Note: I could not find any studies that estimate how many heavy metal bands are atheistic, so "most" is nothing more than a personal observation.
Chances are good that if you go to church, you sing. Most churches around the world; be it Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant; have singing as a part of worship. Every Sunday they meet, greet, sing, preach, share personal stories, and some then sing some more. Why?
The first time that I sang was in college in voice class. It was the single most enjoyable and fulfilling experience that I have ever had. I was awful, but there was this intense sense of unity, this sense of belonging that I had never experienced before. There we were, a group of just 20 or so students, and together we all made a work of art for the sake of of making art. It was beautiful. I had never felt so connected to people that I did not know before then, and ever since I stopped going to that college I have not felt that sense of connection to others so intensely. I do not go to church. I have not gone since I was a little kid. Yet, almost every day I am consciously envious of the people who can believe in God because of how beautiful that singing, that sense of community, was.
I believe the reason why so many churches have singing is because of this sense of community. Singing is a readily accessible and simple way to bring people together. Churches that don't sing don't build a sense of unity with singing, and people will go to the closest church that they feel the most belonging in. If churches that don't sing don't have other ways to supplement this sense of unity, then Darwinism happens: Churches that are less able to create a community are less fit to survive.
What if you don't believe in God? What if you're a kid, a teenager, and it's Sunday and your friends are out playing and having fun and going to the arcade or playing football and your parents instead make you go to church? The Sabbath takes your day of rest and turns it into a day of work. Instead of getting to relax you get to be angry. Angry at your parents for keeping you from your friends and for not loving you if they were to ever find out that you do not see the world the same way they do. Angry at the church and the people within it for hating the nonbelievers and gays and anyone who just doesn't belong. Angry at God for being a convenient weapon for this community, that you do not feel a part of, to use against you. And you sing.
You get good at singing, as you sing every Sunday and have every Sunday for as long as you can remember. Your puberty goes by filled with stress, as all puberties do, and yours gets to be filled with an extra dose of anger and alienation. And you sing some more. But what do you actually want to sing about? What emotion do you have that has gone unexpressed that you want people to hear? How do you want to be heard?
And you get mad.
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Notes -
I have an interesting metal journey. As a brown hindu kid who found his metal on MTV, I started off listening to 'Christian metal' without realizing that's what it was. I had "As I lay dying^[2]" and "August burns red^[1]" albums on repeat.
So there you had a (young) atheist, reading lyrics that sounded atheistic from bands that were very clearly marketed as Christian metal.
Curiously, when you don't know the context behind their lyrical under/overtones, you simply view it all as a pursuit in spirituality and philosophy. IMO, metal lends itself a little too well to internal journeys. The entire genre is constructed around intense buildups and climatic releases of negative emotions. After you get out all of your teenage angst in your first album, you will inevitably find yourself needing to a address new questions of similar intensity, all while also needing to resolve them at the song's climax.
Because of that, all of these religion-interfacing metal bands seems to yo-yo between the 2 inevitable conundrums.
Religion as a shelter from all the pain and sorrow of the real world irrespective of divinity (ABR started here)
Religion as the cause and shackles that lead to a lot of pain and sorrow (Tool started here)
Like any good gem that allows itself to be polished, they usually end up somewhere in the middle: Making peace with spirituality, but not allowing themselves to be strongly pulled by any religious authority. ABR and AILD have moved away from the Christian metal moniker and not-so subtlety have disavowed the more political & judgmental side of American Christianity. On the other hand, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden - the faces of pop-satanism are now comfortable in their identity as Christians. Hell, even Maynard of Tool has mellowed out.
Eventually, I find that late in a metal bands career, they echo the same emotion from 2 views - making peace with the inevitable, but in 2 different ways.
They end up writing songs about mortality & contentment, such as Empire in the Clouds, Invincible, mama I'm coming home, wither, sound of perseverence and Tears of a clown. They don't reach any real conclusion. It is a tacit acknowledgement of human hubris and being at peace with no knowing what comes after. Just, that it will end and that's okay.
Alternatively, the same emotion leads some to Doomerism. Take Black Crown Initiate which similarly never gives us a release/answer. Just eternal pain and inevitable doom. They first few albums were angsty, but their latest 2 albums are peak-Doomer. (I love it)
So why all the rambling ? IMO, metal composers are philosophers first. They seek answers and allow themselves to feel discomfort in a manner that feels like a permanent mid-life crisis. The one thing they complain about the most, is shackles and limitations on what what ideas they're allowed to explore. Until the recent past, that meant the limitations imposed by the church. Since then, we've transitioned into an era of soft-atheism in the west and are more-so slaves of our endless consumerism. Their same quest for answers now leads them down a path of virtuosity that comes across as religious. A huge number of contemporary metal artists are straight-edge vegan environmentalists. On paper, much better Christians than most self-professed ones.
If you want to understand all of metal's journey in a song or an album. Listen to 10,000 days part 2 or Odyssey to the west. 10,000 days clearly sees Maynard launch a tirade towards god, all while also wishing for the existence of heaven so his mother can truly find peace as he grieves her death. It addresses the conundrum neatly. On the other hand, Odyssey to the west very literally tracks a journey similar to a pilgrim's progress. He starts a nonbeliever and turns into a pilgrim, then fundamentalist turn fool who eventually accepts his own hubris & mortality. [3]
tl;dr : They aren't atheists. They simply care too much about the nature of existence and keep continuously questioning it. It sounds agnostic, but many end up mellowed-out Christians by the end of it.
[1] Maybe an entire Christmas album should've clued me in. But Carol of the Bells was such a banger.
[2] The front man did try to hire a hitman to kill his wife after a custody battle, but the hitman was an undercover officer and no one was hurt. Seems to have served his time in prison silently and doesn't seem as evil in hindsight. Still kind of up there for bad-things-to-do. Kinda stopped listening to them after that. Could be worse. Could be Lost Prophets.
[3] Btw I highly recommend all the albums mentioned here. Here are links to my favorite songs on them 1 2 3
P.S: I have had a similar mellowing out, but I like that Hinduism is a lot more comfortable with athesism/agnosticism than Abrahmic religions, so I let myself be a 'shrug emoji' when it comes to my religion.
P.P.S: haven't listened to metal core in half-a-decade, so Idk if it has changed. My tastes are very different today, so don't crucify me if my comment isn't up to date with the times.
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