GORGOROTH

A prosecutor in Poland has launched an investigation into whether a concert by the black metal band GORGOROTH has breached the country's law protecting religion. The Norwegian band are suspected of having sent a hateful and offensive message with their performance Sunday (Feb. 1) at the Krakow studios of Polish Television.

The show, which was to be filmed for an upcoming DVD, featured two naked women (with hoods over their heads) and one naked man, all of them “crucified” and covered in sheep blood, a number of sheep heads on spikes and sheep entrails thrown all over the stage, as well as approximately 80 liters of fresh sheep blood. During the performance, which was attended by an audience of 300, one of the models reportedly fainted from the lack of oxygen. The TV show's producers, who were not briefed in advance about the nature of the concert, were said to “shocked” by the activities on stage. The manager of the studio, Andrzej Jeziorek, notified the police and the recorded footage was confiscated by the authorities as evidence of a possible crime.

The TV crew, who had filmed various metal performances before (including those by CANNIBAL CORPSE, CHILDREN OF BODOM and ANATHEMA, among others), claimed in the Polish media that they had never seen anything quite as “horrific” as GORGOROTH's live show. “We were not repulsed, we were terrified!” the camera operators were quoted as saying by the Polish newspapers.

The concert promoters reportedly defended themselves by saying that all the people who came to watch the show were satisfied and none of them complained about having had their religious beliefs offended in any way.