Lamb Of God are scheduled to play Malaysia's Rock4Way festival on September 28, a rare show for a metal band in the area, and now we can see why. Today, the Department Of Islamic Development, also known as "Jakim" objects to their peformance for the typical close-minded reasons metal has faced in the past.
Jakim's director-general, Datuk Othman Mustapha, who clearly has never been to a metal show claims that Lamb of God “incorporates evil and anti-divine spiritual elements in its performance.” Whoa, really? I've never seen these anti-divine spiritual elements at previous Lamb of God shows, so they must've really upped their production budgets recently. Here is what Malaysian news site, The Star reported:
Its director-general, Datuk Othman Mustapha, said Jakim raised the objection on Friday because the genre of music that the group had performed was a mix of metal songs with the reading of verses from the Quran.
The band had sparked controversy among the Christian community itself as a group that incorporates evil and anti-divine spiritual elements in its performance, he said in a statement.
Othman said the objection was in accordance with the decision of the Fatwa (Edicts) Committee that the practices and acts of black metal groups were misguided and contrary to the true teachings of Islam.
As such, Jakim feared that the performance in the country of heavy metal groups would revive the black metal trend, he said.
Othman said it was hoped that the authorities would not approve the performance of the Lamb of God by taking into consideration the sensitivities of Muslims and to ensure that it did not open up crises related to faith and morality.
Black metal?! Clearly these guys have never been to Metal Archives, or they would be reamed by millions of butt-hurt black metal elitists. Lamb of God are not black metal!
In case you're wondering, the mentions of the Quran must reference the intro of the band's Killadelphia DVD:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIfH3TZa8Ac[/youtube]
It's evident that nobody bothered actually researching the band, and just saw "Lamb of God" and that they used to be called "Burn the Priest" and were like, oh these are clearly satanists.
No word on if any action will come from this, but we will follow this story closely.
[via Blabbermouth]
