A Catechumen’s Perspective on the Union of Heavy Metal and Christianity
At a glance, Christianity and heavy metal music seem to be irreconcilable; one is concerned with eternal life, purity of heart and ultimate redemption, while the other is ostensibly obsessed with death, corruption and wrath.
While the stereotypes surrounding heavy metal and hard rock are directly opposed to the stereotypical view of Christianity, I believe that metal is not only an appropriate means of Christian expression, but also that it is a genre uniquely suited to that task.
As a catechumen in the Catholic Church and a longtime fan of rock music, I couldn’t help but witness the sheer aesthetic overlap between the two.
While the veneration of skulls and the bones of saints is particularly strong in the Orthodox and Byzantine traditions, Roman Catholicism is no stranger to the practice.
Examples of this are the display of St. Thomas Aquinas’ femur at San Domenico Maggiore in Naples and the Capuchin Crypt in Rome, which is constructed largely with the bones of Capuchin friars.
Such an idea could likely be found in the lyrics or album art of a heavy metal group in the same way that the Church brings this into reality to focus the attention of its believers; at its core, heavy metal does the same thing as the Church.
The reason for venerating a relic is not to worship the figure it belonged to, but rather to give respect to the profound capacity for love that they had toward God. In a diluted sense, collectors of memorabilia are doing exactly that.
The reason a Jimi Hendrix guitar is a special collector’s item is not really because it was used at a concert or even that Hendrix himself played it; rather, the true reason for its significance comes from the music it represents and the impact that music has had on rock fans worldwide.
I think the most important aesthetic feature of both Catholicism and rock music is that though many different communities exist within each of them, they each allow for differences of expression to serve a larger purpose.
The Catholic Church has Rome as its capital, but that does nothing to diminish the rites that emerged out of a separate cultural heritage such as the Coptic Rite which comes out of Egypt or the Maronite Rite centered in Lebanon.
In the same way, rock music may be divided into separate genres such as metal, punk, grunge or even sub-genres like thrash metal and post-punk, but that doesn’t diminish or alter its status or purpose as rock music.
Both heavy metal and Christianity ask a fundamental question: who are you underneath your social perception? While they seem worlds apart, they both attempt to elevate the human person by peeling away the distractions and illusions of modern life.
While Christianity is more concerned with the idea of truth itself being a divine person, they each maintain an aggressive distaste for dishonesty and advocate for an aggressive search for the truth, regardless of whether you choose to search for it in an abbey or on a stage.