Black metal in the holy land

August 3, 2008 - 6:30 PM by Harry

Admittedly, I watch a lot of TV. Some folks might say too much. Those folks are should shut up. I have my shows that I watch on a regular basis and when I’m not watching them I surf on over to channel 24, Israel’s music channel. I can’t stand the absurd amount of mediocre folk and aging rock starts that litters the screen during the daylight hours and prefer watching the specialty shows. By far, the best is the “Alternative” show shown late at night. I always find nuggets of Israeli genius in the lo-fi videos and fringe acts that otherwise I would never see.

Saturday night as I was coming down from my usual weekend eating binge I was immediately straightened out when I witnessed for the first time Israeli Black Metal. Yes, there is such a thing. Black Metal is a Satan loving sub-genre of Heavy Metal that often blasphemes religion (usually Christianity) and loves all that is pagan. Normally this would comical but a couple of Norwegian bands took things a bit too far by committing murder and burning down churches. When I was in Norway a couple of years ago I kept my eyes open for followers of Black Metal but did not come across any. However, I did see a lot of trolls, Nobel Prizes, tall blondes, several Thor lookalikes and many fjords.

I saw a video for the band Arallu, who describe their music as Barbarian Mesopotamian Black Metal. The song was called “Jewish Devil” from the album “Satanic War in Jerusalem.” “Butchered,” the lead singer screeched his religion-condemning lyrics in both English and Hebrew among the backdrop of the Judean Hills and David’s Tower in the Old City. I was in awe. I HAVE to see this band live.

I wonder if Butchered had a bar mitzvah?

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