-
Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.
If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!
To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
18 years later . . .
there's a new COD album.
so, is Circle of Dust a 'Christian band' ?
to be honest i think i would say no.
but "is COD music made by a Christian?" is i think, a different question.
the older albums, from 2 decades ago, are the same way -- Klay identified himself as a believer, and never publicaly rejected that faith as far as i know, but lyrically, his songs are about personal struggles and emotion, not about religious themes or about a relationship with God. he's stated many times that his intention for his art has never been religious, but an outlet for his own inner feelings. oh of course we can argue about what the art of a Christian 'should be' about -- but don't expect that out of this man, that's not his intention.
while it may be rarely that it does clearly come across that he has a Christian's perspective on these things, but those instances do exist -- and if a mustard seed of faith is found in him, judging that is God's business.
this new song for example:
https://circleofdust.bandcamp.com/track/outside-in
there's a new COD album.
so, is Circle of Dust a 'Christian band' ?
to be honest i think i would say no.
but "is COD music made by a Christian?" is i think, a different question.
the older albums, from 2 decades ago, are the same way -- Klay identified himself as a believer, and never publicaly rejected that faith as far as i know, but lyrically, his songs are about personal struggles and emotion, not about religious themes or about a relationship with God. he's stated many times that his intention for his art has never been religious, but an outlet for his own inner feelings. oh of course we can argue about what the art of a Christian 'should be' about -- but don't expect that out of this man, that's not his intention.
while it may be rarely that it does clearly come across that he has a Christian's perspective on these things, but those instances do exist -- and if a mustard seed of faith is found in him, judging that is God's business.
this new song for example:
https://circleofdust.bandcamp.com/track/outside-in
It's hard for me to face
That so much time has passed
And all the things that went away
Were those I thought would last
It’s hard to look into
The mirror dark within
And not embracing the reflection there
May be my greatest sin
Sometimes I feel
I'm on the outside looking in
It's like I'm watching someone else
Living in my skin
Hope has stained my heart in vain
I'm drowning in my sin
Sometimes I feel
I'm on the outside looking in
Standing here with empty hands
To fill my heart
And thinking I am winning
In a race I didn't start
Why is it that I always fail
To hit the mark?
How can I be connecting
While I'm unplugged in my heart
Father have mercy on your son
Always bring me home again
However far I've run
Father grant wisdom for within
So I no longer have to be
On the outside looking in
That so much time has passed
And all the things that went away
Were those I thought would last
It’s hard to look into
The mirror dark within
And not embracing the reflection there
May be my greatest sin
Sometimes I feel
I'm on the outside looking in
It's like I'm watching someone else
Living in my skin
Hope has stained my heart in vain
I'm drowning in my sin
Sometimes I feel
I'm on the outside looking in
Standing here with empty hands
To fill my heart
And thinking I am winning
In a race I didn't start
Why is it that I always fail
To hit the mark?
How can I be connecting
While I'm unplugged in my heart
Father have mercy on your son
Always bring me home again
However far I've run
Father grant wisdom for within
So I no longer have to be
On the outside looking in
check out a new album released yesterday titled "Remember" from "The Blessed" -- blackened death metal from Russia. also known under the name "Cradle of God"
available here on bandcamp:
https://cradleofgod.bandcamp.com/album/remember
every song, all lyrics from the New Testament.
[HR][/HR][HR][/HR]
here is what the artist says about his music:
"Lots of people ask – Why do you take «New Testament». Someone says that it's a sacrilege, satanic music and screams, your scary view can’t preach God’s messages.
In the beginning rock music was a protest against governments, wars, fanatics of religion, injustice. I have been listening to metal music since 1987, I've seen the born of all styles and my ears've heard all this new stuff. There were only a few satanic bands but then satanic communities understood that metal is a very powerful concept and they need to adopt it. First it seemed like a protest but then it became craze and fashion.
