Christian hardcore

Template:Christian music Christian hardcore is a form of hardcore punk and metalcore music and a subgenre of punk rock played by bands where the musicians promote Christian beliefs. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands.

Christian hardcore bands that explicitly state their beliefs and use Christian imagery in their lyrics may be considered a part of the Christian pop music (aka Contemporary Christian music) industry and play for a predominantly Christian market. However, given the edginess of hardcore punk, many bands have been dismissed by the Christian and Christian pop music market and rely on genre specific labels to promote and release their music.

Typically, Christian hardcore and metalcore bands perform music influenced by their faith and see their audience as the general public. More recently Christian hardcore bands may avoid specific mention of God or Jesus in their lyrics and from stage as well as rejecting the Christian pop label. However, at the same time some bands strive to convey a blatant Christ-based message.

Traditionally, hardcore has been antipathetic towards Christianity- much like the broader punk rock community- and has often left Christian Hardcore bands alienated on the fringes of both the hardcore and Christian music scenes. Many inside the hardcore music scene view Christianity in a negative light, or feel that Christian hardcore as a genre is a passing fad. The Christian metalcore band Norma Jean thinks differently though, stating in their song Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste: "Christ is not a fashion, fleeting away"

Spirit-Filled Hardcore

A brand of hardcore punk typified by bold faith based lyrics, a typical hardcore aesthetic and often a Straight Edge mentality. This brand of Christian Hardcore saw its rise and fall in the 90s with bands like Focused, Unashamed, Overcome and Strongarm. Although the Spirit-Filled Hardcore movement fell into obscurity in the late 90s, many christian hardcore bands continued to include religious material in their lyrics. Bands such as No Innocent Victim (who had recently reformed due to a lack of integrity in the people that claim to be Christians), xDisciplex AD, Born Blind and Figure Four were all well known for their Christian lyrics. Recently, bands such as xDeathstarx, Seventh Star and War of Ages have continued with music that contains Christian lyrics.

Criticism

Christianity and hardcore punk are sometimes considered to be contradictory due to the conflict between punk's anti-authoritarian message and the prominence of authority figures in Christianity. The concept of Christian anarchism addresses this somewhat, as it stresses rejection of wordly authority in favor of Godly authority. However, this was used by fundamentalists who thought of the hardcore scene as "ungodly." Nonetheless, the punk community does not dismiss Christianity and hardcore punk as incompatible, as many members of punk bands openly state they are Christian. This is covered in a section of the Christian punk article.

Record labels

• Cloud Nine Records
• Solid State Records
• Facedown Records
• Blood and Ink Records
• Strike First Records
• Harvest Earth Records
• Tooth & Nail Records
• Indianola Records
• Flicker Records
• Mono Vs. Stereo

Related genres

• Christian punk
• Christian rock
• Christian alternative music
• Christian metal.

External links

• God Save the Teens: Local Kids Seek a New Kind of Church Through Hardcore and Hip-Hop by Lauren Sandler in the Village Voice 30 May - 5 June 2001
• Review As I Lay Dying and Norma Jean by Ben Bishop in The Hard Music Magazine
• Rock and Pop > Christian Punk and Hardcore in the Yahoo! Directory
• ChristianRockLyrics.com Lyrics to most Christian hardcore bands
• DanielsMusic.com Concert photography including Christian hardcore bands
• Firestream.net The Believer's Heavy Music Refuge
• Godcore.comChristian Music Database

See also

• List of Christian hardcore artists