It’s no secret that black metal is one of the most misunderstood and controversial subgenres. People tend to dwell on Norwegian black metal outfit Mayhem’s dark past. It seems that those who do not understand the creative shock value have been making more efforts to ban artists from venues and countries these days. We’ve recently seen it with Taake, Behemoth, and frequently with Swedish black metallers Marduk.
Marduk hasn’t had much luck since February 2017, when Antifa managed to get the group’s Oakland show cancelled. Other instances included the band’s scheduled Poland show cancelled due to a “break-in,” as well as news outlets resurfacing the group’s Nazi propaganda accusations.
Billboard is now reporting that Marduk is banned from Guatemala. At this point, we are lucky to say we saw them perform back in 2017 because, who knows what the future holds. Marduk are currently touring in support of their latest effort Viktoria, which was released last June via Century Media Records. Unfortunately, their scheduled show in Guatemala on October 11th is cancelled by a congressional vote of 83-17.Guatemalan lawmakers decided to ban the band from entering the country and labeling them as “satanic.”
Lawmaker Oliverio Rodas commented in favor of the ban:
“the morality of the Christian people of Guatemala.”
Lawmaker Eva Monte Bac who argued against the ban called those who voted for the ban “hippocrates” and asked why they refuse to ban music with misogynist lyrics or narco-ballads that glorify drug traffickers.
There’s been an expansion on movement groups over the last few years as it seems a censorship on creative expression is growing with it. Unfortunately, this subject will remain controversial for quite some time before it gets resolved or accepted. Art in general has been considered blasphemous for many years, and this just goes to show that some things never change.
