Queen Of The Murder Scene

"I'll do anything to make it happen / Tell me your secrets, what are you hiding? / Remember me, as I was before / It is something that I have decided / Even if my intent is misguided / Don't want to be / Never mind me . . ."

--The One, The Warning (Queen of the Murder Scene)

For all of its potential as a source of philosophical and personal expression, catharsis, and inspiration, music is scarcely used to go beyond the surface of ideas and experiences.  Individual songs have great potential to convey truths and convey talent, but concept albums have the chance to tell extended stories across each song in their listings, developing or elaborating upon core themes or characters that show up in multiple tracks.  Queen of the Murder Scene by The Warning is an example of a concept album made by a young trio of siblings, a thematically brilliant exploration of a woman wanting to force an unwilling man to love her, the act of murder, mental illness, inner conflict, and flirtation with suicide.

When she does not have her love reciprocated, the woman descends into an abusive attitude that leads her to say that whether he wants her or not, she will have the object of her twisted affections.  It is a bold and philosophically refreshing move to have the woman be the one who is capable of kidnapping, rape, and murder, her words indicating that she will not take no as an answer despite her supposed love for the unnamed man: "Yes or no, whichever / I'll have you someday, I'll have you forever."  She has not raped him, but the lyrics of Stalker suggest that she murders him by the end of the track's chapter of the story and that she was intent on using force and manipulation in the name of her "love."  What follows is a split into two personalities and a spark of desire for suicide.

This kind of dark story that, intentionally or not, defies cultural stereotypes and almost forces listeners to contemplate the nature of selfishness and the paradoxical nature of how someone can forfeit the very thing they desire while trying to obtain it.  Such a story is exactly the type of thing a thoughtful Christian would recognize as what the church at large stays away from despite the inherent philosophical themes and opportunities for theological reflection.  Instead of infusing their work with true depth, so many Christian musicians create one song or album after another that does nothing more than repeat the same philosophically and Biblically incomplete, petty desire for mercy.  Only fitheistic emotionalism and a celebration of hypothetical mercy get regular attention in music from Christians.

Christian theology is far deeper than the irrationalistic epistemology and truncated analysis of Biblical texts found in so many churches.  Christian music, as a collective, is a pitiful reflection of the philosophical errors, superficial Biblical analysis, halfhearted concern for truth, and artistic laziness that mark many Christians themselves.  It does not have to be this way--with or without concept albums like Queen of the Murder Scene, there is so much more for Christian music to tackle, from nuanced musical compositions to the subtle implications of Biblical theology.  Hollow praise for God's mercy without any philosophical depth or artistic sincerity is not even something that would please a deity concerned that humans find truth.

Telling stories in music--or other mediums--with subtle or overt ways of relating to Christian theology is one way of expressing Christian ideas with more substance than what has come to define most music associated with Christians.  What if something like Queen of the Murder Scene had been made by a sincere, rational Christian?  It could have been an acknowledgment that sins have no gender, that it is always possible for people to slip into a deep existential war within themselves, and that music can tell full stories beyond the very limited ones found in most songs.  These would have been far more significant and overlooked points than any emotionalistic, assumption-based declaration of God's love for humans could ever possibly be.