Heavy Metal in Baghdad

Figured there were a lot of metalheads around here so this could interest people. It's a documentary about a band.

Heavy Metal in Baghdad is a feature film documentary that follows the Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda from the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 to the present day. Playing heavy metal in a Muslim country has always been a difficult (if not impossible) proposition but after Saddam’s regime was toppled, there was a brief moment for the band in which real freedom seemed possible. That hope was quickly dashed as their country fell into a bloody insurgency. From 2003-2006, Iraq disintegrated around them while Acrassicauda struggled to stay together and stay alive, always refusing to let their heavy metal dreams die. Their story echoes the unspoken hopes of an entire generation of young Iraqis.

Born out of a basement rehearsal space in Baghdad, Acrassicauda (Latin for “Black Scorpion”) is Iraq’s only heavy metal band. Tutored by music instructor and guitar virtuoso Saad “Yngwie” Say and inspired by western bands like Metallica, Slayer and Slipknot, they began writing and playing metal in 2001. They soon learned that their dream of performing live in Iraq was going to be no easy task.

Original members Firas (bass), Tony (lead guitar), Marwan (drums), Faisal (rhythm guitar) and Waleed (lead vocals) were only able to play 3 shows before the war started in 2003. Soon after, Waleed retired from the band and fled the country, leaving Faisal to fill the void of lead singer. Due to increased security precautions throughout Iraq, it became difficult to practice or even get through a show without serious problems. As the situation worsened in Baghdad they began receiving death threats from insurgent groups and religious fundamentalists accusing them of Satan-worship. Eventually, it proved impossible to find any venue that was safe to perform in.

Thanks to generous donations made on their behalf, the band now resides in Turkey after living a year as refugees in Damascus, Syria. In their seven years as a band they have managed to play only 6 concerts in Baghdad, 2 in Syria and one in Turkey. The war has all but destroyed their dream to live in peace, grow their hair long, bang their heads and play metal as loud as they want. Life in Turkey is proving extremely difficult for them. Acrassicauda is literally a band on the run.

http://www.heavymetalinbaghdad.com/about.html

Gez said:

It's a documentary about a band.

Ctrl-F

spinal tap

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No thank you.

hah, i find it cool that they fight to make good music. \m/ >.< \m/

>Metallica, Slayer and Slipknot
>Slipknot

:\

Good to see a metal band in such an unusual place trying to do what they believe in, though, despite what the others think.

i concur with bashe.

That's pretty neat. I heard metal was banned in some places in the world, and I thought Iraq might be one of them but I guess not

That sounds cool. At first, I was going to demand that this nobody band release their film for free, until I saw Spike Jonze was involved.

Hmmm...I think I heard about these guys on the radio or something recently.

It's an awesome movie, tracked it down a while ago.

I didn't know Iraq had heavy metal bands. Pretty wicked.

It's pretty damn good. I bookmarked the band's MySpace page, if anyone cares to check out their music:

http://www.myspace.com/wwwacrassicaudas5com

They're actually okay, reminiscent of Roots-era Sepultura but not as dumb ("When you go down! When you go down motherfucker!").