Top 10 Reasons Why After Forever by Black Sabbath Didn't Create Christian Metal
I've read many cringe worthy statements about how Black Sabbath created each and every metal subgenre - from death metal to power metal. There are such statements on this site and also other sites, such as YouTube and some less known sites/forums.Saying that "After Forever by Black Sabbath Created Christian Metal" is a ridiculous and annoying exaggeration (one of the many).
I also made these lists:
Top 10 Reasons Why War Pigs by Black Sabbath Didn't Create Power Metal
Top 10 Reasons Why Black Sabbath's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath Didn't Create Death Metal
Here are my reasons why "After Forever didn't create Christian Metal".
If there's no such music genre, what did Black Sabbath invent?
ChristianMetalFest- Now, we've got the Apostles with their new hit - "Bible! "
In the 60s there were many rock songs with Christian lyrics by different musicians, who were often related to the hippie movement.
Arguably the first Christian rock album is Upon This Rock by Larry Norman released in 1969.
Ian Gillan was the original singer hired for the role of Jesus Christ in the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber. This rock opera /concept album was a huge success and was turned into a Broadway musical in 1971 and into a film in 1973.
Even though the album was called rock opera, Gillan vocal style was metal whereas Ozzy vocal style on After Forever wasn't.
I created a metaphore in order to explain better what I mean: music is like a T-bone steak, lyrics are like side dishes / salads. You can eat your steak without salads (metal instrumentals). But if you're a vegetarian, you can stay on salad (reading Christian books). No problem with this, as long as you don't think your green salad is a steak...
Definitely not a metal song for me. Nothing speaks metal - it's a pretty soft and melodic rock song that lacks aggression and intensity. The song is easy listening - nothing heavy or complex. Nothing mindblowing in its performance - neither the instrumental part nor the vocals.
Just compare this song with other proto-metal songs released in the early 70s and feel the difference between After Forever and the early metal songs:
Deep Purple - Burn, Hard Lovin' Man.