In a way, news like this gets metalheads riled up, but deep down inside every longhair likes to know their beloved noise still gets people all hot and bothered. So it's our pleasure to report to the heshers that Belgorod, a western Russian city, has outlawed heavy metal gigs in an effort to save the youth of the city from the ever-present double threat of Satanism and ideological destruction.
Vladimir Shatilo (the head of the Consumer Market Department of Belgorod City administration) recently requested that owners of restaurants, nightclubs and concert halls not have heavy metal events. Tellingly, Shatilo said that he "personally did not know much about such music," reports Russia-IC.
It turns out he was just doing what Gov. Evgenie Savchenko told him to do, "on maintenance of spiritual safety of the Belgorod Region," and "to promote suppression of satanic activity," reports Spinner.
The people they got the info from about metal's alleged satanic activity seem non-biased enough: they consulted "various religious groups," according to Newizv.ru [via The Daily Swarm], who add that they consulted a professor who has determined that heavy metal is "ideologically destructive."
But it sounds as if the whole thing might have been one big miscommunication, as officials of the Regional Department of Education, Culture and Youth Policy of Belgorod have since stated that Savchenko simply passed along orders to "be more attentive to nonconformist youth, and also treat them with understanding," says Russia-IC.
The real question is this: how long until a new, unnamed metal band take the totally bad-ass (and, to be frank, pretty evil-sounding) name Belgorod for their own nefarious purposes?
Vladimir Shatilo (the head of the Consumer Market Department of Belgorod City administration) recently requested that owners of restaurants, nightclubs and concert halls not have heavy metal events. Tellingly, Shatilo said that he "personally did not know much about such music," reports Russia-IC.
It turns out he was just doing what Gov. Evgenie Savchenko told him to do, "on maintenance of spiritual safety of the Belgorod Region," and "to promote suppression of satanic activity," reports Spinner.
The people they got the info from about metal's alleged satanic activity seem non-biased enough: they consulted "various religious groups," according to Newizv.ru [via The Daily Swarm], who add that they consulted a professor who has determined that heavy metal is "ideologically destructive."
But it sounds as if the whole thing might have been one big miscommunication, as officials of the Regional Department of Education, Culture and Youth Policy of Belgorod have since stated that Savchenko simply passed along orders to "be more attentive to nonconformist youth, and also treat them with understanding," says Russia-IC.
The real question is this: how long until a new, unnamed metal band take the totally bad-ass (and, to be frank, pretty evil-sounding) name Belgorod for their own nefarious purposes?