Anti-semitic metal band tries tricking venues with name change

Earlier in October, it was reported by Metal Sucks that a New Jersey venue, Dingbatz, faced backlash after they refused to cancel a show that featured Nyogthaeblisz, a black metal band who has been linked with anti-semitism in the past. 

The venue’s owner Fred Barnes defended the decision of keeping the band on the bill, citing that the band can be protected under “free speech,” per NorthJersey.com:

“You get put in a no-win situation in whatever you do here. Being an owner of the club you look at it as freedom of speech. When does the censorship issue come in and where does it escalate from here?”

Well, it appears that not every venue is okay with bands like Nyogthaeblisz playing shows at their location.

Read more: We’re all saying blink-182 wrong, according to James Corden

A new report from Metal Sucks has uncovered that Nyogthaeblisz might actually be trying to trick venues into booking them to play shows by going under a different name, Hellvetron.

Before we continue, it’s important to note that the two projects are seemingly separate, but share the same band members. So, whether or not they are trying to promote themselves as one or the other, remains unclear.

But what is known, however, is that Nyogthaeblisz has a more infamous reputation for anti-semitism than their counterpart Hellvetron (which may be why they’re trying to promote themselves with shows as Hellvetron.)

As the source points out Nyogthaeblisz/Hellvetron have had varying success with their scheme of going under different names, but it seems the most common result from the band is them getting kicked off shows under either name.

Last year, Nyogthaeblisz was scheduled to play Final Score Bar & Grill in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, only for their show to be cancelled following the public pressure to the venue to cancel the gig.

Little did this venue know, the band would still play the show, but under the Hellvetron name, per Phillymag. 

Fast forward to today, the band was scheduled to play Chicago’s Cobra Lounge over the weekend, but was ultimately unable to play after the show was cancelled due to their reputation. 

A Twitter user heard about the show, so they quickly took the issue to Chicago native and Against Me! vocalist, Laura Jane Grace, in order to spread the word of the venue’s show.

“Cobra Lounge is hosting a Nazi band tonight and some of us who love your tunes in Chicago aren’t too pleased,” the user wrote. “Help us spread the word and get Hellvetron out of that venue??”

Grace then quoted the message from the user, where she then asked Cobra Lounge to address the issue of the band’s show, saying:

“Hey, @CobraLounge would you please, please, please address this?”

Hey @CobraLounge would you please, please, please address this? https://t.co/15i4Xmkx1c

— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) November 16, 2018

Soon following Grace’s tweets to the venue, that same day (Nov. 16), the Cobra Lounge took to social media to share that the band’s show for the evening had been cancelled after they were made aware of the “anti-Semitic rhetoric in regards to one of the bands on [the] bill.”

Read the venue’s statement below:

“Tonight’s show has been cancelled. We were recently made aware of some anti-Semitic rhetoric in regards to one of the bands on tonight’s bill and we cannot support even the slightest claim of racism or social divisiveness of any kind. We pride ourselves on diversity and cultural development of unifying nature. We have already received threatening messages from Nazi supporting entities and we are fine with that. We apologize for inconveniencing any ticket holders but our stance is firm. All but the hateful are welcome in our house.

With love, The Cobra Lounge.”

Hellvetron also spoke out on their own Facebook page about the show’s cancellation:

“Hellvetron will return to Chicago believe that. To the gallows to all you shit taking idiots, all you can do is hide behind your keyboards, you people ain’t about shit and will never do shit about it; we are not at all afraid of you, and welcome you to show up to our shows and stop being cowards behind social media with your empty threats. You can all go on and say what you want. All I see is a bunch of white people attacking us minorities; you are the ones who are fascists. Do some real research on Hellvetron’s lyrics. You won’t find one thing about anti-Semitism.”

The cancelled Chicago show was part of the group’s run with Irkallian Oracle, and as Brooklyn Vegan points out, it’s not the first venue on the tour they’ve had trouble with.

Per the report, the band has had to switch a few stops in order to play the shows that were originally scheduled.

This included a switch from the Golden Bull to the Elbo Room Jack London (in Oakland, California) and a show in Seattle, Washington was moved to a bar in Tacoma, Washington.