Angry Christians are condemning Skillet’s ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel’ as ‘demonic filth’. I think they’re wrong

The American Christian heavy metal band Skillet have caused controversy this week after releasing their version of the Advent hymn ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel’.

Skillet, who have been recording, performing, and touring since 1996, have reinterpreted the hymn to include distorted guitars, driving drums, and powerful vocals. Their video has already been viewed 1 million times on YouTube, and the commentary on social media has been fierce.

Most of the song is actually sung to sparse piano accompaniment. But at the 3-minute mark, the band kicks in. It gets heavy.

It’s been called, “Christian Consumerism at its finest”, “very demonic, mirroring ungodly music”, “filth”, and others complained that the song has been “bastardised by today’s culture”.

But not me. I actually think Christians should be applauding what Skillet are doing here.

I’m not an obvious person to defend Skillet. I’ve never been interested in heavy metal as a genre, whether performed by Christian or secular artists. Alongside that, I’m an academic who concentrates on the hymn tradition – the very source material that Skillet have taken and performed in a way that has seemingly upset a lot of people. Why then, am I leaping to their defence? 

Firstly, because of my convictions around music as a beautiful, powerful, and wide gift from our generous God. Secondly, because Skillet are using their music in ways that – I believe – are entirely consistent with scripture. And thirdly, because Skillet’s sound represents something that is missing from much of the evangelical church.

Martin Luther, the German reformer, once wrote that ”next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in this world”. Music appears to hold a unique place in scripture, being used to mark the great moments of the biblical story. Moses and Miriam sing having crossed the Red Sea. Hannah sings after God gave her the son she longed for – a story mirrored in the songs of Elizabeth and Mary. King David famously sang. The Church – gathered around the throne of the Lamb who was slain – responds in song. God the Father sings. Jesus sang a hymn. We are filled with the Spirit as we sing.

In Psalm 150, we are commanded to praise God with trumpets, harps, lyres, strings, pipes, and resounding cymbals. But the Bible contains no descriptions of or advice concerning the styles or genres of music which are best suited for Christians to engage with. This leaves us with two options. Either we should be prescriptive, only allowing some styles to be used (but this is based on often arbitrary, and extra-biblical criterion), or to see all music as a gift from God, and to use it with the same creative generosity that God shows in the created world.

The argument that genres like heavy metal are inherently demonic because of their tones and rhythms is hard to substantiate. Many styles of music use intense rhythms, harmonic dissonance, and exuberant performances. At some point, all we’re really saying is that we like some sounds and not others (which is fine) – but what we can’t say is that God likes some sounds and not others. Because we know throughout the Bible that God looks at the heart, and if the heart is giving a worthy offering, then it is acceptable to God through Christ.

We can’t say that God likes some sounds and not others

My friend Dylan Myhill plays in the UK Christian heavy metal band Meet Your Maker. They see themselves – like Skillet – as using their music to express their faith and share the gospel. Dylan expressed his frustrations with how such bands are often perceived: “A lot of us feel like people don’t see the very real gospel work that’s happening in these spaces. My band has played most of our shows alongside non-Christian bands and in front of non-Christian audiences. We share the gospel openly at every gig, and we’ve had countless opportunities to talk and pray with people who would never step into a church or be reached through traditional mission work”.

There is a Paul-like, incarnational approach to missions here, in which people – like Skillet and Meet Your Maker – are entering into spaces in society where the Church doesn’t typically reach. Psalm 98 commands us to sing to the Lord because of the marvellous things that he has done for us, and it goes on to see the gospel going to the ends of the earth. Music can carry the gospel into places that are hard to reach. This should be celebrated and encouraged and supported, not criticised.

Maybe we’re so used to our music being safe that we have lost the art of lament

Skillet’s performance of ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel’ sonically conveys a message of frustration, and longing. As we celebrate Advent, we remember the longing for the Messiah to come, and we look at our broken world and cry from our hearts “Marantha! Come Lord Jesus”. Maybe we’re so used to our music being safe that we have lost the art of lament. Maybe as a Church we need music that sounds like the world we see around us – distorted. Distortion isn’t just something that guitars can do, distortion is what happens when something has lost its intended purpose. In a world full of war, corruption, political malevolence, hatred and xenophobia, famine and greed, perhaps Skillet are better representing the prophetic cry of the Church who long for Emmanuel, the Prince of Peace, to return.

You don’t have to listen to Skillet. You don’t have to like them. But you can celebrate the ways they – and others like them – are sharing the hope of Christ. And you can join them in seeking the face of Emmanuel, who puts death’s dark shadows to flight, and gives his people victory over the grave.