By Joe Winter
Catholic Herald correspondent

It's saints vs sinners in song lyrics at OzzFest

SOMERSET --This year's OzzFest had a slightly different twist. Spiritual lyrics gave it saints vs. sinners overtones.

OzzFest is an annual country-wide tour of heavy metal bands that some consider the biggest musical event of the summer season.

Of the four acts that got the biggest buildup by sponsoring radio station 93X, one makes it clearly known that its members are Christians, and two have religious imagery in their songs. The remaining band, Rob Zombie, breaks from that form and sings about vampires and hideous beasts.

One wonders if all those 30,000 or so headbangers who converged on Somerset knew they'd be getting a steady dose of God after 6 p.m., which is OzzFest primetime. Or that spiritual themes have become a staple of many metal bands, a trend that started in the 1980s and was dubbed "white metal."

Going on right before Rob Zombie was a highly-spiritual act that is strange bedfellows, going by the name P.O.D. That's a phrase, "Payable On Death," that has a double meaning as a reference to eternal life and as a banking industry term.

After Rob Zombie was System of a Down, which has lyrics ranging from politics, to the alleged injustice of the prison system, to the environment. In their breakthrough song, "Chop Suey," the band spends the entire last verse quoting statements Christ made on the cross.

Then of course there's Ozzy Osbourne himself, anointed the prince of darkness by the media, but upon further inspection getting edgy in ways you might not expect. These include calling God by the name "Mother" long before it was fashionable, in the heavy metal prayer Revelation (Mother Earth), taking an unbeliever to task about his lifestyle, in the classic "Mr. Crowley," and taking a stab at inserting liberation theology in another classic, "War Pigs."

Osbourne has headlined OzzFest both as a single artist and with his former band, Black Sabbath. The solo appearances give Osbourne a chance work in more material, such as the song Bark at the Moon, which describes a Messiah-like character who is buried in a nameless grave, but whose timeless soul rises from the dead.

The song appears to be a sequel to Ironman, one of Black Sabbath's earliest songs, which can be seen as a parable about what would befall the human race if it gets what it deserves for not helping "Ironman" when he was on earth.

(By the way, Black Sabbath got its name from both an old horror movie and from one of its songs, which tells the story of a frightful meeting with Satan while on a Sunday-night walk. At many OzzFests, these songs are backed with a huge-screen video show that displays old movie footage of things such as Godzilla, and creates an effect that is both serious and lighthearted).

However, when it comes to religious merit, it is P.O.D. that gets the most attention - both from fans and from church workers. That's because the band members say God comes first, family second and then music third (even though they recently backed away from being called a Christian metal band because that's still the kiss of death for record sales).

Here is a sample lyric from "Outkast," which talks about the price of being a believer: "They feed us lies, dress up my King in false disguise/Behind those eyes, soul of a savior I recognize."

Sr. Carmala Chetcuti, a Carmelite nun working at The Beacon ministry center in Somerset and tending to the needs of displaced concert-goers, said she was thrilled to have P.O.D. on the bill way back in the 2000 OzzFest, before the band went multi-platinum.

Darrin Wald, youth minister at St. Patrick's Parish in Hudson, said he was aware of P.O.D.'s popularity with kids in the church and would consider using it for religious education purposes -- in the right environment. Wald added that most of their sessions are in the church's worship space, and he wouldn't consider the loud guitars to be appropriate there.

He said two days after the concert that he doesn't care much for that level of loudness, but that some of the youth to which he ministers -- good kids he added -- were talking a lot about what they'd heard at OzzFest.

But what does a hard-core headbanger think of something like P.O.D.? Jerod Beech was holding two beers in his right hand and swaying to the beat when he was asked that question.

"These guys are as humble as anyone you could ever meet. You know they grew up in the ghetto? Their idea of leisure is going back there (to help out)," he said.

Beech said he tolerates the lyrics that lean toward religion because he likes the band. "I don't do that," he added, then said if the topic of God came up again, he'd walk away. Then he did just that.

Shannon Root of Des Moines, Iowa, left the after P.O.D. finished playing. She was wearing a shirt that said "Soulfly," even though that band wasn't on this particular concert bill.

Soulfly's leader, Max Cavalera, describes himself as a firm believer in God and says lyrics about faith fill his latest compact disc, which was eagerly awaited in the heavy metal world. He even has collaborated with Sean Lennon, the late Beatle's son, and a well-known gospel singer. Cavalera wears a pinky ring that says GOD and dedicated his last CD to The Almighty.

Cavalera's songs, however, are graphic and explicit. So what does Root like about his music?

"They're the baddest band around," she said confidently.

A previous OzzFest prominent band has been Slayer, which like Osbourne's act has been charged by conservatives with being Satanic, but has taken many differing takes over the years on religion. Some have been more positive than others, but they have even featured the song "Jesus Saves."

Some local concert-goers say they refused to listen to Slayer in their rebellious teen years because they considered the group "too Christian."

Advice for parents

Here are a few things parents can look for when deciding if a band has religious lyrics, and if their kids should listen:

Don't be too dissuaded by graphic cover art, since some bands that deal with social justice use these depictions to say: This is the way people treat each other. Don't you think we should change?

There may be references to Satan, but this can be just another part of the typical Biblical name-dropping, which can include symbolic names for God such as: Father of the Four Winds, Pilot of the Storm, Master Keeper, and many others.

Metal songwriting uses heavy doses of double-meanings, since singers say they don't want to preach and may insert religious content symbolically once they've hooked an audience, and also since they want to draw as wide an audience as possible.

For that reason, you're probably going to hear whatever you're predisposed to, and that's fine with most bands. Dick Clark once asked the members of Stryper if a love song was to God or to a woman, and one replied: "We're not saying. We don't want to close any doors."

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2002