Being at the roots of heavy metal didn’t allow me to be in fashion. Understanding this I had a dream to make an album with protested lyrics. In this album all lyrics was taken from “New Testatemt” in the form of quotes without any personal thoughts and conclusions. We gave all links and and numbers of paragraphs from the Holy Book as a reference points in our lyrics.
I am a person of any confessions, the majority of confessions is business and it's not a secret. Some of them are extremists, there are nearly 30 000 Christian confessions all over the world. It's horrible. All this pushes away from the faith only. It pushes away teens and young people. There is a Holy Book in this world it’s the instruction for us and we can read and try to understand it without the others, without the mediators. And my goal is to tell you about this, to tell you :”Brothers, read The Book, read the origins, and find the ways to redemption. Your mediator is God here. Nobody else.”. It’s like a scream to all my brothers, to all metalheads and music is my language here.
I'm gonna tell in conclusion that it's a real metal sermon and we bring it into life. Analyze yourselves and analyze The Book, my brothers!”
[HR][/HR][HR][/HR]
[video=youtube;l8zPGCLBzJY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8zPGCLBzJY[/video]
available here on bandcamp:
https://cradleofgod.bandcamp.com/album/remember
every song, all lyrics from the New Testament.
[HR][/HR][HR][/HR]
here is what the artist says about his music:
"Lots of people ask – Why do you take «New Testament». Someone says that it's a sacrilege, satanic music and screams, your scary view can’t preach God’s messages.
In the beginning rock music was a protest against governments, wars, fanatics of religion, injustice. I have been listening to metal music since 1987, I've seen the born of all styles and my ears've heard all this new stuff. There were only a few satanic bands but then satanic communities understood that metal is a very powerful concept and they need to adopt it. First it seemed like a protest but then it became craze and fashion.
Being at the roots of heavy metal didn’t allow me to be in fashion. Understanding this I had a dream to make an album with protested lyrics. In this album all lyrics was taken from “New Testatemt” in the form of quotes without any personal thoughts and conclusions. We gave all links and and numbers of paragraphs from the Holy Book as a reference points in our lyrics.
I am a person of any confessions, the majority of confessions is business and it's not a secret. Some of them are extremists, there are nearly 30 000 Christian confessions all over the world. It's horrible. All this pushes away from the faith only. It pushes away teens and young people. There is a Holy Book in this world it’s the instruction for us and we can read and try to understand it without the others, without the mediators. And my goal is to tell you about this, to tell you :”Brothers, read The Book, read the origins, and find the ways to redemption. Your mediator is God here. Nobody else.”. It’s like a scream to all my brothers, to all metalheads and music is my language here.
I'm gonna tell in conclusion that it's a real metal sermon and we bring it into life. Analyze yourselves and analyze The Book, my brothers!”
[HR][/HR][HR][/HR]
[video=youtube;l8zPGCLBzJY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8zPGCLBzJY[/video]
((progressive metal/industrial))
1[SUP]st[/SUP] track of Kekal's 2017-18 album is released now, "root of all evil"
free, here on soundcloud until downloads run out; available through youtube via backdoor at that point, and probably elsewhere not long after. Kekal has made it a practice in recent years to make their music freely available digitally. or if you'd like to reward them, from their bandcamp site.
https://soundcloud.com/kekalband/root-of-all-evil
[video=youtube;SxW-cP_6c30]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxW-cP_6c30&feature=youtu.be[/video]
1[SUP]st[/SUP] track of Kekal's 2017-18 album is released now, "root of all evil"
free, here on soundcloud until downloads run out; available through youtube via backdoor at that point, and probably elsewhere not long after. Kekal has made it a practice in recent years to make their music freely available digitally. or if you'd like to reward them, from their bandcamp site.
