The PC and Perpetually Offended Brigade

[Grim Reality]

There's an online scrap going on over Steelfest 2022. Several bands have pulled out of the original unreal line up due to pressures from booking agents and the rampant Totalitarian Left.

Sadly our own Primordial have bent the knee and pulled out too, though they did sound less than thrilled to do so. Would have been good to see a proper big band stand up to the PC fascists but alas......

On the upside, black metal is underground and dangerous again and separates itself further from the wokist mainstream metal agenda.

[Eoin McLove]

I don't know if it's dangerous again unless you consider a bunch of clowns throwing Nazi salutes as dangerous but there is a satisfying irony in having all this Antifa bullshit turning it into a more underground (or more divided?) proposition. Whether it will lead to better and more vitriolic music remains to be seen. Then again, I don't closely follow the NSBM scene so most of it will sail over my head.

Edit. Arguably the only danger is being presented by Antifa. They are the ones threatening to attack venues and are wreaking actual havoc on bands by getting them cancelled from various platforms. It's all fucking predictable, boring and irritating. But you are probably going to see more underground, clandestine and difficult to attend festivals emerging like Hot Shower, where far right bands will dominate. The clandestine side of that is certainly alluring, but a weekend in Italy with several hundred right wing skinheads doesn't really appeal to me that much 

Edit. Total respect to Steelfest for their response to this horseshit situation.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2760624824158279&id=1558238367730270&_ft_=mf_story_key.2760624824158279%3Atop_level_post_id.2760624824158279%3Atl_objid.2760624824158279%3Acontent_owner_id_new.1558238367730270%3Athrowback_story_fbid.2760624824158279%3Apage_id.1558238367730270%3Astory_location.4%3Astory_attachment_style.photo%3Aott.AX-51X55n5y2huJy%3Atds_flgs.3%3Apage_insights.%7B%221558238367730270%22%3A%7B%22page_id%22%3A1558238367730270%2C%22page_id_type%22%3A%22page%22%2C%22actor_id%22%3A1558238367730270%2C%22dm%22%3A%7B%22isShare%22%3A0%2C%22originalPostOwnerID%22%3A0%7D%2C%22psn%22%3A%22EntStatusCreationStory%22%2C%22post_context%22%3A%7B%22object_fbtype%22%3A266%2C%22publish_time%22%3A1630597605%2C%22story_name%22%3A%22EntStatusCreationStory%22%2C%22story_fbid%22%3A%5B2760624824158279%5D%7D%2C%22role%22%3A1%2C%22sl%22%3A4%2C%22targets%22%3A%5B%7B%22actor_id%22%3A1558238367730270%2C%22page_id%22%3A1558238367730270%2C%22post_id%22%3A2760624824158279%2C%22role%22%3A1%2C%22share_id%22%3A0%7D%5D%7D%7D&__tn__=%2C%3B

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Didn't see Primordial's statement...?

[Caomhaoin]

I'd imagine they just couldn't be bothered with the hassle, which is precisely why all this bullshit is so dangerous.

Like these tits trying to sully Moonsorrow for allowing Loits to open for them on tour. Being an 'activist' must be absolutely exhausting.

https://www.google.es/amp/s/enoughisenough14.org/2020/02/24/antifa-finland-moonsorrow-touring-with-national-socialist-black-metal-band-nsbm-band-loits/amp/

[Eoin McLove]

Moonsorrow and Loits would be a cool gig. Jesus Antifucks, get some goddamn taste!

[open face surgery]

Can't fault that Steelfest statement. No doubt it will be completely ignored by the opposition. A bit too rational a response.

[Grim Reality]

Didn't see Primordial's statement...?

They replied to the thread on FB I think, saying there would be no statement, no autopsy, but it was untenable for them to play. I was sent a screenshot of it. Most bands wont make statements to try and lessen the shit storm. Still, they and all other bands involved are being forced to take sides, and they've chosen one.

