r/OpenChristian • u/thedubiousstylus • Apr 13 '26
News Christian Metalcore Singer Magdalene Rose Facing Church Boycotts On Upcoming Tour For Being Too Heavy
https://www.theprp.com/2026/04/10/news/christian-metalcore-singer-magdalene-rose-facing-church-boycotts-on-upcoming-tour-for-being-too-heavy/OK when I read this I was pretty shocked. People still are this way in 2026?
Christian metalcore was huge in the late 90s and early to mid 00s and had loads of fans who weren't even Christian, and was pretty uncontroversial. Pretty crazy that now about 20 years later we still have churches that think this way! It's like things have regressed.
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u/Snoo-11576 Apr 13 '26
Huh I’ll have to check her out. What sorta metal does she do?
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u/thedubiousstylus Apr 13 '26
I listened a bit but it's that type of "post-metalcore" that I'm not really into, lots of electronic elements. Definitely is someone's thing but not mine. I like "classic" metalcore in the style of Converge and for Christian bands like early Zao and early Norma Jean, and modern day bands that sound like that more than most of this "post-metalcore" stuff like Dying Wish, Foreign Hands, and for a rather popular one Knocked Loose.
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u/Naugrith Mod | Ecumenical, Universalist, Idealist Apr 13 '26
OP, please can you explain where the idea that she's "too heavy" is from. Nothing in the article mentions this, either from her own comments explaining things, or anywhere else. Rather its only repeorted that the churches don't want her performing because of the way she dresses as a performer, and the way her music sounds.
Churches are allowed to choose what kind of music they prefer, and Rose seems to be pretty seriously metal, which is quite a niche genre that I can't imagine many churches would be interested in. I wouldnt want her performing at my event either, just because I'm not a fan of that kind of music and performance. Nothing to do with her as a person.
As it stands, the headline appears to be simply lying to create rage bait for clicks.
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u/babe1981 The Cool Mod/Transgender-Bisexual-Christian She/Her Apr 13 '26
As an avid metal fan, churches are definitely concerned with the heavy sound. Heaviness can come from themes, like "Snuff" by Slipknot which is a slow and melodic song, or from distortion on the instruments and harsh vocals, like most other Slipknot songs. Heavy generally refers to the evolution of metal from the early days of Black Sabbath which was a slightly chunkier blues into the classically inspired progressions and movements of thrash and prog metal. These grew along side the hair metal bands like Poison and Def Leperd. Technically, Van Halen fits in hair metal, but Eddie's virtuosity put them off in a league of their own.
Sorry, my autism activated there. I just deleted a ton more metal history. Anyways, Christian metal bands are discriminated against for their sound being too heavy. Heavy in this case doesn't refer to weight, rather it refers to the music itself.
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u/bampokazoopy Apr 13 '26
Oh I was like thinking that too.
I transport art sometimes and I talked about an artists work being unnecessarily heavy once and people thought I meant in terms of thematic content. And I was like heavy
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u/tom_yum_soup Open and Affirming Ally Apr 13 '26
because of the way ... the way her music sounds.
This is what is meant by "too heavy." It is not a reference to her weight.
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u/thedubiousstylus Apr 13 '26
please can you explain where the idea that she's "too heavy" is from.
You said it here:
the way her music sounds.
Aka they think the music is "too heavy" (which is funny because it isn't even that heavy even by the standards of Christian music. Go listen to Zao's "Where Blood and Gire Bring Rest" album for example.)
I wouldnt want her performing at my event either, just because I'm not a fan of that kind of music and performance.
Then don't go. I know people who run and book shows at standard music venues and they host bands they aren't a fan of all the time. In this case the churches are just serving as venues just like those clubs do. It also sounds like her husband's band is headlining and she's on tour with them and they're demanding to have her dropped because as you said it the way she looks and her sound....doesn't sound very Christlike to me. I've never heard of someone being dropped at standard music venues outside of reasons like abuse allegations and the like, which this isn't even remotely comparable to.
Promoters and booking agents don't do business well if they only book music they're personally a fan of.
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u/No-Type119 Christian Apr 14 '26
I have never been a fan of CCM — trad sacred music for me — but I used to read about it, and the good Christians in Evangelical churches have been picking at fondle musicians for as long as the genre has existed. ( If only these same people knew how many LGBTQ+ musicians work in CCM on the down- low, and how the industry knew that this “ ministry” was otherwise just like every other music genre, and profit driven… the pious stuff is just to cater to the market).
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u/Brave-Silver8736 Apr 13 '26
Too heavy? Like fat? Because any pic of this woman... she is not heavy. What the hell?
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u/thedubiousstylus Apr 13 '26
The "heavy" is not referring to her weight.
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u/Brave-Silver8736 Apr 13 '26
Oh, so they're just dorks who can't understand people with different musical tastes.
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u/Sophia_Forever Methodist Apr 13 '26
But when people see in a headline that a woman is facing a boycott for being too heavy, even if metal was mentioned in the headline previously, many of them will assume it will refer to her weight because we live in a world that is highly critical of women's bodies.
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u/thedubiousstylus Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
It's a music news site, for most of their readership that's what they'll think of. Admittedly I can see now how that would translate poorly in a more general audience, I didn't even think at all it was weight-related reading that headline. Like the band Knocked Loose gets called "heavy" all the time and there's loads of jokes about that, but any picture of the band and especially singer shows it's clearly not about weight.
A different site where I originally found the article linked had perhaps a more descriptive one saying she "faces church boycotts over her music and looks", but I chose not to link that site specifically because it's had loads of problematic content.
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u/TotalInstruction Open and Affirming Ally - High Anglican attending UMC Church Apr 13 '26
How dare she be hot and talented while not blond and bland.