Mark Mynett of Plague of Angels says there is also a classist undertone to outrage at band’s concert at York Minster. A heavy metal band whose show at York Minster has been called an “outright insult” to Christianity has said the church is “sleepwalking” into oblivion unless it becomes more open-minded.
The English rockers, Plague of Angels, provoked a backlash last month from parishioners who described the concert in April as “shocking and deeply inappropriate” and threatened to protest outside the 800-year-old cathedral. Churchgoers were outraged that two of the band’s members were previously part of an extreme-metal group that sold a T-shirt featured a topless nun masturbating and the words “Jesus is a cunt”.
One worshipper described the slogan as “possibly the most disgustingly blasphemous anti-Christian sentiment I have ever seen”. But now Mark Mynett, the Plague of Angels founder, has distanced his band from the offensive merchandise, which Rolling Stone described as “the most controversial shirt in rock history”.
He said his bandmates were only ever session musicians with Cradle of Filth, the group behind the T-shirt, and that they had always “hated” the top. Mynett said his band’s critics had a “classist prejudice” against heavy metal music, adding that they wouldn’t “blink an eyelid” at more problematic classical music being played in churches.
“There’s a whole list of composers whose opinions, lifestyle … could be considered critical and, in many instances, completely contrary to Christian dogma,” he said. “Wagner was well known for being seriously antisemitic … and he actually associated Christianity with the decline of European civilisations. Nobody would blink an eyelid if they heard Wagner in the church.”.
Mynett, a senior lecturer in music technology at the University of Huddersfield, said the hostility towards heavy metal was because “opera and classical are often seen as high culture, whereas metal music is often seen as working class”. The York Minster gig – which sold out within days – is the latest example of England’s churches hosting somewhat untraditional events to stave off financial crisis and draw in younger crowds. Canterbury and Peterborough cathedrals drew criticism from some quarters last year for putting on “rave in the nave” discos to try to swell their coffers.
About 3,500 churches in the UK have closed since 2013, while more than 900 places of worship are on Historic England’s “heritage at risk” register. In Scotland, more than 180 are officially at risk, and the Church of Scotland is considering closing up to 40% of its churches.
Figures released by the Church of England in December showed that average weekly attendance was 171,000 people below pre-pandemic levels in 2023, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Compared with 2009, there were 389,000 fewer attenders on average.
Mynett said some churches were bucking the trend by being “more open minded and not as judgmental” and in turn attracting younger and more diverse audiences. He added: “What is going to happen with the Church of England if its deepening decline continues? What happens with all this heritage? What happens with all this history?.
“What happens with all of the pipe organs within those buildings? They are going to be lost. “We are sleepwalking towards losing an incredibly important part of British heritage with our churches and pipe organs – they need reimagining and reimagining quickly.”.
York Minster previously said the event – for which tickets cost up to £20 each – would “cater to those with different musical tastes and showcase the magnificence of the organ that has played a central role in worship at York Minster for over 1,000 years”.
