Style: heavy metal, Christian metal
Label: Tunesmith
Year: 1982
Home: Canada
Members: n/a
Few may believe this, but there is a genre of metal called 'happy metal', versus 'doom metal', & it's exactly what it sounds. No, this is not the same as 'Christian metal', but I'm sure the overlap is pretty overwhelming because happy & metal tend not to be words you find in the same sentence so there can't be that many bands in one group & not the other. Well, knowing the fringe Christian groups out there, there might be a Christian death metal band that believes Jesus didn't resurrect ... if you know of one I'll be happy to review them! Anthem, a female fronted Christian metal band not the famous Graham Bonnett outfit, is probably a candidate for happy metal if there ever was one, if only they weren't 20 years too early. If your church going grandma doesn't approve of metal, this is the album to share with her ... & make her see the light ... of metal. Light of metal? The Christian message is belted out clearly here as unabashadly as Nunslaughter sings of Satan worship or Nile of Ancient Egypt or Sammy Hagar of partying. There's no hiding the Christian message like some metal bands do to appear more metal than Christian. Musically, picture Judas Priest or Thin Lizzy, considering the year this was released & what metal was around at the time, but with a soft-spoken lead singer that might be better in a blues band ... or a gospel choir. If you know Christian blues-rock icons Rez (aka Resurrection Band) this is probably the metal equivalent. This is full of riffs & keyboard ambiance, but often has the pacing of a Rush album, where speed is not an issue or even a goal. There's no typical metal-esque darkness on this album, even when you hear "the world is falling deeper into sin, Satan's pushing harder than he's been, his forces working over time, to drag you down into the slime of his dark world" which doesn't even come off as venomous, albeit in 1981 death metal wasn't quite a mature musical form to be generally influenced by. Ah, metal without the influence of death metal ... it really sounds so weak & like it's missing something. The sole release from this little band Cuttin' Thru is not just is a historical musical moment from after the death of Christ but before the birth of death metal. This is music for rosary counting grandma. She'll be pleased you finally gave up your satanic mush. This is still metal but she can't win them all. What? She's Jewish? I've got something for that, hang on. What? She's Muslim? I've got something for that too. What? She's Hindu? You'll never guess what I just found from Singapore. What? She's an atheist? You've got a problem with her?
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