I’d like to thank Alina herself and Danelle Joy Sullivan for collaboration and giving their opinions and thoughts to this topic and article:
My experience about getting into the world of heavier music as a woman, is that it takes a certain bravery. You have to learn to handle male egos who tell you that -”No way in the world that you can know as much about metal or a band as me” and also expectations to be more skilled with instruments just simply because you are a female. A dude you thought was nice to talk to can walk away in the middle of a conversation. and it takes a while for you to realize, he did it because you knew more about his favorite band than he did.
As a young girl or woman in the scene, you just might have to get used to being objectified and categorized and come to terms with the fact that it is sometimes just the way these worldly things are. Women who love metal and overcome this un-nourishing environment are a rare species and mostly get treated with a lot of respect, and the genre’s female performers are often considered as “queens” by their fans, both male and female.
Having said that, I have noticed in this new generation of metalheads, that those attitudes have changed from when I was a teen girl, wearing mostly black and band shirts everywhere I went. Artists like Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Tarja Turunen and Alissa White-Gluz have made it easier for the newest generation, probably together with the ”Me Too” movement.
Until quite recently, Christian metal has had less to offer coming to female performers than the secular scene. There have been bands like Rachel Rachel, Barnabas and HB, fronted by Johanna Aaltonen, to mention some, but of course now there are many new bands coming up all the time like Ancient Prophecy, Askara, and Hypersonic. Culminating in the young girls of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, “GFM” and their quest in trying to establish the genre beautycore. I hope very few in the coming future will ever question – ”Women? Can they really even be that good or do they get by with just looks?”
Now to I.N.D and their contribution to the Christian metal scene: I.N.D, In Nomine Dei, means “In the name of God” in Latin. The band started 11 years ago.
In 2008 they released their first demo, and in 2011 – the official album In Nomine Dei. They presented the album during a show together with one of the biggest Polish rock groups called Luxtorpeda.
Since then they have played a lot of gigs, both in small clubs, and also during some big festivals like Song of Songs in Torun, Festival of Positive Music FT3 in Jarocin, a concert for motorcyclists, Boanerges, in Polish “Pol’and’Rock” Festival, and in Ennepetal in Germany on Christmas Rock Night together with Disciple (USA) , Red (USA) and other artists. They have also won awards for their music at competitions as Prog Rock Festival in Reda and Song of Songs in Torun.
The latest release is the EP, Lucernarium, released 2017. Presently they are working on a new EP and they hope to record it within this year. It will consist of four songs, this time fully written in English.
I.N.D band members are:
Alina Lewandowska– vocals, lyrics (Polish and English)
Michał Paliwoda – guitar
Patryk Mroczek – guitar
Marcin Mroczkowski – drums
Konrad Kuza – bass
The author of the lyrics is Alina. She writes about her personal experiences in life, about faith, relations, all what life is about and all rooted deeply on the God’s Word. Very often you can notice direct words taken from the Bible, around which the song is built. She also shared that she always prays before writing anything and simply lets the Word work in peoples hearts.
I.N.D did a fantastic performance at Rainbow Rock, in Alfta, Sweden. With her fantastic voice and charisma she made us all happy that we had came to watch the show and I believe she caught many hearts when she didn’t just perform the songs, but also shared about them, which we appreciated, Polish not being the native language for most of us at the venue. And to judge by how much the band seemed to enjoy to perform together, she’s no diva. During the show it was easy to see that she and the band are a tight unit. Michal and Patryk, the guitarists, created the songs and the drummer, Marcin is really energetic, and the bassist Konrad, played giving a flowing feeling which contributed to the positive mood. Even though she´s chosen to front the band it was clear they are a five-person act doing it all together. Also, ending the show by taking a group photo with the audience proves that I.N.D are not just a bunch of people living the rock star life.
Let’s dub Alina Lewandowska, The Queen of Christian rock and metal. Her devotion to Christ seems real and let’s hope she will reign for long in Jesus name, inspiring girls and women and us all in our escapades in encountering the world of Christian heavier music.
Judging on all the likes Alina spreads to other bands and fans on social media about Rainbow Rock and Christian rock and metal in general, this is an mutual love affair. I was happy to just the other day discover that she also has an side project called At Home, sounding as Soundgarden, where she sings with the same voice range as Chris Cornell. Asking her about it she feels flattered. So I also hope to hear a lot more also from that project.
Down a link to Prorok – “The Prophet“: