Tag: royal music

The Christian music scene lost another one of its great influencers last week when Björn Stigsson died fighting his battle with cancer. Stigsson was perhaps best-known for his work with Christian metal pioneers Leviticus, who along with fellow Swedes Jerusalem, the Canadian Daniel Band, and American bands like Resurrection Band, Saint, and Stryper, was among the earliest Christian metal bands. Leviticus released 4 studio albums (some of which had Swedish lyric versions as well as English), before disbanding in the early 90s. A live album and a few compilations followed later.… Continued →

Alright, you’re gonna need to buckle up for this one. For two reasons: 1) Koinonia has a somewhat lengthy history, and the band’s members are/were probably more connected than any other band ever in contemporary Christian music; and 2) they were a jazz fusion band, which is probably not a genre most IVM readers are astutely familiar with. The band formed in 1980 and were active throughout that decade before disbanding in 1991. While the members were Americans, several of whom were of Latin/Hispanic descent, their music was more widely-known in Northern and Western Europe where they often played to sold out crowds.… Continued →

Truth be told, heavy metal was my entry point into any kind of independent Christian music. I mean, I started out on Petra, Amy Grant, and Russ Taff as a young teenager, but it wasn’t long before Jerusalem, Whitecross, and Sacred Warrior were taking up my listening space. One of the pioneers of Christian metal was Swedish band Leviticus. The band formed in 1981 in the town of Skövde. They recorded 4 albums, plus an alternative/Swedish language version of their debut, before breaking up in the early 90s.… Continued →