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I heard an Apocalyptica tune, Drive, on Radio Paradise recently, and liked it so much I just bought the Apocalyptica album Inquisition Symphony from the iTunes Music Store.

Heavy-metal cello is what these guys do — “heavy cello thunder from the darkest depths of Finland” — which makes their sound striking whether you like it or not. Turns out, I like it, even though Metallica has never been my thing; the heaviest metal I usually like is Rush (ever since I first heard 2112 in 1977).

Struck me as I was rockin’ out to Inquisition Symphony on the way home that this is what the spiritual war in the U.S. sounds like. This music captures how my guts are responding to it: not settled, not peaceful, but instead loud, dissonant, raucous, hard hitting.

And yet in the midst of the sonic earthquake that is Apocalyptica there’s a strange beauty, an awesome skillfulness. I wonder if there’s an analogous beauty and skill at work in post-election America, a still small voice speaking into the cacophony of war, dishonor, violence, and lies. My hunch is, against all apparent evidence, there is.