NORWEGIAN HEAVY METAL ROCKERS SLAM BOTH CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM, ONLY ‘ISLAM MENTION’ RAISES EYEBROWS

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Heavy Metal rockers push the limits to what is slowly becoming the norm for ‘free speech. Please take notice what was singled out as evidence of stepping over the line. KGS

Christianity is mentioned in the same lyrics, but that doesn’t seem to have been given any emphasis,” he wrote.

Anti-Islam lyrics no barrier to Norway music prize

Published: 05 Jan 2012 12:32 GMT+1

A black metal band nominated for Norway’s top music prize has rejected claims that lyrics on its latest album go too far in their criticism of Islam.

Taake’s nomination for the Spellemann Prize in the Best Metal Album category has sparked a strong reaction from listeners who find some of the band’s lyrics objectionable, newspaper Aftenposten reports.

In the song Orkan (‘Hurricane’) on its latest album, Noregs Vaapen, the band sings “To hell with Muhammad and the Mohammedans” and their “unforgivable customs”. It ends with the line: “Norway will soon awaken”.

Marte Thorsby, chairman of the prize committee’s board, denied any assertion that the jury must not have listened to the album properly before announcing the nomination.

“We enjoy full freedom of expression in Norway and a Spellemann jury is not going to censor content in any way,” she told Aftenposten.

But Didrik Søderlind, of the Norwegian Humanist Association, argued that the song in question went too far.

Søderlind said the lyrics were excessive to begin with, “and in the aftermath of July 22nd they’re completely over the edge.”

“I’d imagine Taake aren’t particularly proud of these lyrics after Utøya,” he said, referring to the massacre of 69 young people at a summer camp last summer by anti-Islam extremist Anders Behring Breivik.

In a written response to the newspaper, Taake front-man Ørjan Stedjeberg said his sole intention with the contentious lyrics was to criticize religion.

“Our view, in the name of freedom of expression, is that it is shameful to adhere to Christianity or Islam. Incidentally, Christianity is mentioned in the same lyrics, but that doesn’t seem to have been given any emphasis,” he wrote.

“Taake has never been a political band, and we do not encourage either violence or racism.”

5 Replies to “NORWEGIAN HEAVY METAL ROCKERS SLAM BOTH CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM, ONLY ‘ISLAM MENTION’ RAISES EYEBROWS”

  1. The levels of ignorance are so multilayered and completely wrong as to reach sublime heights.

  2. I’ve wondered for the longest time why Norway’s black metal bands were always unwilling to take on mahoundianism with the same ferocity they’ve always shown towards Christianity. It seems things are changing…

  3. “I’d imagine Taake aren’t particularly proud of these lyrics after Utøya,” ”

    The people killed at Utoya were not Muslims, they were Muslim facilitators and appeasers. How is this a connection?

  5. I wish Europeans, and especially secularists and Atheists like myself would start tackling Islam and ease up on Christianity. We don’t have many problems with Christianity anymore in Europe. No one listens to the pope really, we can speak freely about the religion and dissect it. It’s time to let it be and focus on the religion that wants to take over, and which kills people every single day in it’s name…

    Obviously the reason we won’t speak up is because Christians don’t kill you for insulting their beliefs anymore…