Rob “the metal guy” vs. Antifa Part 3: The SJW Apocalypse

    I could have sworn that I wrote an article last year expressing my disgust of Antifa after shutting down the Marduk show in Oakland. Before that article I am pretty sure that I wrote an article about them ruining Graveland’s festival appearance in Montreal. Does it ever end with these assholes?

    It seems to me that this is an ongoing battle and I don't understand how Antifa keeps getting away with their SJW crusades against black metal bands. These people twist facts, make irrational claims and pretty much shutdown anything that they believe is promoting Nazism. I swear they act more like Nazis than anyone else on this planet!

    The story going around this time is that the Norwegian back metal band, TAAKE, had their New York show cancelled thanks to Antifa pressuring the venue to pull the plug on the show. The venue released a statement I read saying they were cancelling the show due to the fact that they promote a safe space for people at their shows and the concert conflicted with that belief. In my opinion the reason was complete garbage and we all know that the venue did it because they were afraid of Antifa showing up and causing problems. Just another venue that could not standup for freedom of speech and decided to give into this terror groups demands.

    As of recent though the news that I found out yesterday which really prompted me to write this article is that the artist, King Dude, who was the opener for TAAKE on this tour, decided to drop off the tour because of the controversy. Plus, he does not want to be around an environment that promotes hate, yet he still claims to be a satanist. In the end, he too is a spineless humanoid who is trying to appease the SJW types. Instead of standing up for the band that was allowing him to open for them, he has shown his true cowardly colors and should have never been given the chance to open for TAAKE to begin with.

    Okay, maybe I should discuss the reasons why TAAKE is being labelled a “Nazi” band just to shutdown all the braindead Antifa trolls. In 2007 during one of their shows in Germany, longtime member and really the main guy behind TAAKE, Hoest, appeared on stage with a swastika painted on his chest along with an upside down cross. Now in Germany it is illegal to display the swastika and the band was forced to cancel the remainder of their shows in Germany. Hoest denies that he did it trying to glorifying Nazism and instead was using it as shock value and as extreme symbolism for an extreme form of music.

    What most people keep missing in all these arguments about bands being supposed Nazis is that sometimes using Nazi imagery is to add shock value to the music and performance. Extreme music since its roots has been controversial and different topics about evil have been explored in different ways. You cannot censor extreme music, because that opens the gates to more possible censorship of artists. People need to also understand that if you don’t agree with it, you don’t have to support the artist, but that does not mean you can prevent others from supporting that artist.

    Once again, Antifa is creating a more fascist environment by forcing the cancellation of concerts in America. Also, people like King Dude remind us that instead of thinking about freedom of speech, people only think for themselves and show their true colors when faced with protecting extreme music. I will be honest and say that I am not a die hard TAAKE fan, however, the reason I wanted to write this article is that I understand the frustration when it comes to a band you enjoy having their show cancelled and getting exaggerated accusations thrown at them. When it happened to one of my favorite bands, Graveland, I instantly started writing my first article about Antifa and their complete stupidity as an organization.

    In conclusion, this must stop! We as extreme music fans need to standup for artists and protect freedom of speech and artistic expression. Venue owners must tell Antifa to screw off and not bow down to their terroristic threats. We shall avoid the SJW Apocalypse and we shall feel free to enjoy our black metal concerts without fear of cancellation!

Recommendation: Graveland "Thousand Swords"

    After wanting to own a physical copy of Graveland’s “Thousand Swords” for many years, I was finally able to acquire the album on vinyl from Hells Headbangers. “Thousand Swords,” is one of my favorite black metal albums and in my opinion features some of the most profound black metal recordings one can find. I've decided to write a recommendation in hopes of getting more people to check out this classic black metal release that I find to be extremely enjoyable.

    Released in 1995, the album was the band’s second full-length album following their debut, “Carpathian Wolves,” along with a handful of killer demos. When comparing “Thousand Swords” to their previous works one can hear where Graveland finally forms their unique musical identity. Rob Darken the main driving force behind Graveland composed what I consider to be the soundtrack for an assault on Christianity by a Pagan army of merciless warriors. Along with drummer, Capricornus, the songs contain a raw and unholy sound of distorted bombastic terror.

