NNSL (August/96) - Reading these lyrics on the inside flap of a compact disk her 14-year-old had was all it took to send one Yellowknife mother running to her church for help.

The sample above comes from "Serenity in Murder," a song included on the latest CD by Slayer, a death metal band from the United States. The CD includes such songs as "Killing Fields" and "Sex, Murder, Art."

"They (the parents) were shocked and extremely offended by many of the lyrics. (The CD) encouraged extreme violence towards people and especially women," said Rev. David Butterworth, a spokesman for the Yellowknife Christian Ministerial Association.

Even with the CD's warning of explicit lyrics on the cover, Butterworth said, musical groups are being allowed to promote violence against women, police and religious organizations under the guise of freedom of expression.

"To ban such lyrics would, of course, raise outraged cries of censorship and artistic licence being threatened," Butterworth said.

"Our plea to parents is to listen to your kids, and their music and see if this is the type of message you want them to carry into adulthood."

Rev. Vasil Boudreau, the new Pastor at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, agrees parents should get involved.

While "we cannot control the media, the artists nor the store owners" who sell these products, Boudreau said, "we can listen to this music and watch these videos with our teenagers. Teenagers know what is good and what is not and they will talk about it if they sense their opinion is being heard and respected."

But parents shouldn't have to be solely responsible for keeping this type of music away from their children, said Arlene Hache, a local women's advocate.

"The community of Yellowknife is outraged at all the break and enters and lack of respect young people have for the law. But parents, who have no hope of controlling the child's access to this material, continue to get blamed."

Hache said that such material is condoned by businesses and people who believe in freedom of speech.

"We already have restrictions when it comes to child pornography and hate literature. Society should get their heads out of the clouds in what they call free speech," she said. And it better happen soon, according to Kevin Laframboise, who runs the Side Door drop-in centre in Yellowknife.

"I used to listen to Iron Maiden, ACDC... It's very satanic, not as brutal as this Death Metal stuff, but damaging enough."

He says that music is "one of the most important things to a teen today," so it is "alarming" that this music is growing in popularity.

"I counsel kids and I've read a lot of their poetry. A lot of it is filled with this type of negativity.

"I've had five kids talking about suicide in the last month alone. It's not a good sign." Dr. Sarah Kelleher, an intern psychologist working at the Children's Healing Centre in Yellowknife, said that lyrics depicting violent acts against women can negatively impact young people and society, but it doesn't mean listeners will necessarily go out on a raping rampage.

But Kelleher admits that music such as death metal could serve as a trigger for someone whose problems already exist.

"If you are a child raised in a violent family, where the mother, let's say, is constantly abused and called down, then this (death metal music) could be one more thread that could feed them and cause them to step over the boundary," Kelleher said.

"Yes, we as a society need to review these types of messages. It's okay to set restrictions on your whole family, but that child walks out the door."

The Yellowknifer tried to contact a spokesperson for the group Slayer, without success.