Brother Heavy Metal

I've been meaning to write about this Italian priest for awhile (yes, I know his website is in Italian, but it's still neat to see the man). He goes by Fratello Metallo, or Brother Metal, and he's a priest who sings in a heavy metal band. (Here is the story about him on Public Radio International's "The World" where you can hear him singing some of his songs.)

I love the idea of a heavy metal singing priest. Naturally, as the stories point out, religion is a constant theme to his music. And while some people object to his music being so Catholic, hoping he would keep his religion to himself (see "The World"'s article), his superiors have given him full approval.

That is what makes this story so cool to me: a religious group that is not trying to stay anachronistic, but rather embraces the present day. Instead of wishing the world could try to conform to them, they are trying to approach the world as it is, in new meaningful terms. And those meaningful terms include crowd surfing.

If singing is praying twice (as St. Augustine famously said before he heard me sing), perhaps head banging does too. It's just a new way for the Spirit to move you.

And to any choir members reading this, I have a great idea for a Fra Metallo-inspired Evensong.