Norwegian Black Metal Band's Anti-Islamic Lyrics Causes Outrage

Posted on Jan 12th 2012 3:55PM by Amy Sciarretto Comments

Norwegian black metal band Taake has been nominated for a Spellemann Award, which is their country's version of a Grammy, for their album 'Noregs Vaapan.' According to Blabbermouth, the nomination has caused some controversy, since the band reportedly writes anti-Islamic lyrics, something that has obviously upset the Arab media.

Arab TV network Al Arabiya reports that the band's song 'Orkan,' which translates to 'Hurricane,' features the problematic phrase "To hell with Muhammad and the Mohammedans" and their "unforgivable customs." Frontman Hoest addressed the drama, saying the band is anti-organized religion overall. He said, "Our view, in the name of freedom of expression, is that it is shameful to adhere to Christianity or Islam."

The nomination will not be retracted, since the chairman of the Spellemann Award committee board reminded a newspaper that "we enjoy full freedom of expression in Norway and a Spellemann jury is not going to censor content in any way." She also took care to address concerns that the jury that nominated the album didn't carefully listen to the album.

Taake did issue a terse statement, saying, "Taake has never been a political band, and we do not encourage either violence or racism."

Taake has released five studio albums (the first two under the name Thule) since forming in 1993.

Watch Taake's 'Nordbundet' Video