5 metal bands that took their blasphemy seriously

metal-blasphemy

Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation. — Mark 3:29

Many metal bands feature occultist or Satanic imagery and lyrics. However, some metal bands took this Bible verse as a challenge and created blasphemy on a theological level, denying God with a philosophical basis.

Since metal has always been fervently anti-dogma and a firm believer in a boundaryless existence, the notion of sin is, in itself, a sin. Here are five anthems of rejection that took the final step and committed the unpardonable sin.

Incantation – “Rotting Spiritual Embodiment” (Onward to Golgotha)

Taking a mortalistic approach, Rotting Spiritual Embodiment claims that the Holy Spirit dies with the body that it inhabits, thus affirming an absence of all metaphysics and a sheer physical basis to life itself. This form of materialism proves more dominating than even atheism as it denies the basis for a holy presence and argues instead that it is mere physical illusion. The crushing and darkened power chords seem to compel the embodiment — the physical form of the spirit — further and further into obscurity.


Holy apparition, seeking death to save.
Sins of the flesh, the cadaver is unfit.
Penetrate the mind and body, spirit is incarnated.
Spiritual entrapment.
Spiritual deformity…

Foolish ghost of god.
Embodied with the putrid corpse.
Trapped within the flesh.
Forever rots in misery…

Morbid Angel – “Blasphemy” (Altars of Madness)

A call to arms for blasphemy and a declaration of a life free from the clutches of religious dogma, this song takes a straightforward approach to blasphemy through invective condemning God and arguing for his invalidity. It also directly blasphemes the holy spirit in the chorus. Complete with Satanic and Thelemic philosophy, this is a sonic symphony straight from the fiery depths.


I am the god of gods
Master of the art
I desecrate the chaste
Writhe in the flesh

Blasphemy

Chant the blasphemy
Mockery of the messiah
We curse the holy ghost
Enslaver of the weak
God of lies and greed
God of hypocrisy
We laugh at your bastard child
No god shall come before me

Blaspheme the ghost
Blasphemy of the holy ghost

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law
Rebel against the church
Drink from the chalice of blasphemy
Rise up against the enslaver

Immolation – “I Feel Nothing” (Here in After)

Immolation, while anti-religious, never took much of a Satanic approach to their opposition. They present their views from a more atheistic standpoint, and in the pulverizing song, “I Feel Nothing,” Immolation pose the question: Where is the Holy Spirit? The song describes a person who cannot feel the Holy Spirit within them and they refuses to force themselves to believe, so they reject its existence along with the rest of the trinity.


Your prayers,
I don’t feel them in my heart
It is not hate
That I stare coldly at the son of god
I can not force the blood of Christ
To flow through me
God is love and his love is dead

Drown your sorrows in prayer
But your prayers will never change the world
I separate myself
From those who chase the spirit
I can’t fall to my knees
And pretend like all the rest
This is a soul that doesn’t need saving

Their paradise not mine; an illusion I will not believe
Divine presence of perfection, turns sour in my gaze
Why should I feel compassion for the suffering of your God
For all the pain he allows, I give him what he deserves

In the name of the Father,
In the name of the Son
Where is the Holy Spirit, I feel nothing
As I stare upon the crucifix, I feel nothing for a God I never knew
I refuse to embrace, and live by his word

I take not of his body
I take not of his blood
I don’t need salvation
Or his forgiveness
I don’t want his kingdom
My kingdom is here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEb8S49w-Oc

Deicide – “Behead the Prophet (No Lord Shall Live)” (Legion)

When you think of blasphemous death metal, Deicide undoubtedly comes to mind among the first few entries. Not only does the band name advocate the murder of God but the entire approach of the band denies any form of inherent or mystical order. In “Behead the Prophet (No Lord Shall Live),” Deicide describe the Holy Spirit as foredoomed and proclaim a devilish victory over the holy.


Deny resurrection, behead the Nazarene son
Foredoomed holy spirit, our war at last be won
Legion crush Jehovah, see through the faceless dog
Untie our world from Satan
You know it can’t be done

Wipe away this world of unworth
Decapitation, Satanic rebirth
Off with his head to sever his soul
Beheaded prophet the suffer is yours
“Forever…..”

Virgin, mother murdered, once warned but now is dead
Destroyed heaven’s kingdom, in flames the righteous fled
Legion, thou has waited, to face the sacred dog
Satan’s revelation, this world will always be ours

End of god the way it must be
Behead the prophet, let Satan free…

No god, no lord shall live
What always has should never been
No god, no lord shall live
Behead the prophet and we win

No man to begotten, infant Jesus dead
End of god forever, cast among the souls of Hell
Thou who has imprisoned, suffer by your own demise
Execrate the revelation, MASTER SATAN RISE!

