Religious OppositionThe biggest critics of Heavy Metal music continue to be the religious groups that oppose the genre. Stereotypes that these groups possess often lead to even greater misunderstandings of the music. The religious groups represent pathos because of their emotional connections to the topics that Heavy Metal puts into question.
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Misunderstandings
It is simple, really. Religious groups and critics expect the worst from Heavy Metal due to their prejudices. Although some Metal bands are Satanic and attempt to defame Christianity, the overwhelming majority of bands do not follow their lead. The religious groups then take a stand against Metal itself, not the radical bands that have extreme ideas. Not even world renowned bands such as AC/DC can completely escape the criticism of religious groups. They believe that AC/DC actually stands for, "After Christ, Devil Child" (Trzcinski). Another misunderstanding that religious radicals have can be seen by the song, "C.O.D." They believe that the song is an attempt to "Call Out the Devil". AC/DC says that the song is actually a love song, no different from Elvis Presley's song, "You're the Devil in Disguise".
White Metal
Metal, in fact, has an entire subgenre completely devoted to religion. White Metal, also known as Christian Metal, is a very small part of the Metal bricolage. "In addition to always having occupied a peculiar position within the wider world of metal music, Christian metal has always occupied quite a precarious position within wider conservative and evangelical Christian circles as well" (Moberg).
The White Metal genre is not very popular in the Metal scene, however. The reason for the unpopularity is not because the listeners of the genre are Satanic though. It is simply because the listeners of Metal pride themselves on independence of thought, and they feel that White (Christian) Metal pushes its influences onto the audience too much.
The White Metal genre is not very popular in the Metal scene, however. The reason for the unpopularity is not because the listeners of the genre are Satanic though. It is simply because the listeners of Metal pride themselves on independence of thought, and they feel that White (Christian) Metal pushes its influences onto the audience too much.
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The two videos above show how White Metal bands and Black Metal bands compare sonically. The sounds are very similar, which strengthens the point that the reason that White Metal is not popular is due to the fact the White Metal bands "push" their ideologies onto the listener, rather than the actual sound of the music.