https://soundcloud.com/kekalband/root-of-all-evil
[video=youtube;SxW-cP_6c30]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxW-cP_6c30&feature=youtu.be[/video]
reposting a portion of their newsletter announcing the song:
[HR][/HR][HR][/HR]
LYRICS::
the economies of greed
strengthened by the politics of fear
and the division among the masses
used as a tool for domination
while the one-percenters get wealthier
millions don't get enough food for the day
state policies are rigged to the benefits
of those who own most of world's money
when eight richest ones possess the same wealth
as the bottom 3.6 billion people*
this is no longer just a matter of inequality
we know the system allows this to happen
who are they to ever claim of possessing every right
to exploit the beauty that has been given to us?
all they do is to venture into the heights of corruption
taking all the resources so future generations will be left to die
worshipping mammon along with its demons
to strengthen deeds revolving around greed
money and power, forming evil coalition
where cruelties start, and decency ends
time of destruction has begun
watch the downfall of the empire
strengthened by the politics of fear
and the division among the masses
used as a tool for domination
while the one-percenters get wealthier
millions don't get enough food for the day
state policies are rigged to the benefits
of those who own most of world's money
when eight richest ones possess the same wealth
as the bottom 3.6 billion people*
this is no longer just a matter of inequality
we know the system allows this to happen
who are they to ever claim of possessing every right
to exploit the beauty that has been given to us?
all they do is to venture into the heights of corruption
taking all the resources so future generations will be left to die
worshipping mammon along with its demons
to strengthen deeds revolving around greed
money and power, forming evil coalition
where cruelties start, and decency ends
time of destruction has begun
watch the downfall of the empire
*Based on 2017 data from Oxfam. Features sample of commentary from Prof. Dr. Johan Galtung. Recorded, mixed and mastered for Kekal by Jeff Arwadi at Ideation Station.
DISCUSSION::
Below is a small chat with producer/songwriter/lyricist Jeff, in explaining the song's lyrics. 20 January, 2017.
The track "Root of All Evil" brought us two connected topics on the table, which are "money" and "evil". Let's start with the evil: what's your personal thought on that?
First of all, you know, many of us possess the mindset of good vs evil in a polarized nature, and that we need to find a balance between the forces of good and evil. I don't believe in that concept at all, and I completely disagree with that. I don't see good and evil to be in the same continuum, that occupy polar opposites of the same line. Good is not a positive equal of evil. Those two forces are not equal at all. Good is eternal, evil is not, because evil leads to destruction or annihilation, it is paradoxical by nature, and this can be validated by common sense.. Take this as an example: you may know about the so-called golden rule or law of reciprocity which says "treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself". Evil won't stand to that principle, because no one would wish to be treated in a negative way. In doing so, one would treat the other not the same way he/she would expect to be treated. Thus the relation is never be infinite, never be eternal. There goes the paradox that would lead to destruction.
To me, evil itself is a moral imbalance, and by engaging oneself in it, will bring imbalances in life as a whole. The only way to find a balance is to embrace good, the element that is eternal. Both good and evil forces are spiritual in nature. Good force enlightens and evil force distorts the human soul (or mind - depending on your belief system). The damage effect of evil will manifest in all areas of life, not only physical. The word 'Kekal' itself means eternal, immortal, everlasting, infinite. It's a statement of the band's name being put into context, that to establish the nature of eternity, to embrace the infinite, we have to really fight and resist the force of evil and to put good in practical terms. Does this make sense?
Now let's talk about money as an object of affection. What's with the "love of money"?
Well, the basic "love of money" is not only related on the behaviour of the wealthy people in our society. Wealth definitely amplifies the excesses, the effects of what has been created from the love of money: like greed, domination, and so on that eventually turn into evil. But the love of money, and the aim of material gains and fulfillment, can be found within the average middle class people as well, the gambling addiction and excessive consumerism are just two of the many manifestations of people being entangled with their love of money and material fulfillment.
