Keep checking out our Band Of The Blogs on bands from our Fresh Flesh CD, and get prepared to vote for your favourite of the lot! Today it's the turn of FCS.

For all the different ideologies that are broadcast loud as you like by metal bands – from Napalm Death's militant left-leaning politics, to any one of a number of dodgy are-they-patriotic-or-just-plain-racist Slavic BM bands – it's still surprisingly rare to hear a Christian metal band.  It's so unusual in fact that ForChristSake, or FCS, can label themselves “Northern Ireland's only Christian extreme metal band.” Not that their faith is the primary reason to pay FCS any notice; their guitar shredding, powerful vocals that are equal parts death and black metal, and songwriting more than command attention themselves. Their six-string bass player Mark Payne testifies.

How would you describe your sound? What inspires you?
“Melodic death metal, although the death metal tag has stuck with us probably because of the vocal and music style. We're inspired by world events currently taking place, and issues that affect us all as people and the choices we all make.”
Why should a Terrorizer reader who's never heard you before check you out?
“We feel we have a lot to offer the Terrorizer readers. We know a Terrorizer reader will accept nothing less than hard complex metal, and we will give that to them! We are in the process of recording our debut album 'Death Stands behind You'.”
You describe yourself as 'Northern Ireland's only Christian extreme metal band'. Does that mean it's difficult to find kindred spirits to play live with? What sort of gigs have you played?
“It can be difficult to find 'kindred spirits'. We have our beliefs, but we feel that we are paving a way forward for similar bands in Northern Ireland to follow along with us. We like heavy music, and want others to join us in liking it too. There are some very heavy bands across the globe doing this style. We play the local scene, but have played mainly metal venues. Our first gig saw us supporting Desecration in the Limelight. We have been invited on different bills and continue to ply our music in our local scene. We have branched out into the Republic of Ireland, and we are due to play the Greenbelt festival in the UK this August [alongside such acts as Billy Bragg and soul/gospel legend Mavis Staples!]."
Do you feel that the metal scene is perhaps now more accepting of Christian bands than was during, say, Deicide and Burzum's heyday?
"I think is its, to a certain degree, but the scene is cautious of any Christian metal bands. But following a listen to what we do, we feel we can win people over to our style of music because it is as heavy as you are likely to get, so we continue to strive to play to a wider audience, be it Christians or non-Christians.”