White Metal… Just A Label Or A Subgenre?

This is a complicated question to answer, and one of the topics that has caused the most controversy over the years. What is White Metal (or Christian Metal, as one of its semantic variants)? It’s a difficult question to answer, and in fact, many artists and bands resist being labeled under this name. Let’s try to dive into this topic…
We are not going to tell the history of rock, and therefore of Heavy Metal. That’s not the idea, but it is important to know that as Metal was building its history and shaping its proposal, in parallel, what was initially known as “White Metal” was generated, a kind of subgenre within the Metal scene and contrasting with that scene in terms of lyrical content, since much of Heavy Metal was related to darkness, Satanism, witchcraft, etc. “White Metal” was the answer to all that, with lyrics that talked about God and Christ, something disturbing and new for Metal.
Let’s agree that metal was never necessarily anti-God, but rather anti-church, which is not the same thing. Beyond the themes and lyrics of each band, the truth is that, in general terms, the message was always anti-institutional, so to speak, except in a few particular cases.
Beyond that, the idea that there are bands with different lyrics and content was not new in principle. The idea of a Christian music scene was already known in the late 1960s and much of the 1970s, at least in the US; with Metal, it was different. The best example is Stryper, a band that has always been part of the Metal scene but without the intention of creating a subgenre or a different scene.
According to legend, the label “White Metal” was given by Brian Slagel (owner of Metal Blade Records) to Trouble, a legendary and mythical band who initially had Christian lyrics in their songs, although they never considered themselves a Christian band.
But in the beginning, metal with Christian content and lyrics was not a movement in itself or something separate from the metal scene, but rather part of heavy metal itself. Suffice it to say that a band called Metallica opened for Stryper in their early days… But at some point, and for some curious reason, the label “White Metal” became more than just a curiosity.
Music itself is a business and a market (why deny it?), and particularly in the United States, Christian music is a segment of the music market, often referred to as CCM (i.e., contemporary Christian music), which has its own record labels, radio stations, circuit, press, etc. It was only a matter of time before Heavy Metal became part of that music industry, and so it did.
Those of us who are a little older remember the war waged by a certain sector of the church in the 1980s against Heavy Metal, with accusations of incitement to occultism, drugs, suicide, etc. So much so that the issue even escalated to the courts in the US; the response, it seems, was what is known as “White Metal” or “Christian Metal,” a kind of ‘heavy’ scene within the “gospel” or Christian music circuit.
The result was that many bands became well known within that closed circle of Christian music, but very few were able to break out of that particular segment. There were exceptions to the rule, it is true, but the world of metal always viewed Christian music in general, and Heavy Metal with Christian content, which was part of it too, with a certain disdain.
In the rest of the world, things were different. Although there are Christian music niches in every Western country, the truth is that when it comes to Metal, bands in general have rubbed shoulders with the scene at large, without so many labels, and many have even signed with labels such as Nuclear Blast, Metal Blade, etc., but in general they have remained within the margins of the underground, like almost all Metal in general.
Can we think of “White Metal” as a subgenre of Metal? In principle, it would seem not. Although it is a title that contrasts well with “Black Metal” (the extreme genre born in Norway), ultimately, White Metal is not a musical style or genre in itself. Its extremes span all styles within Metal, from hard rock or glam rock to the most extreme sounds imaginable. The issue seems to lie in the faith of each band’s members and the lyrical content, which is mostly Christian, but in particular, in the participation of the “Christian” music scene. Even so, we believe that it is not a subgenre like Thrash Metal, Death Metal, etc. Its musical variety makes it something that breaks the rules.
In any case, over the years, the terms “Christian Metal” and “White Metal” have come to be used with a kind of disdain toward bands that have Christian lyrics or Christians among their ranks, perhaps forgetting that the vast majority of heavy metal bands with Christian content share a contempt for the merely religious with a large part of the metal community. Let’s be clear, God is not the same as religion, and that is something we always make clear.
That’s why, to a certain extent, I understand Herbie Langhans (formerly of Seventh Avenue and currently with Avantasia) when he said in a recent interview that “I didn’t want to play only in the ‘White Metal’ scene either, I still don’t like that word. For me, it was simply classic metal, but everyone pigeonholed us into that genre” (referring to his history with Seventh Avenue).
Then there are those who believe that Heavy Metal + God is necessarily a contradiction. We have to separate the issues; it’s one thing to be anti-institutional (the church in general and religion) and another to be against God. In fact, Heavy Metal has been nourished by biblical or Christian stories in its lyrics. There are plenty of examples, Iron Maiden, Metallica, etc. But that’s a nice topic to explore in depth at some other time. Basically, there is no such thing as anti-Christian Metal, except in a few particular cases. Nor should there be such a thing as a “Christian Metal” scene, since Metal is a unique musical genre and movement. What does exist is heavy metal that is against falsehood, corruption, hypocrisy, silence in the face of injustice, etc.
Metal is one, that much is clear. Yes, there are subgenres, but in itself, I think metal should be a single scene. Creating or trying to form separate scenes really doesn’t make sense. It is true that in this medium we promote and disseminate bands with Christian content in their lyrics to a large extent, but we also do so with national metal bands, regardless of their faith. We do so because we are convinced that so-called “Christian metal” is something marginal, underground, and that because of this, it does not have the dissemination that we believe it should have. The same situation often occurs with heavy metal in Argentina, which has a rich music scene but does not receive the exposure we believe it deserves.
Metal is not a business, neither “white metal” nor any particular subgenre. For us, heavy metal is more than just music; it is part of our lives, as much as the faith we profess, which does not prevent us from sharing brotherhood with those who do not believe in God. We enjoy Iron Maiden as much as Stryper, or Death and Mortification. Hating or rejecting heavy metal in general, purely for religious reasons, doesn’t make you more Christian, it actually makes you more foolish…
This February, we continue with more interviews, a revamp of the “El Desarchivo” section, in which we will begin to dust off true musical gems, lost in time but still relevant to us, and as always, news and reviews of albums. I can tell you that we have a long list waiting to be published….
As always, we will continue the fight, on the Metal side of life, and I would like to end this reflection with a quote borrowed from V8, an Argentine band that knew how to break down the barriers between “Christian Metal” and Heavy Metal….

“There is no other path than the narrow one, without masks, for those who are not clowns in this circus. That is why we have discarded the bonds that tie us to the ideals of men. Soon, brothers, it is necessary. There is nothing left to wait for…” (“El Fin De Los Inicuos” – V8)

We’ll see you next month, when we celebrate our first year online… Let’s keep up the fight!!!!