Christian death metal

Christian death metal consists of death metal music fused with Christian metal. It is characterized as death metal music with Christian lyrical content, from bands whose members profess Christianity, or both. Sonically, it is identical to death metal, and the lyrics often direct the violent and morbid imagery of the death metal genre towards topics such as demons, sin, self and self-denial, divine judgment, and apocalypse. The thematic material and imagery of Christian death metal often matches or subverts that of secular death metal. Due to the gory, violent, and often anti-Christian or Satanic lyrics typical of the death metal genre, Christian death metal is often considered an oxymoron and odd juxtaposition by commentators, and has also encountered resistance from some Christians.

Christian death metal proper formed in the late-1980s to the mid-1990s through the outputs of Mortification, Vomitorial Corpulence, and Paramaecium in Australia, Opprobrium, Living Sacrifice, and Crimson Thorn in the United States, Sympathy in Canada, and the early work of Antestor in Norway. In the same period, the Christian thrash metal bands Vengeance Rising, Sacrament, and Believer, both from the United States, also included elements of death metal. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Norway's Extol, Finland's Immortal Souls and Deuteronomium, Sweden's Pantokrator, Germany's Sacrificium, Ukraine's Holy Blood, the United States' Embodyment, Feast Eternal, Possession, Aletheian, Becoming the Archetype, and Tortured Conscience, and Brazil's Antidemon emerged to further develop the genre. In the 2000s, the metalcore bands Underoath, As I Lay Dying, Norma Jean, and Demon Hunter all received labeling in press as Christian death metal, and were some of the leading bands in the general hard rock market. In the latter half of the 2000s, Impending Doom (from the United States) and Blood Covenant (from India) have joined the forefront of Christian death metal.