Peter Steele - 1962-2010

Most of you have probably never heard of Peter Steele, (left) who passed away last month at the age of 48 from heart failure. Steele was the bassist and lead singer from the band Type O Negative, a popular group in the 1990's that was at the cutting edge of the emerging "gothic" music scene and culture - you know, all those whiny, self-pitying teens who dye their hair black and try to look like vampires? Though Type O Negative, as a niche band, never attained a real popular mass market appeal, they did sustain a strong underground following throughout the 90's and into the new millennium. Steele set the group apart by his haunting, baritone vocals in an age when most goth/metal bands looked for male singers who could do alto or soprano. Attempting to sound as "gothic" as possible, the band's music often featured church organs and choirs, as well as slow, creepy rhythms (think of the Addam's Family theme song).

Steele had a typical rock-star lifestyle - struggles with depression, drug abuse and alcoholism that eventually derailed his music career and made him a has-been by the mid 2000's. Last month he passed away of a sudden heart attack at the age of 48.

So why is this news? A rock-star dies before his age? Is this surprising for someone who dallied in the occult (and professed atheism), exulted vampires as role models and sung about sacrilege, fornication and demonology? I recall listening to Type O Negative when I was 14, and this music definitely got me interested and involved in occult spirituality (I even had a brief vampire phase that thankfully proved very temporary). How many other young people were lured into the occult through this sort of music that exalts vampires and everything dark? And why am I bringing this up on my blog?

Because shortly before his death, Peter Steele converted to Christianity and even claimed to be a Roman Catholic. He went on talk shows speaking about how God has a plan for everybody and stated that one thing that helped bring him to Christianity was the conviction that there had to be some justice in life beyond this world; in his own words, that "someone like Stalin or Hitler just couldn't wind up in the same place as Mother Teresa." This sudden change appalled his fans (who thought he had sold out) and amazed Christians, who were once again reminded that nobody is beyond God's grace. His was definitely the most unexpected conversion since the 2005 conversion of Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch. Unfortunately, unlike Welch, Steele died very soon after announcing his conversion.

I do not know whether or not Peter Steele ever got himself baptized, nor how true was his union with the Church when he claimed to be a Roman Catholic. Perhaps he was in the process of formal membership, perhaps he had not yet reached that stage. I do not know.But it is not surprising to me that someone into the "gothic" scene should have converted to Catholicism rather than Calvinism or some non-denominational Protestantism.

One thing interesting about the "gothic", vampiric culture among the youth is the degree to which it makes use of Catholic religious symbols and sacramentals. Obviously this use is in a sacrilegious or illicit way, but it is still present. When one makes role models out of vampires, there is a kind of negative sacramental economy that comes into play - Holy Water, for the vampire, as something that is harmful rather than blessed; a cross, which serves the same function (though goth kids will sometimes wear decorative "gothic" crosses); even a perverted form of the Lord's Supper, in which the feasting on God's Body and Blood for supernatural life is substituted for the sucking of human blood for physical life. Some even exhibit a predilection for Latin; one of Type O Negative's most popular hits was entitled "Corpus Christi." All these are of course used out of their proper place, but they are nonetheless part of the vampire/goth lore.

As was the case with Type O Negative and Peter Steele's lyrics, there was almost an obsession with Christianity and themes from Christian theology that can be equated to Flannery O' Connor's "Christ-haunted" character of Hazel Motes in Wise Blood: even as Christianity is rejected, the vehemence of the rejection still ensures that, in a negative way, Christianity is still the driving force of the story. Similarly, Type O Negative, and a lot of "goth" music, keeps Christianity in the fore of its symbolism and content even as it inverts this symbolism.

But at some point I wonder whether the dallying around with the symbols of Christianity leads one on to discover the substance - it is odd that Steele should go from goth right to Roman Catholicism, but it makes sense sort of if perhaps through the gothic cultural symbolism he was acquainted (in a perverse way) with Catholic concepts (sacramentals, etc). Unlike rationalist atheists, many goths are very interested in spiritual matters and even in Christianity in a perverted sort of way. I remember this from my own teenage years - listening to dark metal but being very interested in spirituality, occult and Christian. I doodled pictures of demons and devils, which of course eventually got me thinking about the real devil and brought me into the realm of Christianity. When I first started reading the Bible at age 14, it was as "the enemy's book;" by the time I finished I was a believer. At least in my own personal case, the gothic scene (though I was never that involved in it) served as a kind of preparatio evangelica insofar as it got me familiar with certain concepts that I later learned were native to the Church.

I have mentioned before that there is an obsession with inverted forms of Christian worship in occult rites (see here), which are obviously meant to insult or blaspheme our Lord. We warn people about fooling around with occultism, but I wonder if occultists warn their members against "fooling" around with Catholicism. After all, the Faith is like a lion; if you let it out, even in its aesthetic or purely cultural incarnations, it is possible that one will be drawn by the inherent beauty to reject to seek the Truth.The Lion that is Catholicism has eaten many who set out to disprove or discredit it. I myself am one. Steele is another.

Am I saying that gothic metal or the gothic scene is good and will lead people to Christ? Absolutely, positively one-hundred percent not. I am remarking on the marvelous grace of God that He can take people, like myself or Peter Steele, who were completely immersed in darkness and even in the midst of that darkness draw us out ever so slowly by miniscule rays of truth that grow broader and more powerful the further one follows them, leading eventually into Catholic fullness. I don't know to what degree Peter Steele was able to partake of this fullness before his death last month, but I thank God for His grace in my life that I was brought from darkness into His glorious light.