Mgla Revenge Dues Mortem

Mgla deny racism accusations, give statement on show cancellations

Long-running Polish black metal band Mgla are on a tour of Europe with Canada’s Revenge and Poland’s Deus Mortem, but so far two of the German shows were cancelled at the last minute. At least one Antifa activist group, Linkes Bündnis gegen Antisemitismus München (“Left Alliance Against Anti-Semitism Munich”), launched a campaign against the show at Munich venue Backstage, which reads in part (translated via Google):

Pawel Pietrzak, member of Deus Mortem, also plays in the Polish law-rock band Honor and in the NSBM band (NSBM: National Socialist Black Metal) Infernal War (formerly “Infernal SS). The singer of Infernal War, “Warcrimer”, made the following statements in an interview: “Is it politics to sing about the Judeo-Christian genocide and the destruction of today’s degenerate, multicultural world? I do not think so. It is not a matter of compromise, it is a question of concept. We have not changed our views about anything. Sieg Heil! […] Modern society with all its “values” deserves the gas chamber. […] You (USA) need oil and want to reduce their surplus of weapons in order to avoid an economic crisis and the war on terrorism is a good excuse to do it and I feel bad when I hear that our great president (Jew, by the way) Announced help for America. By the way, Jew.S.A. In addition, the band published inhumane and anti-Semitic songs like “Jewhammer”. [4]

MGLA is also well-connected with the NSBM scene, not only working closely with NSBM bands like the aforementioned Infernal War, but also releasing on the label Northern Heritage, which sells many NSBM bands – which is just a small sample of the close links between MGLA and various Nazi bands. Mikołaj Żentara, the head of MGLA, also released a song called “Judenfrei” with his earlier music project “Leichenhalle” [5]; A distancing from this anti-Semitic publication is unknown to us.

In short, MGLA and Deus Mortem are two bands with seasoned anti-Semites and racists and best connections to the Nazi scene. We urge you to cancel the event.

Both the Munich show at Backstage and the Berlin show at Columbia Theater were cancelled. Columbia Theater posted a statement that (translated via Facebook) reads, “We can’t offer a platform to the right-minded artists. We clearly distance ourselves from any form of racism, rightwing extremism and anti-Semitism and can not offer a stage to such currents.” Triple Six Concerts, who were promoting the Columbia Theater show, also posted a much longer statement of their own, which insisted the bands deny the accusations and pointed out that Triple Six had “no influence” on the cancellation. In Backstage’s cancellation statement, they referenced members of Dues Mortem playing with Infernal War, and that “some of [Mgla’s] members are charged with allegations that we have not yet been able to check comprehensively.” MetalSucks ran a lengthy article detailing some of those allegations against Mgla, including frontman M‘s above-mentioned solo project Leichenhalle and his album Judenfrei (“free of Jews” or “clean of Jews”).

Mgla responded in a statement, saying the cancellations were due to “false accusations of political nature.” The statement also says that the band “decided” to take legal action against “these sources which are publishing defamation in print.” Mgla don’t elaborate on what the accusations were or give any sort of statement on their own political views.

You can read the full statements from Mgla, Columbia Theater, Triple Six, and Backstage below.

We have found ourselves as a target of smear campaign coordinated in time with the start of our European tour. False…

Posted by Mgła on Sunday, April 28, 2019

https://www.facebook.com/columbiatheater/posts/2340097676010943

STATEMENT ZUR KONZERTABSAGE REVENGE, MGLA UND DEUS MORTEMWir möchten uns an dieser Stelle zunächst bei allen Gästen…

Posted by Triple Six Concerts on Sunday, April 28, 2019

Für unsere Soli- und Benefizveranstaltung gegen Antisemitismus am 1. Mai im nun freigewordenen BACKSTAGE-Werk suchen wir…

Posted by Backstage München on Saturday, April 27, 2019

This article has been updated since its initial posting.