In modern capitalist society, especially in the USA, the money-worship belief-system among the middle-class can be traced back to Ayn Rand's 'objectivism', which in my opinion a very dangerous and twisted philosophy which tells us roughly that "the more you love money, the more moral you are.", and it goes down to the equally dangerous view of social-darwinism, the elimination of the 'weak', vulnerable people in the society. Ayn Rand was not an intellectual per-se, she was more a novelist than a philosopher and she based her views in a reactionary matter. What makes it dangerous, in my opinion, despite her non-intellectual credentials, is that her core philosophy has become a new 'religion' on itself and influenced current ideologies that are somewhat broadly acceptable in modern capitalist and neo-fascist society, and became a 'moral standard', further corrupting religious doctrines and ideologies from their original principles. One example is of the so-called 'prosperity-gospel' doctrine spawned within the right-wing religious christian branches that promote individualism/selfishness and material fulfillment, like putting wealth and health as a measurement of God's blessing. You can find plenty of them everywhere. It's despicable. And same thing with the 'right-wing libertarianism' as an ideology that has quite a broad number of believers in the USA and even bled to certain places in Canada as well. I don't want to go into details, but that's heavily influenced by Ayn Rand's view of materialism and individualism. That would definitely create a cruel, selfish society. What makes me sad - or mad to be more appropriate - is that they have taken and twisted the meaning of both the original terms of 'Christianity' and 'liberty' down to the level of exact opposite of the original principles.
That being said, the love of money leads to evil and evil leads to destruction. Now what's your comment on the current political twist in the USA, its foreign policy, and its relevance of the money - evil - destruction linearity?
Let me explain a little bit here, I base my general agreement with Dr. Johan Galtung, a Norwegian intellectual. In fact I put a small excerpt of his commentary on the song as well. Professor Galtung is a widely-acknowledged scientist of peace studies, he's both a mathematician and sociologist, OK? So he knows what he's doing, unlike all those crazy conspiracy theorists out there throwing out random speculations and wishful thoughts to misguided masses. One of the books Prof. Galtung wrote is called "The Fall of the U.S. Empire - And Then What?", published in 2009, and he sets the time for the end of the American empire at year 2020. Do not confuse Professor Galtung's prediction with all those so-called end-time prophecies out there. He based his prediction on mathematics, on science.
It's worth to mention that the U.S. foreign policy for so many years have brought misery to human being in such a global scale, in many nations around the world. All can be traced back to the ultimate greed for money, power and domination of the corporate elite that controls the government policies. The evil is being done, the damage has been done, and I think there are signs of impending destruction right now. And with the new approach on the policies, the process may be quicker than we expected. The problem is that the scale is so global now, that the collateral damage may be very big and irreversible. What I can see lately with the change of government in the USA is very much at the surface level. Different clothing, same devil. Politically they're just switching from neo-liberalism to neo-fascism, but both share the same core which is defending the interests of corporate greed. And many of its citizens seem to care mostly on identity politics alone, maybe because they have already been fooled and divided. On the upside, though, many people are beginning to understand what is fascism and the danger of it, so what we see from the many demonstrations, they show resistance. And resistance is the solution, not only to reject any fascist authority, but also to question the corrupt system. Going back to the Johan Galtung's prediction, with all these signs, I tend to think the empire will self-destruct even before 2020, and that will most likely start with the economic meltdown, but I won't be surprised if it goes way beyond that, such as world war 3 and nuclear catastrophe.
just got this album - *most* of the bands are openly Christian here, though a couple are not. awesome version of Valley of the Dry Bones by OHEN here, beautiful new Vials of Wrath & IHS tracks, TIMŌRĀTUS, O Majestic Winter and others.
[video=youtube;Sy1qrgDcmcg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy1qrgDcmcg[/video]
the vid is just a promo teaser - a compilation put out by a forum where a lot of Christian black metal artists hang out. post ♥'s this.
[video=youtube;Sy1qrgDcmcg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy1qrgDcmcg[/video]
the vid is just a promo teaser - a compilation put out by a forum where a lot of Christian black metal artists hang out. post ♥'s this.
