We tried to remain the one source of news that didn’t talk about Osama Bin Laden’s death…well that didn’t last long. That’s because our pals over at Metal Injection found out about something rather interesting. As it turns out, one of the many potential replacements as head of Al-Qaeda is Adam Gadahn.
Ok, so who the hell is Adam Gadahn? Well according to a profile written by The New Yorker in 2007, Gadahn is an American convert now living in Pakistan who, prior to converting to Islam at the age of 17, was a writer for many death metal zines. In addition to having writings featured in the LA zine Xenocide (some of which can be seen on The Gauntlet), Gadahn was reportedly an active member in early 90s tape trading scene and even formed his own one-man metal band called Aphasia.
You can read more about Gadahn, as well as a transcript of a spoken word message he reportedly recorded for Death frontman Chuck Schuldiner, over at Metal Injection. It’s unclear as to whether Gadahn is indeed a candidate as Bin Laden’s replacement. But one thing is for certain though: this is another thing metal will be getting flack for. A cerebral death metal fan that’s a tape trader. That sounds less like the next leader of Al Queda than it does someone who would just sit around in his house, watching TV and never going out. Oh wait…
