Recently, someone calling themselves “April and Wayne Show” (it’s not clear whether that’s the name of a couple of the name of their show) began posting videos to YouTube purporting to expose metal bands as “Satanic Illuminati.” Although the dictionary says “illuminati” means “those who are enlightened,” many people colloquially use the term to refer to something cult-like.
As I’ve said before, while some metal bands use anti-Christian symbolism as a theater prop, very few are actually Satanic. Still, some people look at these bands and see nothing else. At first, it seems like April and Wayne Show’s videos might seem tongue-in-cheek, but the tone comes across as fairly serious and straightforward. Which means we’ve got some debunking to do.
Some of their claims include:
“Metal destroys the lives of many youth and leads millions of souls to Hell.”
“Metal has caused many youth to turn to drugs, become rebellious, and become sexually promiscuous (including bisexuality).”
“Metal promotes self-destruction (including suicide). Rock music gets millions of youth to experiment with drugs.”
“Metal artists have sold their souls to the devil and Satan uses metal bands to lead millions of souls to Hell.”
“Metal … promotes witchcraft and Satanism, demonic possession and rage, violence, blasphemy …”
Note that all of this is presented without a single shred of evidence. There’s no science backing their claims about drugs, sexuality, or even suicide. To say nothing of their more spiritual claims. Sure, it’s hard to prove whether “millions of souls” have gone to Hell, or that Satan’s using the music to lead them there, but you could at least try.
Let’s assume for the moment that these teens get to Hell by committing suicide. Roughly 4,400 teens a year succeed in killing themselves. Even if every single teen who committed suicide since 1970 — the year proto-metal band Black Sabbath released its first album — and we assume that every teen who commits suicide a) did so because of metal, and b) went to Hell because of it, it comes to 184,800. Unfortunately, that’s a lot of kids, but it’s by no means “millions.”
They go on:
“Metal artists are under demonic control during performances. These demons not only control artists’ performances, but enhances (sic) their skill.” (Quotes from artists ensue.)
Their example is a drummer they describe as “faceless,” who plays with his eyes closed (how does he have eyes if he doesn’t have a face?), but somehow plays perfectly, as shown in the video. Have these people never heard of dubbing? Or, you know, muscle memory? Many skilled musicians can play with eyes closed; it has nothing to do with demons. Also, since when are demons good at performing music?
Then there’s a narrative from a “regional bride of Satan,” named “Elaine,” who claims that numerous musicians told her that they sold their souls to the Devil, and that she attended “numerous ceremonies” in recording studios to place “Satanic blessings” on the music recorded there. And that the demons appeared on the records, especially in the “backmasked messages.”
I think it’s worth saying that we probably shouldn’t trust a woman who believes she was married to Satan. Even if you get beyond the idea that Satan is a real being who can get married, it’s not like such a marriage would be legally recognized anywhere. At this point, it’s safe to assume that “Elaine” was imagining or hallucinating pretty much everything she claims. The red herring is the “backmasked messages” comment, considering that the metal bands accused of backmasking messages were exonerated in court, after it was found that the “subliminal messages” were imagined, not intentional.
Part 2 of the video series gets into the idea of a “secret society.” “What secret society?” “The Illuminati!” — mostly old, rich guys. Who, as we know, are serious and hardcore metalheads:
I won’t go through the whole thing line-by-line, but needless to say these videos are not worth trusting. I hope parents who come across them while searching for information about their kids’ interests don’t give them too much credence. If anyone has questions about what they’re seeing in these videos, please ask in comments.
Or, if you see something in one of these videos you’d like to debunk, please do. Cite your sources!
Beth Winegarner
I can write on my computer and in my phone with my eyes closed. That means that I’m possessed? Or just that I’ve done that too many times to count and know exactly what to do? Honestly, people are very imaginative these days. Probably too much free time…
As a musicain, as a metal head, and as a person I find this extremely insulting; mainly when they say that because the musician is very good he or she is possessed by a demon. They’re probably good because they are very talented (from God) or they practice very hard so they can remember it through muscle memory (which God gave humans). Oh and about 70% of those bands ARE NOT EVEN METAL like Suicide Silence and Bring Me To The Horizon, they are I guess what you would call extreme post-hardcore, which is a form of punk not metal… Metal has about 50 basic subgenres (there’s even more), it’s a very, very creative style of music, oh and God gave alll humans their creativity as well as their talents, so would God give somebody the talent to play satanic music, well if he/she did he/she would look like Satan or a demiurge rather than an all-loving God. May I remind you that Satan is one of God’s creations, and if you follow the bible it says all that God made/makes is good. About the bisexuality thing: a study was done in Norway (I think, possibly the US). It’s results Showed that male homosexuals have 50% less of a certain cluster of neurons than heterosexual males, assuming that bisexual males have 25% less… So unless metal can cause neurons to diminish this makes no sense. Roy Khan, former singer of symphonic metal band Kamelot is known for being Christian, very well. I wonder if these people would say the same thing about the beauty of metal, such as Siren by Theatre of Tragedy or Glades of Summer by Sirenia..Oh and I’m 15 and I don’t adhere to Christianity, nor any religion, but rather the words of Christ, not his followers, and I know wayyyyy more about Christanity than they do
Okay you’re also fucking dumb. The band name of the drummer is called “The Faceless.” Honestly reading the bit about you calling the drummer “faceless” made me feel stupider than watching the April and Wayne show videos. Just…wow. FUCK.
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You might want to go back and actually listen to the videos. First off if you know anything that is biblicaly related, you would know GOD made Lucifer the musician in heaven. So wouldn’t it be possible to control music that is not intended for GOD which is pretty much everything but gospel. I recently watched the video and it was described by an ex member of a “society” within the music industry, that the master of each record w as prayed on by satanists. The idea was to curse people that you couldn’t curse before. Also to make Christians curse each other. Now regardless if you believe in GOD or Satan you are entitled to your own opinion, but make sure facts are correct. Half of the statements you so-called pulled straight from the video, were taken out of context or purely made up. Read into Media Manipulation
I am a christian that absolutely loves heavy metal. Demon hunter, metallica, black label society. Absolutely incredible bands. I do know that satan, when he was still in Heaven was the angel in charge of music. So, as far as musicians being possessed on stage, doesn’t surprise me but every metal band aren’t possessed on stage. I don’t think ALL heavy metal is satanic but definitely some is so that’s my opinion.