--- title: Christian Metal Band As I Lay Dying Frontman Is Actually Atheist description: Tim Lambesis, the frontman of the Christian metal band As I Lay Dying, tried to murder his wife, and confessed he's actually atheist. canonical: https://time.com/2900967/christian-heavy-metal-band-frontman-admits-hes-actually-an-atheist/ author: Kyle Chayka article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-19T17:30:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:56.254Z og:title: Christian Heavy Metal Band Frontman Admits He’s Actually an Atheist og:description: Apostasy is so metal og:url: https://time.com/2900967/christian-heavy-metal-band-frontman-admits-hes-actually-an-atheist/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9291c2c7e12497d8/6986984af983e7cdc804e783/asilaydying.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: asilaydying og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Christian Heavy Metal Band Frontman Admits He’s Actually an Atheist twitter:description: Apostasy is so metal twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9291c2c7e12497d8/6986984af983e7cdc804e783/asilaydying.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Christian Heavy Metal Band Frontman Admits He’s Actually an Atheist > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Kyle Chayka](https://time.com/author/kyle-chayka/) ## Kyle Chayka Jun 19, 2014 5:30 PM UTC  As I Lay Dying As I Lay Dying Wikipedia / Matthias Bauer by [Kyle Chayka](https://time.com/author/kyle-chayka/) ## Kyle Chayka Jun 19, 2014 5:30 PM UTC If you grew up Christian, or just really emo, you might remember the band As I Lay Dying from your teenage years. They mixed heavy metal instrumentation and angsty lyrics with a tinge of religion. But it turns out that was something of a lie. The band’s frontman, Tim Lambesis, just admitted that he has been an atheist for years—and he wasn’t the only band member to drop out of their creed. This confession wasn’t the first time Lambesis betrayed his fans, however. He was also [recently arrested](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2631057/Lead-singer-heavy-metal-band-As-I-Lay-Dying-sentenced-six-years-prison-plotting-kill-wife.html) for hiring an undercover detective to kill his soon-to-be former wife—he was angry that she had restricted visits with their children and would get a share of his income in the divorce. His wife, Meggan, has filed a $2 million lawsuit against him. Lambesis says he was the third guy who became an atheist in the band, a fact that had come to light in the couple’s divorce papers. “In the process of trying to defend my faith, I started thinking the other point of view was the stronger one,” [he said](http://christiannews.net/2014/06/18/convicted-heavy-metal-christian-singer-admits-being-atheist-duped-fans-to-sell-music/) in an interview with _Alternative Press_. “In 12 years of touring with As I Lay Dying, I would say maybe one in 10 Christian bands we toured with were actually Christian bands.” The singer has been sentenced to six years in jail, but the band’s near future probably isn’t a good bet, either. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2900967/christian-heavy-metal-band-frontman-admits-hes-actually-an-atheist/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2900967/christian-heavy-metal-band-frontman-admits-hes-actually-an-atheist/"},"headline":"Christian Heavy Metal Band Frontman Admits He’s Actually an Atheist","datePublished":"2014-06-19T17:30:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:56.254Z","description":"Apostasy is so metal","url":"https://time.com/2900967/christian-heavy-metal-band-frontman-admits-hes-actually-an-atheist/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Crime","Music","Religion","faith","atheism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9291c2c7e12497d8/6986984af983e7cdc804e783/asilaydying.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kyle Chayka","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kyle-chayka/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9291c2c7e12497d8/6986984af983e7cdc804e783/asilaydying.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"asilaydying","caption":"As I Lay Dying","creditText":"Wikipedia / Matthias Bauer","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2900967/christian-heavy-metal-band-frontman-admits-hes-actually-an-atheist/","name":"Christian Heavy Metal Band Frontman Admits He’s Actually an Atheist"}}]}] ```