Conversations with creative people about belief, unbelief, and everything between.

Suicide Silence guitarist Mark Heylmun on psychedelics, Catholicism, the occult, creative hiatuses, the making of the band’s self-titled album with Ross Robinson, losing a close friend in high school, the death of frontman Mitch Lucker, the band's subsequent rebirth, the ego, and much more. ⁠LISTEN⁠.

NILE frontman Karl Sanders talks ancient Egypt, his meditative and transcendental solo work, several of the books and ideas that shaped him, and more. "A lot of the [religious] options available to us are restrictive by nature," he explains. "I gravitated to the [ancient] Egyptians because you know what? When those guys did religion, they imagined big." LISTEN HERE.

Church Of The Cosmic Skull founder “Brother Bill” Fisher's seven-piece, vocal-harmony-and-Hammond-organ heavy, English prog/psych/rock outfit fashions itself as a spiritual organization dedicated to “The Seven Objects,” which includes instructions to “recognize the hallucinatory nature of reality,” “celebrate and uphold the freedom of art, science and thought,” “meet mistakes with forgiveness and determination,” and “maintain focus on the unity of all living beings.” LISTEN HERE.

Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix's band, Liturgy, makes transcendental black metal possessed by the spirit of classical music, the energetic urgency of punk, and purposeful worship. An unapologetic Christian with a love of the Orthodox Church and a spiritual practice many believers would deem decidedly unorthodox, Hunt-Hendrix is a boundlessly talented, thoughtful, and moving artist and performer. As she says in this episode: "The band is called Liturgy. The point of the performances is to be a mass. When we play the music, I'm reading it as a holy experience." LISTEN HERE.

Hasan Oswald started his professional career as a cameraman for National Geographic’s film Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS. His verité style caught the eye of award-winning filmmakers Nick Quested & Sebastian Junger (Restrepo). His directorial debut, Higher Love, about the opioid crisis in New Jersey, arrived in 2020. He's also covered the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, drug trafficking, homelessness in Philadelphia, and the Yazidi Genocide in Iraq. LISTEN HERE.

Dara Molloy (Dara Ó Maoildhia) is a Celtic Monk, Priest, and Druid who lives on Inis Mor, the largest of the three islands that make up the Aran Islands in Ireland. He talks about his journey from Catholicism to the Celtic spiritual tradition. Listen to No-Prize From God.

Sergio Navarretta directed Looking for Angelina (2005), The Colossal Failure of the Modern Relationship (2015), and The Cuban (2020), about Mina (Ana Golja), a naive pre-med student who strikes up an unlikely friendship with Luis (Louis Gossett Jr.), an elderly Cuban musician. Navaretta talks about filming in Cuba, the spiritual power of music, and our relationship with our elders. "When my dad passed away, I realized how absolute death is; whatever happens in the moments before becomes so important." Listen here.

"Making peace with who you are inevitably leads to the recognition that who you are is an illusion." In this revealing and in-depth conversation, Devin Townsend talks about music, meditation, collective unconscious, imposter syndrome, perfect happiness, emotional balance, and "a certain amount of transcendence." Listen to No-Prize From God here.

SATYRICON frontman Satyr Wongraven returns to No-Prize From God. The Norwegian black metal musician talks about the spiritual and creative connections between nature, music, and visual arts, anchored specifically around the Satyricon & Munch - Munchmuseet exhibition, which ran for several months in 2022. Handpicked works of Norway's most famous artist, Edvard Munch, inspired new Satyricon music drawing on existential themes, rhythms, and waves. LISTEN HERE.

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM drummer Aaron Weaver talks about the deep-rooted spirituality of the American black metal band he co-founded with his brother, Nathan. WITTR make iconoclastic (even for black metal) and often ritualistic music meant to evoke the forests and mountains around them in the Pacific Northwest. In this in-depth conversation, Aaron speaks candidly about his personal experiences and the evolution of his ideas. LISTEN HERE.

BOTANIST is a post-black metal band from San Francisco founded on the principle of "worship of the Natural world." A distorted hammered dulcimer stands in for guitars in Botanist, with drums free from editing in order to capture Otrebor at the "edge" of his ability. Otrebor channels an alter-ego with a romantic vision of a world overtaken by plant life, free from human interference. In a 2011 profile, NPR wrote, "You'd think... creepy, hammered-dulcimer black metal would get stale, but [Botanist] is surprisingly dynamic and hypnotic."

