Help save
Iraqi metalheads!

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

If you think you love heavy metal, your admiration, no matter how heartfelt, can’t help but pale in comparison to that of diehard rivetheads who are prepared to die for their music—literally. Baghdad’s only metal band, Acrassicauda, have feared for their lives ever since they brazenly chose to pick up guitars in 2001. Now the very real threat of death looms directly over their heads, and their hopes grow dimmer by the day.

Acrassicauda recently found themselves the subject of Vice Films’ documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad, directed by Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti, and despite garnering much buzz at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, the band was hardly hobnobbing with Brad and Paris on the red carpet. They’re consigned to living in squalid conditions in Damascus, Syria, where they are currently residing as war refugees.

Vice initially reported on the Iraqi heavy metal band in their monthly magazine around the time of the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, and the printed interview showed a band feeling a newfound rush of freedom and eager to start playing shows in the new, free Iraq.

Of course, despite news footage of Iraqis welcoming U.S. “freedom” troops with open arms, things just got way, way worse. Iraqis seeking refugee status have become a full-fledged crisis. Over two million Iraqis have been displaced from their homes over the past four years, with 1.2 million seeking safe haven in Damascus. Despite media outlets reporting that deportation back to Iraq will not happen until Iraq has become safer, insiders insist that the Syrian government continues to expel refugees with expired visas on a daily basis.

Acrassicauda were inspired by contraband Metallica, Slayer and Slipknot CDs, and despite playing only three shows and recording a three-song demo during Hussein’s dictatorship, the band’s fascination with Western metal music made them a target for insurgents and religious fanatics. When Acrassicauda mention to their documentary film directors they are willing to die for their music, it quickly becomes clear that much bigger things are at play here. Simply put, they would rather die than have somebody control and suppress their expression of spirit, and they speak for a large population of Iraqi youth forced to grow up damn quick. Kind of makes the tantrums of those millionaires in Metallica seem quite trivial, don’t it?

On Oct. 10, Acrassicauda’s refugee visas in Syria will run out and their expulsion is very likely, again despite media statements to the contrary. This is likely a death sentence for the members of the band, for daring to play the infidel music of heavy metal. The band has already received many death threats.

Vice Films have set up a donation site for the band and are hoping to raise $20,000 before their visas run out, to pay for flights out of Syria and basic survival necessities once they get to their safe haven. Time is quickly running out and, as the host site reminds us, even an affordable $10 donation will make a difference. If you love heavy metal, or simply don’t take your freedom and life for granted, a Paypal site has been set up for donations at: heavymetalinbaghdad.com/donations.html.

Give! Jonathan.cummins@gmail.com