Tony Cummings reports on a controversy surrounding multi-Platinum metal and rock band SKILLET

Skillet (photo credit: Chrissy Nix)

The rock and metal band Skillet, originally from Memphis, Tennessee, have been catapulted into controversy with their first ever Christmas single "O Come, O Come Emmanuel". The lyrics of this much loved hymn are a metrical paraphrase of the "O Antiphons", a series of plainchants and the English translation by John M Neale in 1851, based on a Latin text, is the anthem found in many British and American hymnbooks. Now the controversial rendition by Skillet have reinterpreted the hymn to include distorted guitars, driving drums and, in the climax of the song, a growling vocal. Although the video has already been viewed one million times on YouTube, it has also brought forth virulent criticism from conservative elements within the American church. Comments found on social media include "Christian consumerism at its finest", "very demonic, mirroring ungodly music", "filth", and others complained that the song has been "bastardised by today's culture".

Lead singer and founder of Skillet John Cooper told CBN News why he disagrees with some claims that his band's recording sounds "demonic" or is somehow anti-Christian, noting it's been popular among fans. "The reception for the song has been absolutely overwhelming," he said. "People seem to really love it." Cooper also explained the heart behind the rock rendition. "You want to capture the mood of the original song if you can, of course. This is a very special song - a very, very ancient song, and I always found this song to have multiple layers of meaning because it's... actually called an Advent song." Cooper continued, "It's known as an Advent song that is singing for the first Advent of Jesus, the incarnation, the Saviour, to come into the world, to take away the sin of the world." He noted, though, that many people sing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" in desperation for Christ's second coming. Seeing so much pain and suffering in the world, they long for the Lord to come back.

"The world is not going good," he said. "This is bad, and we are we're in a certain amount of suffering here and we are eagerly expecting the coming, the return of the King, if you will, the return of the Saviour." Cooper said this is just one of the layers to the song and that Skillet wanted to capture the original intent as well as this sombreness. Thus, the first half of the song is lighter and the second is a bit heavier. "The second half, we said, we got to go hard," he explained. "We got to go Skillet on this thing."

Dr Daniel Johnson of the London School of Theology commented, "I'm not an obvious person to defend Skillet. I've never been interested in heavy metal as a genre, whether performed by Christian or secular artists. Alongside that, I'm an academic who concentrates on the hymn tradition - the very source material that Skillet have taken and performed in a way that has seemingly upset a lot of people. Why then, am I leaping to their defence? Firstly, because of my convictions around music as a beautiful, powerful and wide gift from our generous God. Secondly, because Skillet are using their music in ways that - I believe - are entirely consistent with Scripture. And thirdly, because Skillet's sound represents something that is missing from much of the evangelical church."