The Symbolic Experience of Christian Extreme Metal

Abstract

This chapter explores Christian extreme metal as a window on the way different symbols are expressed in contemporary Western culture, drawing on continental theorists of the post-secular era. Unger’s argument in this chapter is that the religious symbols, expression, and even experience of this genre are constrained through the privileging of various aesthetic modes of extreme metal. Christian extreme metal lyrics, sonic and structural musical elements, and visual features are remarkably continuous with “secular” extreme metal, which positions itself in explicit opposition to Christianity and the “mainstream” world. But Christian extreme metal fans see Christian metal as qualitatively different from “secular” extreme metal. This apparent contradiction shows powerfully how religious symbols circulate in Western late modernity: religious symbols (e.g., biblical texts, stories, languages, and characters and their symbolic inversions as drawn on in “secular” extreme metal) have been divested of their truth-value and instead circulate as symbols, as meanings with experiential consequences. This elasticity of meaning allows for a surprising flow of symbols and meanings between secular and Christian extreme metal, and at the same time for unique experiences for each audience.