Personally, I choose the side of the neo nazis, Islamic extremists, freaks, weirdos and all kinds of undesirable opinions and desires the world over, over the side of Totalitarian censorship and thought control.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Is this the first year Steelfest have booked NSBM or perceived NSBM or whatever bands? Primordial, for one, have played it before like. Any of the band cancellation statements I've seen so far (apart from Melechesh who claim they will be in studio) have made the decision their own and made it about not wanting to share stage with NSBM bands. So either that's genuine, in which case that's their call, like when Napalm Death pulled out of Blastfest a couple years back when Peste Noire were announced - we can think that their reasoning is misdirected, but at least they're being true to a set of beliefs they do hold -, or else they don't genuinely have a problem with sharing a stage with the musicians in question and all of their statements are made in absolute bad faith. In which case, that would be pretty pathetic from the likes of Sodom, Samael, etc., because even if they feel that they have to pull out in order to avoid this, that, or the other, then they should at least state that.

[open face surgery]

Steelfest has always had mixed bills. The business side of things is the reason why most bands are pulling out. I would hazard a guess that most of these musicians don't give a shit. Go woke or go broke.

It seems that Deicide, who have made a career out of hating the king of the Jews, are confused as to what their stance is.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

So, if even the biggest bands don't have the integrity to make a statement on separation of art and artist, if that's something they believe in, then I don't know who is ultimately more responsible for the general state of things; the childish torch-brandishing cancel mob, or the "extreme music for extreme placaters" bands. None of the bands who have cancelled have gone so far as to name the bands they supposedly have a problem with, for example, which would be kind of a minimum you would expect if they were genuine and not just worried about the slippery slope; if we say it's because of Nokturnal Mortum, then the mob will jump in saying we should also be condemning Destroyer 666 and Inquisition, and so on.

Anyway, can't find Primordial's statement; if it was just a comment they may have deleted it, or else it's just well hidden in the 1000+ repetitive comments the festival's announcement has gathered.

[Eoin McLove]

Yup, it's all about da dolla! As if these bands would be bothered if they didn't have the threat of Antifa making their lives difficult and the subsequent grovelling they'd have to provide hanging over their heads. It's a metal fest, just another in a long line of them, where people go, drink and watch bands. A few Nazis here, a few crusties there... the usual.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

It seems that Deicide, who have made a career out of hating the king of the Jews, are confused as to what their stance is.

In fairness, you can hate the king of the Jews without wishing for the extermination of any human of Jewish descent or wanting Europe to be purged of anyone who isn't Aryan, but again, you'd have to actually come out and state that clearly, rather than just slithering away with the absolute bare minimum of manifest conviction.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Someone pointed me towards the Primordial "statement", found in reply to comments under this FB post:
https://www.facebook.com/primordialofficial/posts/397930938359438

"to be clear. when your agent books a festival you do not know what other bands are playing until the poster drops. we have stepped down from the bill."

"We don't wish the thread here to turn into people arguing with each other...... In the end our position on the bill was untenable. There is more to things than meet the eye. There won't be a statement or an autopsy. So accept it in good grace."

So...there are bands on "the poster" they wouldn't have agreed to play with, maybe...? And also, there is more to things than meets the eye. "Things" could simply be an agent or even a record label putting the foot down. Lovely big cluster fuck anyway, clear as mud!

[Grim Reality]

Well Graveland is the obvious problem as they were only announced in recent days as far as I can tell.

Steelfest has always had NS or closely related bands, several every year, but maybe none as big or infamous or legendary as Graveland. I'm not even sure if Graveland qualifies as NSBM (what are the parameters?) but for sure they are associated with the early days or are founding fathers of what became that scene.

Any band booking for Steelfest must be aware it hosts fringe bands from the right. They are always putting on Goatmoon and the likes. They cannot rightfully claim ignorance in my opinion as this fact is not hidden at all. I take it that any band initially booked is ok with sharing a stage with whoever and all this current controversy is forced on them by booking agencies pressured by leftist woke culture.


I don't think Alan Averill himself was a million miles away from it back in the 90s. The fact he was there in the early days a point he always seems quite keen to make. In fact I believe he was thanked on the original Celtic Winter demo by Rob Darken himself, though this is not included on my shitty reissue copy.

A thorough shambles for all involved. I would be raging if I had booked tickets, flights, hotels etc and some of the bands I wanted to see had been forced to pull or wimped out.

Shortsighted from the organisers. Maybe they are not aware of the prevailing left wing cancel culture that exists outside Finland?

[helmsa]

What bands are racist these days?