It’s not over-exaggerating to say that Behemoth are lightning rods for controversy. In fact, in their home land of Poland, frontman Adam “Nergal” Darski was found innocent twice for ripping pages from a bible. However, the band is currently being detained at immigration services in Russia, not exactly a bastion of open-mindedness. Here’s what Nergal said on his Facebook page (with an assist from someone on the thread for translation):
We’ve been stopped by the immigration services for ‘wrong visas’. When I said that we will not move an inch from the club without someone from the polish embassy, they threatened to force us out. They took us in a bus, accompanied by 10 officers, to the building of Federal Migration Service. We tried to reach polish embassy in Jekaterinburg but no one is answering the phone. If possible – please copy this message and pass it everywhere you can. We may expect a multihour hearing. The concert is off for sure. The only thing we want is to get back to the hotel safely and then – to Poland. No matter how hard we try – we cannot pass it all.
Regards. Nergal
This is a little concerning, given that the last time an international band was detained in a foreign country, it didn’t end up going all that well. This was only posted about three hours ago, and there hasn’t been an update yet from the band. Hopefully, everything will get sorted out soon, but it looks like tonight’s show is off.
UPDATE: Nergal has taken to Facebook again with another post, sharing the following update (translated from Polish):
“Looks like it’s going to be a normal arrest. They’ll take our phones soon. At 9am we’ll have a court case, then a judgment and maybe a deportation.”
