Unblack Metal - Characteristics

Characteristics

Unblack metal is viewed as an ideological group within black metal that depicts Christianity positively. There is no method to play black metal in a Christian way. Hence, unblack metal incorporates black metal's fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, double-kick drumming, and unconventional song structure. Garry Sharpe-Young's 2001 encyclopedia A-Z of Black Metal states that "Topping the lot are Christian 'Unblack' acts who for all intents and purposes look like, sound like and employ the imagery of Black Metal whilst hidden in the unpenetrable vocal growls and distortions are the proclamations of Jesus Christ."

Some unblack metal artists write lyrics that explicitly attack Satanism; for example Horde. This was a dominant theme during most of the 1990s. Beginning in the late 1990s, groups began to write philosophical and ideological lyrics. These often include stories of conversion, salvation, struggles with faith, and Bible quotes. Christian black metal bands may justify their playing of black metal with reasons ranging from genuine appreciation of black metal as a music style to evangelization among the black metal scene i.e. "bringing light into darkness".