and my reflections on life, and God's influence, I now see that there is no other choice, and I don't want another choice, either. I've seen the other choices, and I'm not happy with any of them.
* Here are a few Christian bands who play styles that may be relevant to this blog, note that there are definitely more than I'm linking here, this is just a very, very small sample:
folk/viking/ possibly black - Slechtvalk, Arvinger, Oskord, Holy Blood, Vardøger, Requiem Eternam
post rock - The Sleep Design,
black/war - Armageddon Holocaust, Verdelger, Devotam, Edificador, Wintersoul, Primitive Church, Soterion, Desmodus Rotundus, Horde
symphonic black - Divine Symphony, Mercy, La Chambre Ardente, Dark Lay Still
ambient/atmospheric black - Vials of Wrath, Usynlig Tumult, Dark Woods, Phanerosis
DSBM - Forgotten Sorrow, Hated, Cryptic Rising
other bands of interest: Winter's Dawn, Thy Fiery Haze, Elgibbor
heavy/power: Cold Embrace, Santuario, Emerald, Bride, Messiah Prophet
death metal: Becoming the Archetype, Crimson Thorn, Disencumbrance, Obliteration, Metanoia, Broken Flesh
Industrial: Kirche Gothika (harsh industrial/metal), Mental Destruction (industrial/dark ambient), Audio Paradox (industrial/EBM), Blackhouse (industrial/noise)
Noise: Frostnoise, a noise EP from my project, Circus of Insanity, Fleshdeath (noisegrind), Decimate Damnation (noisegrind)
Experimental: Relentless Tradition, Determining the Absent, an EP from me again, another EP from me
You can always check out my tumblr for more bands.
God bless you all, as always.
2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
No comments:
Post a Comment