Deny resurrection, behead the Nazarene son
Foredoomed holy spirit, our war at last be won
Legion crush Jehovah, see through the faceless dog
Untie our world from Satan
You know it can’t be done

No god, no lord shall live
What always has should never been
No god, no lord shall live
Behead the prophet and we win

No man to begotten, infant Jesus dead
End of god forever, cast among the souls of Hell
Thou who has imprisoned,
Execrate the revelation,
MASTER SATAN RISE!

Havohej – “Dethrone the Son of God” (Dethrone the Son of God)

Concluding this list is a cold and blasphemous sermon from the great Paul Ledney of Profanatica, Havohej, Incantation and Revenant among others. To go too far in depth about this piece would be to undermine its experiential value to new listeners. I’ll say only this: “Dethrone the Son of God” is the spirit of rejection translated into a litany embracing hell over the “pure” but delusional spirit of believers.


Rip the sacred flesh
Sodomize the holy asshole
Drink the red blood of the mother of earth
Masturbation on the dead body of Christ
The king of Jews is dead
and so are the lies
Vomit on the host of Heaven
Masturbate on the throne of God
Break the seals of angels
Drink the sweet blood of Christ
Taste the flesh of the priest
Sodomize holy nuns
The king of Jews is a liar
The Heavens will burn
Dethrone the son of God
God is dead
Holyness is gone
Purity is gone
Prayers are burned
Covered in black shit
Rape the holy ghost
Unclean birth of Jesus Christ
Heaven will fall
Fuck the church
Fuck Christ
Fuck the Virgin
Fuck the gods of Heaven
Fuck the name of Jesus

Tags: , , , , , ,

43 thoughts on “5 metal bands that took their blasphemy seriously”

  1. witten says:

    I’ve always found (aurally) Onward to Golgotha to be the ultimate expression of pure, pitch-black nihilism. The lyrics fit in very well.

    1. Richard Head says:

      Indeed? I hear something way more complex than nihilism in OTG. It sounds the same way a castle or cathedral looks. There is purpose and intent put into its development. It is more like an expressio of the adventurous possibilitles presented by nihilism than the ol’ “nothing really matters” emo-angst that pure nihilism often manifests in music.

  2. mooz says:

    I always thought Mayhem should top a list like this. Euronymous took being “evil” tragically seriously and Dead thought he was a creature from another world. Deicide were awesome for a couple albums, but Glenn is pretty open about the fact he’s just clowning around, and his early behavior could be chalked up to teenage hormones and anger.

    1. trystero says:

      When you actually look at the music though, you get stuff like Pagan Fears. The lyrics of that certainly would not fit there and point to a viewpoint perhaps beyond blasphemy. This despite whatever professions he may have made outside of music. As a band, Mayhem did not live up to them I think, though it perhaps surpassed them.

  3. Kingdom_Gone says:

    As I carefully read this list I suddenly came to a realization: this list is like my favorite metal tracks all-time. And this hasn’t been a concious choise on my side. So, this must mean… yes… no…

    I AM THE ANTICHRIST!

    1. tiny midget says:

      so… does that mean you’re not a vegetarian ?

    2. EDS says:

      Pop quiz, how many differant songs have been named ‘The Antichrist” in metal history? How many have been named simply “Antichrist”?

  4. trystero says:

    Nice list and clickbait title.

  5. Taker of anal virginities says:

    That`s a really cool picture of Ledney you have there. He should have used it as one of his covers (without photoshop molestation ofcourse). But seriously, these top 5 lists are getting silly though, wont be long now until we get “Top 5 metal artists with genital piercings”, or something of that nature.

    1. Lord Mosher says:

      I propose 5 best heavy metal albums of all time !

      1. trystero says:

        If instead of `5 Best` it is just, you know, The best heavy metal albums (and a certain number discussed?), would that not be better? I think these 5 X titles are a bit clickbait-y and unsuited to this website.

  6. teehee says:

    I would be interested to see DMU cover the metal movement in the brony community (youtube “metal brony” and such, http://youtu.be/b6XLwIZCIQA).

    1. Richard Head says:

      No.

      GTFO.

    2. Nomen Nescio says:

      Really? Bronies I’ve seen on the internet mostly listen to Blowpeth, Hipheaven, Demon Burger and things of that nature.

      1. teehee says:

        It doesn’t take much research to see that the My Little Pony followers “bronies” are an alienated group. There will be metalheads in their ranks, and there are popular metal songs on youtube by bronies. I don’t see how this is any different than other DMU articles featuring other alienated groups. It’s something that’d drive new traffic here. The regulars would indeed read it. Everyone wins!

