Evanescence and Switchfoot at Sonisphere

Rockers and Heavy Metal fans heading for the Sonisphere festival this summer are going to be hit by some deeply Christian lyrics.

Alongside veteran hard rockers KISS, Queen, and Faith No More, are two bands who in different ways, incorporate the Christian faith into their music.

Evanescence, the Goth rockers who made a controversial exit from Christian retail outlets when they declared they were ‘not a Christian band’ are among the headline acts for the festival.

Despite their declarations, many observers have pointed to the spiritual aspects of their lyrical output as showing their true beliefs.

The most obvious example of this is the song ‘Tourniquet’ from the album ‘Fallen’.

I'm dying, praying// Bleeding, I'm screaming// Am I too lost to be saved?// Am I too lost?

My God, my tourniquet// Return to me salvation// My God, my tourniquet// Return to me salvation

Tourniquet was originally written for the openly Christian band Soul Embraced,whose drummer Rocky Gray played for Evanescence until 2007.

But if Evenescence are reluctant to be labelled Christian, hard rockers Switchfoot, who appear on the last day of the festival are anything but.

Having been together for 15 years, the San Diego rockers who take their name from a surfing move, are a much loved household name among Christian young people.

Their album Vice Verses released in 2011 made number 12 in the US Album charts, and they received a rapturous reception when they visited the UK to promote it.

But the band take a lot of credibility from the fact that they arent afraid to ask the tough questions, the title track from the new album questions:

Where is God in the earthquake?// Where is God in the genocide?

Bassist Tim Foreman told Cross Rhythm’s Chris Mountford: “We've never been afraid to ask big questions and I think that a lot of the great songwriters do whether you're talking about King David or Bob Dylan or Johnny Cash.

“We've got a lot more questions than answers and we don't pretend to have it all figured out. We can say that comfortably as believers - we don't have to pretend to have it all figured out.”

Also appearing at this year’s Sonisphere festival are Marilyn Manson, The Darkness, Cypress Hill and Incubus. The festival runs from the 6th to the 8th of July, at Knebworth house, Stevenage.