Author and public theologian Brian D. McLaren is a former college English teacher whose newest book is Faith After Doubt (January 2021), and his next release, Do I Stay Christian? will be available in Spring 2022. In 2004, he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity Degree (honoris causa) from Carey Theological Seminary in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and in 2010, he received a second honorary doctorate from Virginia Theological Seminary (Episcopal).

UNDEROATH vocalist Spencer Chamberlain goes deep, with topics including: his religious upbringing; the challenges and pressures of fronting one of the most successful Christian hard rock/metal bands ever; the responsibility of the artist to the audience; struggling with addiction in the public eye; his evolving beliefs and the position of the band; whether we can separate the artist from the art; performance in the pandemic; and so much more. bit.ly/noprizefromgod

DEMON HUNTER frontman and Grammy Award-nominated designer Ryan Clark returns. Panic attacks, health scares, weight loss; cold showers; the breathing and cold therapy exercises of the Wim Hof Method; an examination of the phrase "the Fear of God"; reverence; iconography; symbolism; reflecting on the sheer volume of album artwork he's created; and more.

BACKWORDZ. Reason Magazine described Eric July as “America’s top black Christian anarcho-capitalist rap-metal artist.” Eric has been on right-leaning media outlets like Fox News and The Blaze, but he doesn’t "cape" for any political party; he’s not even an official member of the Libertarian Party. As he told the Dallas Observer, his beliefs don’t boil down to wanting “to smoke weed, conspiracy theories, and inside jobs.” A self-described Voluntaryist, Christian Anarchist, and commentator, Eric is a former member of the band Fire From The Gods and has detailed many of his beliefs in BackWordz songs like “Self Ownership,” “Elitist,” and “Statheist.”

THRICE frontman Dustin Kensrue on his journey with life's big questions; his personal evolution; the relationship (or lack thereof) between Thrice and the so-called Christian Music genre; how toxic mismanagement caused the dissolution of the church where he served as worship leader; inerrancy in scripture; theologian Peter Enns, Alfred North Whitehead and process theology; transitioning from interviewee to interviewer; and his podcast, Carry The Fire.

LIFE OF AGONY. Singer Mina Caputo, whose band is responsible for the metallic hardcore classic River Runs Red, talks about culture, spirit, human history, religion, transgender issues, connectivity, social media, psychedelics, and the inspiration she's drawn from writers, thinkers, and mystics like Terence McKenna, Alan Watts, Graham Hancock, Ram Dass, and Florence Scovel Shinn. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, anywhere you listen.

BEHEMOTH. Adam Darski talks about the religious atmosphere of his upbringing; discovering radical spiritual ideas; black metal music; legally changing his middle name to Nergal; formally leaving the Catholic Church; the onstage performance, and a more recent Instagram post that led to charges of blasphemy in the Polish courts; whether or not his battle with leukemia altered his views toward the bigger picture; and more.  

BEYOND EX-GAY. Playwright, Bible scholar, and activist Peterson Toscano on his personal experience with so-called "conversion therapy"; what Scripture says about gender identity; climate change; comedy and social issues; changing hearts and minds within the church and without; and much more. 

SLEEPING WITH SIRENS. Kellin Quinn talks about his early childhood experiences with the church; getting into bands like Showbread and Underoath; his issues with certain practices and failures of organized religion; life's big questions and prayer with his own children; overbearing musical missionaries on the road; and where he's at in his personal journey today. 

EMPEROR is almost without equal in the black metal music scene. As frontman for the legendary Norwegian band and an accomplished solo artist, Ihsahn is uniquely qualified to speak with authority about the subculture. He talks about the evolution of his personal philosophy; the importance of meaning, purpose, and confrontation in art; Friedrich Nietzche; and much more. 

ALTER BRIDGE. Alter Bridge and Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators vocalist Myles Kennedy lost his father when he was just four years old. His dad's undiagnosed appendicitis was likely treatable, but due to his devout Christian Scientist beliefs, he refused medical care. In this episode, the singer talks about that experience, his own journey through belief and unbelief, and how it all informs his debut solo album, Year of the Tiger. 

COME & LIVE! As A&R at Tooth & Nail Records, Chad Johnson helped guide the careers of Underoath, Anberlin, Haste The Day, and mewithoutyou, among others. He abruptly left the traditional music business in 2009, launching a radical new venture called Come&Live!, which gave music away and donated 100% of proceeds to mission work and humanitarian causes. C&L! staffers, like Chad (who has a wife and two children), relied solely on fundraising to pay their bills. His new book is One Thousand Risks: Fighting Fear for an Awkward, Awesome Life with Jesus.