        1. Richard Head says:

          Nobody wants “bronies” here. Yes, I speak for everyone, and if you disagree then stfu faggot or fight me in real life, I aint skeered.

          Seriously though, if being “an alienated group” makes you qualified for a DMU research article then why not get invite the furries, asexuals, trisexuals, asexuals, disabled, and retards?

          Ah, shit… Looks like they’re already here.

          If troll, well done, btw, I’m genuinely agitated to such an extent that I have to stop eating my Cheetos for a handful of seconds.

          1. Nomen Nescio says:

            You mentioned asexuals twice… I understand why, though. If I stop eating Cheetos and drowning them with Mtn Dew while tipping my fedora I start losing my mind as well.

            1. Richard Head says:

              I just really hate asexuals. If you’re not going to have sex with me, at least have a good reason, not just, “I don’t like sex”.

              My point is that bronies (and their ilk) don’t count as “alienated groups” because all they’ve done is made a conscious choice to indulge in media that other people consider inappropriate for their lifestyle. Same with other groups like emos, goths, anime fanatics, etc. They choose to broadcast their affection for unpopular media because they’ve tied their own persona to that identity provided by the media itself. I know how it is, I used to be a punk kid with mohawks and skateboard and Dickies and everything. I broadcast my affiliation with the music because it’s an easy way of establishing identity and my personal perspective on life matched the philosophy of the music close enough (“what is the meaning of life? Idk man just skate and rock out, who cares”). But I didn’t bitch about being victimized or marginalized when people gave me shit for the way I dressed. Because I understood that I was not standing on neutral ground and was prepared to have enemies.

              Now I apologize for the long post but that personal example is important because it illustrates the problem with bronies and these other groups (obviously I’m not including people with actual mental or physical handicaps even though I alluded to them in my other post, because they do not have the choice to be otherwise). These “alienated groups” are doing shit that they know other people think is weird and they get off on being bullied about it. They’re addicted to victimhood. They act as if everything “ought” to be fair game, that no one should judge their choices because life is all about just doing what makes them happy.

              Tl;dr fuck bronies, death metal is not for them, there is no good reason to try to attract their readership.

              1. teehee says:

                For someone declaring that they’re not an alienated group, you’re very vocal in alienating them.

                1. Richard Head says:

                  There is nothing interesting about an group that alienates itself and then makes a career of whining about it. That’s my point, bluntly.

                  1. teehee says:

                    They genuinely like something that’s somewhat taboo. This in turn brings about an alienation; such as you making excuses to alienate them.

                    1. Richard Head says:

                      As if I’m some type of deity that decrees what group is alienated from the social norm. You don’t really think that so why talk like I’m persecuting a bunch of innocent kids?

                      Let’s say that I like meth and child porn. Genuinely enjoy both of them. What consideration do I deserve then? I’m just trying to get my rocks off, man, life is too short to not have fun. I deserve special attention for being a degenerate hedonist, right?

                      Am I alienated? Yes, these things are taboo. Who is responsible for my alienation? According to your arguments, everybody but myself is responsible, because I’m just living life the only way I know how, baby.

                    2. Climate Clinician says:

                      Both meth and child pornography are illegal. It’s established that those things are wrong and people can be prosecuted for such things. Nobody can be prosecuted over enjoying a cartoon made for kids.

                      You’re overreacting.

                      I never stated that you were “deity” nor anything as an authoritative voice in this regard, but your constant belittling of bronies is an example of the alienation that they encounter.

                      DMU should write an unbiased article detailing the metal elements of the My Little Pony community. We can then come to our own conclusions about whether it’s true or false, power or wimp, etc

                      The two videos that I shared displayed above average musicianship. Perhaps there’s more!

                    3. Climate Clinician says:

                      Sorry for the name swap. I had this one loaded into a different browser.

                    4. Richard Head says:

                      So because something is illegal, it is objectively bad? You know that girls used to get legally married off at age 14? Was it bad then? Consuming or making alcoholic drinks was illegal for a while in the US. Now it isn’t. What does that say about morality, if we tie it to legality? It is a fickle thing, hardly a useful metric. Honestly I expected you to at least go with the “meth and porn hurt other people though and living in a warped fantasy world doesn’t” argument; that would have at least been a fun one.

                      I’m not overreacting, it’s perfectly appropriate to foam at the mouth when arguing with strangers on the internet.

                      You have won a minor victory, anyway; bronies would never have been mentioned this many times on DMU if not for your silly suggestion and my irrational hatred.

                      I’ll leave you with this to consider; alienation is about as vague and obscure a concept as you could want. I’m actually for totally ostracizing bronies and their contributions to media (including music) because death metal is the antithesis of an autistic obsession over children’s cartoons.

                    5. Climate Clinician says:

                      Hello. This will be my last message because I’m beating a dead horse here with you.

