Creem had Lester Bangs. Rolling Stone had Hunter S. Thompson. But when I think of Christian rock and metal—not just journalism—one name jumps to the top.

Doug Van Pelt, the infectiously passionate founder of Heaven’s Metal.

There’s a glimmer in his eye as he sketches out the layout for the first new print issue in years.

So why is the new co-owner of CCM Magazine interviewing Doug? Because I have a deep appreciation for what his magazine means—to the music, to the artists, and to fans like me.

“Christian heavy metal was just starting to explode,” Doug told me. “And the vision was always to serve the artist and the fans… the fan got to be edified, educated and informed by the interviews. And the artist needs what’s just called old fashioned publicity.”

It started very small. “I had no startup capital,” he said. “So I started and grew as I could afford to grow.” That meant six Xeroxed pages, folded and taped by hand, handed out at Cornerstone Festival. “At first, there was some healthy skepticism…but my family was very supportive from the get go.” But the audience came fast—300 subscribers within a few months.

Doug had already begun dipping his toes into journalism. “I was doing Christian rock and metal album reviews in the school newspaper at the University of Texas,” he said. “Stryper came to town in spring of ’85, and the paper tapped me to do a feature article… that was the first time I tape recorded an interview.”

One of the major doors God opened came from inside CCM Magazine. “I was on the phone with John Styll (Founder of CCM Magazine) a lot,” Doug remembered. “‘Hey, this festival—you’re going out there, right? Why don’t you write a review for us?’” That led to feature articles, rock columns, and cover stories. “Not long after, CCM did a special Christian heavy metal cover story… and then they had me do a column on rock and heavy metal.”

It may have been validation, but that’s not what Doug was chasing. “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks,” he said. It was about capturing the spirit of what God was doing through loud, distorted, heavy music.

Heaven’s Metal didn’t shy away from controversial topics. “I did an issue called The Ugly Truth Behind Christian Rock,” he said. “It was a seven-page cover story… someone impaled on a big stick on the cover.” That led to a major Christian retailer dropping HM. “Within an hour, another distributor ordered 500 copies. I felt like that was God saying, ‘Yeah, okay, that window is closing. I’m opening this door.’”

Now, 40 years in, he’s back. “I had forgotten how exciting this was. How fun it was,” he said. “When you do something for 10,000 hours… you get good at it, I guess.”

Doug Van Pelt gave Christian rock and metal a platform when no one else could see it.

Thank you, Doug.

Look for this article in the upcoming Heaven’s Metal 40th Anniversary Edition  

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