Raising hell for Jesus

From Australia- (with video)

Storm the Gates of Hell is the fourth studio album by American Christian heavy metal band Demon Hunter, in which they rage and roar about broken teeth and iron fists, the wrath of God, holy days and hearts soaked in gasoline. The title track calls on the listener to "raise your glass to death" and "stand before your final day, choke on every line you pray". It's stirring stuff for fans from within the church and beyond. The US Navy Seal who claims to have "blasted bin Laden" said recently he was wearing a Demon Hunter patch when he pulled the trigger on the terrorist leader.

Members of the Seattle metal band look like you might expect, with crew cuts, bushy beards and wardrobes in several shades of black. But to promote Storm the Gates of Hell, which was released in 2007, they posed for photographs in white clerical collars. Lead singer Ryan Clark, the actual son of a preacher man, has the word "fear" tattooed on the fingers of his right hand and "hope" on the left. Drummer Tim "Yogi" Watts has a tattoo of the Bible inked into his arm and "calm down" inscribed between his knuckles.

When Watts, 35, is annoyed he uses words like "butt hole" instead of swearing. While speaking to a crowd of young Christian head-bangers at Easterfest, Australia's largest Christian music festival, he recalls the time he saw a girl thrown about the mosh pit with her nose thoroughly smashed but a beatific smile across her bloody face. "I'm in constant communication with the Lord," he says. "I know this is what I was supposed to do." At Easterfest, that means raising hell for Jesus. Also performing over the Easter long weekend in Toowoomba, 1 1/2 hours' drive west of Brisbane, are pop artists, hip-hop homies, boy bands, jazz bands, funk bands, gospel singers, indie acts and instrumentalists. The town and nearby Darling Downs area are big notches in south-east Queens-land's Bible belt, and home to various churches, religious cults and the Cobb & Co Museum.

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http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/raising-hell-for-jesus-20130520-2jver.html#ixzz2UUZYOtbT