Christian Black Metal ? The interesting story of Antestor

Probably when you hear about Black Metal music the first idea that comes to your mind is a group of bad guys with very interesting black and white make up dressed in black with combat boots, bullet belts, spiked wristbands and inverted crosses and inverted pentagrams singing dark lyrics to reinforce their anti-Christian or anti-religious stance. And well it is true that Black Metal was born as a musical expression of the anti-Christian movements that proliferated in Europe burning churches, but there was a Norwegian band who generated controversy by playing Christian Black metal : Antestor.

History

Black Metal Stereotype

Antestor was formed in 1989 under the name Crush Evil, and changed their name to Antestor in 1992. The Norwegian unblack metal band is credited for starting the northern European Christian black metal scene when the whole issue of church burning was still at its peak in that country. This situation led them to earn the hatred of absolutely the entire Norwegian scene but still managed to achieve a moderate popularity that led them to sell more than 10 thousand copies of their albums throughout Europe. 

Despite their opposition to the original ideology of black metal and the rejection of all the bands of the genre, they had a very strong fan base and a name that was marked forever in the history of Norwegian black metal. In addition, Antestor is the only Christian band to have an album released by Cacophonous Records, which has also released records of famous Black Metal bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Sigh, and Cradle of Filth.

Lyrics

Antestor means "testify" or "call to witness" in Latin. The lyrical themes include hope and despair, but also deal with the band members' Christian faith. As a result, many metal fans object to classifying Antestor in the black metal category, as their lyrics oppose the original ideology of the genre so that, the band consider themselves their genre of music to be "Atmospheric Sorrow Metal".

Even thought they are Norwegians, most of their lyrics are in English, but on the album The Return of the Black Death the Norwegian language dominates. On this album, only part of the lyrics are listed in the booklet; words directly referring to Jesus Christ and God were omitted. The song "A Sovereign Fortress" dealt with, for example, the acknowledgments of God who protects and supports the lyrical I since birth. It is portrayed in the chorus of this song as:

'' You Are My Hope, O Lord, My Trust, O Lord, Since Boyhood

From Birth I Have Leaned Upon You

My Protector Since I Left My Mother's Womb ''

Another song that is also a dark, but this takes on Christian theme, is "Ancient Prophecy". The lyrics tells that the man was sinful, and no one can escape the court of God. Antestor process in their lyrics also topics such as suicide, doubts about the certainty of salvation, and longing death, all of which are rare themes for a Christian band. An example from the text "Betrayed" from the album The Forsaken:

'' Will Suicide Break The Ring of Curse

Or Is There Just Another Hell Waiting Out There

Will Suicide Break The Ring of Curse

Tomorrow I'll Be Gone, So Don't Look For Me ''

Appearance

As we already mentioned before, Black Metal bands members have a particular outfit and make up and Antestor is not the exception. actually, they are one of the few bands in the Christian metal scene who use corpse paint, which  is used to make the musicians appear inhuman, corpse-like, or demonic in their appearances and on photos. 

One example is the booklet photos in the album The Return of the Black Death, depicting Antestor in Norsemen outfits and black and white face paints at a snowy Norwegian mountain location. Sometimes the group uses art blood, as known for the session bassist Ravn Furfjord's (Frosthardr) appearance at the Bobfest 2004 concert. The band explains that corpse paint "is the same for us as masking is for actors or mimes; One way to express certain feelings in the battle we are in. The main purpose is to concentrate on God and not to break a lance in side issues like these."

Controversy in Brazil

In 2013, the band embarked on a Brazilian tour, which went through Belo Horizonte. During that leg of the tour, the band faced heavy protests from Black Metal/Anti-Christianity radicals who rejected them as they were a Christian black metal band. This situation reminds me when Iron Maiden come to El Salvador and a lot of Christian people rejected, so I consider ironic that both sides have radical people in there.

The radicals had announced their plans online, which resulted in the police hiring a private policeman and 30 security guards present. At one point during the concert, an officer fired a few shots in the air to control the rioters. A video was posted on YouTube with protesters shouting "F*ck you Antestor!", with the police escorting the band members. After their performance, the band released a public statement about the incident, thanking their fans that supported them even though there was a risk of danger.

Antestor's story can teach us a good lesson, and that is to pursue our dreams and do what we like the most, regardless of what people say. They started from the bottom and faced very complicated situations such as the rejection of the rest of the gangs and violent situations like the one that happened in Brazil. Despite this and the changes of their members, they never changed the message of their songs, which makes them a very interesting band and worth listening to their songs if you are interested.