    The album’s intro builds up great anticipation for the first song, “Blood of Christians on My Sword,” and once the main riff begins you feel drawn into the harsh sounding assault of musical carnage. There are some clever tempo changes that demonstrate how the band does not just come up with straightforward tremolo picking black metal riffs. The next song, “Thousand Swords” continues the war like theme with more fearsome sounding riffs and drum parts. There are these horns that blare  over the music as if signaling for an attack upon a helpless village and adds to the albums strong theme.

    “The Dark Battlefield” and “The Time for Revenge,” maintain that raw black metal sound by unleashing more extreme sounding pieces of distorted grim chaos. I also find Darken’s vocals to be some of the most haunting black metal vocals and they work well with the instrumental compositions. On “Born for War,” you can hear the unapologetic attitude of the band come through the vicious main verse section. “Black Metal War,” is a short yet aggressive sounding track and declares war against those who are the enemies of this type of music. The final song, “To Die in Fight,” features some powerful lyrics that tell of falling in battle and awaiting the journey to that hall up high with the other fallen warriors.

    Overall, I find “Thousand Swords” to be such an underrated black metal release that deserves more attention. We have given too much exposure to the Norwegian black metal scene and all there albums, and I feel it is important to focus on the accomplishments of Graveland who have been very influential over the years amongst the underground black metal community.

    I also want to bring attention to how I am disgusted my Antifa and all those SJW morons who have labeled Graveland’s music as racist and a tool for promoting white supremacy. These groups don’t have a clue, because not once on “Thousand Swords” do you hear the band trying to promote Nazi ideology. The music is about paying homage to their European Pagan ancestors, so the whole they are Nazi sympathizers needs to stop. In conclusion, check out this album if you have not and remember to ignore those Antifa jerks who are the real fascist... and pieces of shit.

Antifa Strikes Again: Marduk's Show in Oakland Shutdown

  When I wake up in the morning, I wake up with the hope that black metal bands can play concerts without having to worry about dealing with Antifa, or any other extremist group who thinks they are fighting for some supposed glorious cause. Unfortunately, I wake up and see that once again these ignorant humanoids have forced the cancellation of yet another black metal concert based off of bogus claims.

  Marduk was supposed to play in Oakland, CA at the Oakland Metro Saturday February, 18th along with Incantation and Svart Crown. However, due to safety concerns the show was canceled. The Metro issued a statement explaining the reason for the cancellation and stated how they were informed by the Oakland Police that canceling the show would be highly recommended, especially after what happened in Berkeley with the Milo event. I won’t blame the Metro for the cancellation, as they were making a decision based off of a recommendation from the Oakland Police Department. Also, I would not want the Metro to be besieged like the University of Berkeley campus. I know people who work at the Metro and I would not want their place of business being potentially destroyed.

  As it should come as no surprise, Antifa is the main driving force behind this cancellation and the group who deserves all the blame. The group Anti-Fascist Action Bay Area posted a bogus list of reasons why the Marduk should not be allowed to play on their Facebook Page. The post I believe has been taken down, but for the most part they claim Marduk is a black metal band with, “known white supremacist ties from Sweden that profits off of glorifying Nazi imagery and songs about Nazi SS officers and anti-semitism” (Anti-Fascist Action Bay Area).

  Overall, they used really weak evidence to make the case that Marduk is a white supremacist band that promotes Nazism. If anyone took the time to actually look at the band’s history and past interviews, they would find that Marduk has never advocated for the mass genocide of any race. Marduk’s lyrical themes deal with World War Two, so there have been songs written about Nazis, because...Nazis were involved in World War Two! Writing songs about the history of the Third Reich is not enough evidence to justify the claim that these guys go around glorifying Nazism. I think certain people forget World War Two history is a fascinating subject and can be explored further in extreme music. I mean, Slayer’s, “Angel of Death,” is not advocating for another Holocaust. Should Antifa call for the cancellation of Slayer shows since Slayer writes songs referencing Nazi history?