                      So, the variance of the remoteness of DMU and the MLP boils down to two different things.

                      Hessian: existential art, crushing music which denies the individual and looks at the broad range and not focused purely on aesthetics

                      Brony: fantasy-based worlds where a small demography of adult fanbois become fanatic about (much like Lord of the Rings)

                    6. Climate Clinician says:

                      Sorry I hit post comment early

                      To add real quick: DMU should look into it. Perhaps the variance of the separation between Hessian and Brony isn’t as big as it appears

                    7. I think — not that I have much say in the matter — that DMU should explore everything and see where it fits. Not everything fits within metal, and so exploration != inclusion. But there is probably no harm from talking to metal bronies. Just bring some carrots.

                      1. Richard Head says:

                        If the “dead horse” comment was a pun, then you are my hero. Otherwise you are very boring to argue with.

                2. The Celibate says:

                  Actually having an article about asexuality, or weebs would be the least worst idea from those listed. I don`t know about asexuality (seeing as metalheads are for the most part degenerates), but there are at least two notable metal guitarists that are weebs.

                  1. teehee says:

                    “My advice is that we be open to anything, then make our conclusions by looking to the source material itself: metal.” — Brett Stevens, August 14th, 2014

                    I would be interested to see an article about asexuality.That might mesh well with some of the armchair warriors here.

                    Given the outspoken opinions about bronies, their correlation to metal should be explored. It could just be a nerd/nerd likeness; there could be more to it though.

        1. veien says:

          Haha, this might sound crazy, but it’s actually not half bad in terms of skill and focus of energy etc. around 2 minutes in and the truest ‘hessians’ I know aren’t even this motivated.

    3. “Metal has always been fervently anti-dogma and a firm believer in a boundaryless existence.” – Aaron Lynn

      Boundaries are there for a reason: some behaviors are more intelligent than others. A boundary-less, anything-goes mentality is for the low IQ.

      “The notion of sin is, in itself, a sin.” – Aaron Lynn

      Relativism much? Please lrn2thnk before you write.

      1. Richard Head says:

        “The notion of sin is, in itself, a sin.”

        Maybe he’s saying that the concept of sin is a rhetorical tautology. So, relativist. Human concepts are relative.

        1. And how might the concept of sin be a rhetorical tautology?

          All concepts are relative, but not all concepts are logical; there is a difference between mere relativity and relativism.

          I guess my point is: if we demonspawn are going to overthrow the cult of Jehovah, we need to get our thinking straight.

          Great albums though.

          1. Richard Head says:

            Sin is an act of will that separates a man from God. Sin itself is a mechanism of separation, which is a process opposed to unification. God is the ultimate unifier; it is his will that men live in unity with one another and therefore with God himself. This is the concept of sin.

            A concept is a handy set of symbols to describe an immaterial process or a process that can’t be observed directly. We can tear leaves from a tree and watch them be physically separated from the tree before our very eyes, but we don’t observe separation from God so directly. That’s why we use a concept to describe it: Sin.

            Now I’ve logically constructed this argument in such a way that you are logically incapable of refuting the existence of sin as a concept, because to do so would be to refute the process of separation (which would obviously be silly but possibly entertaining to try) and refute God as a concept or a being. Therefore I’ve introduced sin as a rhetorical tautology.

            Demonspawn are still allowed to use dictionaries.

        2. Like this: “Taking a mortalistic approach, Rotting Spiritual Embodiment claims that the Holy Spirit dies with the body that it inhabits, thus affirming an absence of all metaphysics and a sheer physical basis to life itself. This form of materialism proves more dominating than even atheism as it denies the basis for a holy presence and argues instead that it is mere physical illusion.”

          This kind of thinking is even more illogical and insane than the illogical and insane otherworldly kind it attempts to oppose.

          Come on, Hessians!

          1. Richard Head says:

            I really don’t understand what is so confusing about this paragraph. The author is describing an artist’s expression. Why are you right away looking for some logical/illogical dividng line?

            1. trystero says:

              good answer

    4. Steve says:

      rad article thanks! agree with your choices :)

    5. dsa says:

      That Incantation track is not materialistic at all. It’s very obviously talking about the spirit being incarnated as the body, but then suffering the eternity of rot and primal dissection as the body is broken down before constituting numerous other bodies over the course of the universe. There’s nothing about the spirit dying, only about the experience of the rotting body from that body’s perspective. If anyting, “forever rots in misery” affirms the divinity of the soul; it is eternal, it doesn’t die and was never “born” except into the body.

      1. Richard Head says:

        Mmhmm. You are wrong at first, but then you are rigbt. Good comment.

    Comments are closed.

    Classic reviews:
    A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z