This could only be Finland!
Headbanging...and prayers....
...led by Pastor Haka Kekäläinen and the
Metallimessu Band.
It's the metal mass, this time in the Kannelmäki
Church in Helsinki.
„Of course god loves Heavy Metal.
I’m sure.
Actually, it depends on how we do it.
So because we have a strong word of god -- and
we do it for god, not for us.
So that’s why god loves us – I think so.”
The Lutheran pastor has been touring Finland's
Churches with the Metal Mass for over ten
years.
„I was in the age of seven when I found
metal music.
I found Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.
But then I found god or god found me.
’97 – so, much later.
I was a bit older than seven.
And after that it was my dream to do something
together with Heavy Metal and this word of
god.”
Congregations can book Pastor Kekäläinen's
band - as long as they're not worried about
the plaster shaking off the walls.
A CD of the hymns even made it into Finland's
top ten.
The musicians work on other projects, too.
But the metal masses pose a special challenge,
as singer Susanna Karhi explains.
"It’s not a gig per se that you are doing,
and it`s not a performance actually -- so
I have come to think of it a lot, you know,
how to present the song.
It’s very important to people that come
here, very personal to people.”
The band sticks to the hymns' lyrics and melodies,
so the congregation can sing along as usual.
Haka Kekäläinen has held about 150 metal
masses all around Finland since 2005.
"We have only hymns here from the hymn book,
arranged in metal.
These lyrics are very strong, they need metal
music.
They really need it.
So that’s why it sounds wonderful together,
these words and this music.”
There has been very little criticism of the
metal mass in Finland.
But then, the country has more heavy-metal
bands per capita than any other country.
And metal can even have a therapeutic effect.
"One guy planned to commit suicide before
the evening -- and he came to metal mass and
he liked it so much so he didn’t do it.
It was ten years ago and he is alive now – so
maybe we have a meaning.”
Haka Kekäläinen receives invitations from
congregations the world over.
He looks forward to bringing his metal mass
to fellow headbangers around the globe.