  Another point I saw brought up against Marduk is that their guitarist Morgan "Evil" Steinmeyer Håkansson knew Varg Vikernes back in the day. Since Varg has made some anti-semitic remarks in the past that means by association that Morgan “Evil” is anti-semitic. Yes, in their sick and twisted minds having past association with someone automatically makes you connected to that person’s exact ideology. Seriously, I can’t understand their logic and will just leave it at that!

  At the end of the day I can only repeat to everyone that Antifa is creating a fascist environment based off of extremely weak claims. What world do we live in where people can go around using fear and lies as a tool to silence people? Where have we seen this before? Nazi Germany? Well, to those Anti-Fascists who are celebrating the cancellation of the Marduk show, congratulations as you are now on the path to actual fascism...you hypocrites. One day hopefully more people will see them for who they really are... One day we might be able to go to our black metal concerts without the fear of them being canceled... One day...



Here is an article from Metal Injection that gives some good info on what happened and also served as a basis for my rant. It also contains the statements by the Oakland Metro and Oakland Police:

http://www.metalinjection.net/latest-news/marduks-show-in-oakland-got-cancelled-because-people-think-theyre-nazis-were-pretty-sure-theyre-not

Antifa: The New Fascists and New Enemies of Rob “The Metal Guy”

Graveland "Thousand Swords"

    I guess you could say I am late pertaining to the whole Graveland and Messe Des Morts music festival situation, however, after seeing some more anti-fascist activity that in my opinion looks pretty darn close to actual fascist tactics, I am finally expressing my thoughts on the subject. If we can all be honest with ourselves, throwing rocks and resorting to terror like tactics to shutdown a concert because one band is accused of having a certain point of view, comes across as more fascist than anti-fascist.

    Since the Graveland show cancelation in Canada has past, I will try not to dwell too much on it, but the main points of the situation should be discussed. If you do not know what happened here is the quick rundown: Graveland is a Polish black metal band that has been labeled a national socialist black metal band(NSBM), which is false since the band constantly denounces any affiliation with NSBM, so people need to get over this false narrative. A bunch of Canadian Antifa(anti-fascist psychos) protestors used their terrorist like tactics to shutdown an entire black metal festival the band was playing at, and screwed over fans who paid money to see some good black metal acts perform that night. In the end, their actions were childish and Graveland was not going to put on a pro-Nazi performance like those Antifa jerks claimed would happen.

    See, I am worried that this is not just a metal related issue, but a societal one. I am not afraid if I lose readers over this piece, because I honestly think that I am speaking from my heart. Racism is wrong and supporting Nazi ideology is wrong, but you can’t go around covering your faces and throwing objects to silence others for having an extreme point of view. In this world you have to deal with different points of view no matter how silly or outrageous they might be to you. Using aggressive force to silence them is no different than what the Nazi party did when Hitler was around. Also, to reference the Graveland case again, we can point out how the protestors were acting on false information about the band being NSBM. Now that is scary, because people are jumping to action without knowing the entire facts!

    Again, I worry about how the metal community and society will be able to move forward if people are going to be running around acting like the gestapo because one band is “accused” of having a certain extreme point of view. If a band actually advocates for the physical harm of a group of people, I can see where that is serious matter that should be looked into right away. However, that is not what happened with the Graveland situation and most of the Antifa incidents involve the anti-fascist protestors doing most of the physical harm.

    In conclusion, I am a fan of Graveland and will not stop supporting them because some Antifa whack jobs believe they are a racist band. If you want to believe the false narrative of them being NSBM, you can choose not to support them. One day I would like to see everyone put on their big boy/girl pants and just do what they want to as long as it does not physically hurt someone else. Now, go listen to Graveland my people!...or write a comment insulting me. Either way, you have the freewill and option to do so.