Disciple is a Christian Metal band formed in Tennessee back in 1992. While not quite as popular as other Christian rock bands, they have been relatively successful, having released 9 studio albums and an EP since their formation. They are known for their distinct crunchy guitar sound, radio-friendly melodies, and their strong Christian lyrics. Over the years, Disciple has gained a very strong cult following, though they tend to be more popular among rock fans than metalheads because of their radio airplay, mainly due to their lack of promotion to non-Christian metal fans.
All the band members were teenagers when Disciple was formed. Vocalist Kevin Young in particular was only 13 when they started playing. For such a young band, however, Disciple showed many signs of promise in their early years. Their first four albums were released on an underground label, but their 2005 Self-Titled Album gained them a bit of recognition.
Studio Discography:
- What Was I Thinking (1995)
- This Might Sting a Little (1999)
- By God (2001)
- Back Again (2004)
- Disciple (2005)
- Scars Remain (2006)
- Southern Hospitality (2008)
- Horseshoes & Hand Grenades (2010)
- O God Save Us All (2012)
- Attack (2014)
- Long Live the Rebels (2016)
- Love Letter Kill Shot (2019)
- Skeleton Psalms (2023)
Disciple provides examples of:
- Christian Rock: Arguably one of the most lyrically blatant examples, especially in their early material. In fact, if you narrow Christian music down to just metal, they may actually be the most blatant example. Honestly, how many metal bands write over half their lyrics based on sections directly from the bible?
Doesn't stop them from being awesome, though. - Department of Redundancy Department: They have a song called "Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired".
- Genre Mashup: Their sound blends alternative metal, groove metal, nu metal, hard rock, post-grunge, southern metal, metalcore, acoustic rock, worship music, and radio pop/alt-rock to create a unique style of music that allows them to appeal to numerous crowds. Some of their early releases have rap thrown in the mix as well.
- New Sound Album: Plenty:
- What Was I Thinking had a very dense Groove Metal sound, with Grunge and Southern Rock influences thrown in for good measure.
- This Might Sting a Little dropped the southern/grunge influence and amped up the heaviness, with prevalent screamed vocals and rapid-fire tempos.
- By God was a little lighter and featured rapped vocals and Nu Metal riffs. This style was continued on Back Again.
- Their Self-Titled Album was much less heavy than their previous output, with less screaming and brighter melodies, resulting in a pretty straightforward Alternative Metal sound. Naturally, this album created a Broken Base due to its much more commercial nature.
- Scars Remain returned to the band's heavier roots, but this time with elements of Metalcore pushed in. It still retained some of the melodic hooks of its predecessor, but is probably their heaviest album since their sophomore release.
- Southern Hospitality was essentially a return to the southern metal from their debut album, although it was more radio-ready.
- Horseshoes & Handgrenades was a mix of everything the band had done up to that point, being a Genre Roulette, opening with post-grunge, then groove metal, then alt-rock, and various others.
- O God Save Us All was the band's most radio-friendly album to date, featuring a relatively lighter sound and more ballads.
- While it isn't out yet, the new album is supposed to go back to the heavier sound of This Might Sting a Little and By God.
- Meaningful Name: A disciple is a student of Jesus Christ. Which, yet again, makes sense considering their...you know....
