"In the Heavy Metal/Hard Rock that you listen to, do you really pay attention to any religious topics it may include such as Christianity, Satanism or another forms of worship? Please elaborate."

Katrina Johansson - Guitarist - (www.katrinaguitar.com)
I don't pay attention to religious topics. As a guitarist I usually pay attention to the guitar parts and melodies. Sometimes you can not even understand the lyrics anyways. If I found a song to be offensive I just would not listen to it.

Kevin DuBrow - Quiet Riot (www.kevindubrow.com)
I do not. I feel that Rock music should used as an escape from issues such as politics or religion.

John K. - Biomechanical (www.biomechanical.co.uk)
I don’t think that there are many bands trying to talk religiously through their music. Most of the bands are talking about either esoteric struggles or the misery of human kind. Dio for instance has used the dragon to reflect the beast within and not the Devil. Death Metal uses demonic themes to describe their music but it’s up to anybody to take these to heart or not. Same goes for Christian Metal. I personally focus more on the music when I hear Death Metal than anything else. I find that, the lyrics -as disturbing as may be- accompany the style perfectly. With Heavy and Thrash metal it’s different. Most bands talk about the things I mentioned before so I don’t think their lyrics provoke an issue of any religious topics.

Martin Popoff - Author (www.martinpopoff.com)
Interesting question, I guess having thought about it now (and never much before), I'm a firm believer in no religion in metal. 'Cos if you go the Christian route, you quickly become or seem a novelty act, or a one issue party as it were. Go the Satanism route, and it just sounds stupid, like... What does this arcane illogical religion have to do with my life? Nothing. I suppose there's not enough Rastafarianism in metalcore ha ha... But other than that, man, I guess my thing would be, don't sing about religion, any of them.

Tony McBrayer - Low Earth Orbit (www.lowearthorbit.net, www.tonymcbrayer.com)
Personally, I don't think that rock'n'roll/metal is the place for religion. I don't like being preached to by some band that had a few to many Corona's after rehearsal or whatever. That does piss me off to no end. I really don't pay attention to religious topics in music unless it is pushed down my throat. I do think the trend towards the darker side of things is and always will be more prevalent in heavy music just because of the aggression involved. As they say there is no good without evil (ying~yang). How boring would heavy music be without "Reign in Blood" by Slayer?? There again though they are talking about history not religion. At the end of the day for me it comes down to this~~TO EACH HIS/HER OWN~~whatever that may be. Don't tread on me & I won't tread on you. But if you do I might just kick your ass! I grew up in a small town in West Virginia my father & his father were both coal miners & so was my mother's father. You work hard everyday, don't take no shit from anybody & if you plan on givin' anybody any shit you had better be ready to deal with it. Redneck?? Maybe, anti~social, Maybe~~either way its how it was for me & I truly believe that if you're backstabbing lying puke you'll get yours sooner or later~~Karma~~is alive and well. Good Topic guys!! Rock On!!

Gordon Tittsworth - Images of Eden (www.imagesofeden.com)
Back in the day (about age 16-19), I used to listen to anything from Black Metal such as Venom, Hellhammer and early Bathory to Christian White Metal like Vengeance Rising, then everything in between. I guess I never really cared or thought about the religious aspects of it. If it sounded good, I'd listen to it. I did have a extra respect for Christian metal because it was not the "norm". At the time, 80s metal was "supposed" to be evil in nature, so White Metal bands were really taking a chance and I admired them for standing up for what they believed in, no matter how many forces may have been working against them at the time. They also helped negate the belief that all metalheads were just Satan worshippers and uneducated drug addicts. They showed that it was okay to listen to thrash and still have a strong spiritual belief. I believe they paved the way to the more open-minded approach that we have now. Although most of what I listen to nowadays is essentially positive in nature, I still spin old Slayer CDs.

Trey Gadler - Azrael's Bane (www.azraelsbane.com)
I think most of the religious imagery in metal is designed to shock people and get a reaction. It worked pretty well when I was 12, now, not so much. I find most of the satanic stuff to be fairly ridiculous to tell you the truth. Lyrics that touch on spirituality in whatever form the author is exploring can be moving and insightful though, and I find topics such as hypocrisy in organized religion intriguing but those written just for the shock value just don't do much for me.

Emo Mowery - Tiwanaku
What matters to me in music, no matter what the genre is, is if it moves me or not. Thats it. If it does'nt touch me and if I dont feel it then I don't listen to it. It doesnt matter if its rock, metal, whatever.... If my head doesnt start moving or my fists dont go up in the air then forget it. I use the same philosophy for Tiwanaku. It comes from the heart. Period! Religion has nothing to do with that.

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