I’ve made a somewhat comical observation that in independent Christian music, it’s the metal bands who give us the best material for Easter. I guess it’s something about our Savior dying a cruel death, then rising again victoriously to win our salvation–that message just goes better with loud, aggressive music.
Believer was quite possibly the best and most original thrash band to come out of the Christian scene, forming in Pennsylvania in the late 1980s. They released a cassette demo in 1987 and contributed a track for the legendary East Coast Metal compilation the following year. Their full-length debut Extraction from Mortality released in 1989 through R.E.X. Music, followed by two more albums for the label. Each successive album got more progressive and technical, and the band was known for integrating string sections into addition to the standard guitar/bass/drums set up.
The band broke up in 1994, with members focusing on other projects in different genres. Their hiatus lasted until 2005 when they reformed and released two more album in style that continued to fuse thrash and progressive metal. The band’s material has been of consistently high quality, and they were one of the few early Christian extreme metal bands who regularly had presence in the mainstream scene. Their albums were regularly picked up by general market distribution (through Roadrunner) and they were often covered in secular magazines.
We’re covering “Not Even One” from the debut for this week’s Song of the Day because of its fitting message for Holy Week:
A righteousness from God has been made known
Through the faith one has in Jesus Christ
Believing that His shed blood will atone
OUR SINS
There is no difference for all have sinned
Falling short of the glory of the Lord
But redemption comes from Christ within
BELIEVE
Blood sacrifice
Faith had begun
No one must die
Not even one
Thank God for that!
