BELPHEGOR, NILE and MELECHESH: SEND STATEMENTS ON RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ATTACK, BELPHEGOR FORCED TO CANCEL RUSSIAN DATES!

Austrian black metal warriors BELPHEGOR, South Carolina, U.S.A. death metal warriors NILE and Israeli metal warriors MELECHESH have commented on the 4/21/2016 Russian Orthodox attack on U.S.A. death metal warriors NILE and Austrian blackened/death metal warriors BELPHEGOR in ST. PETERSBURG RUSSIA..





Anatoly Artyukh, a Russian Orthodox local government official confronted BELPHEGOR (HELMUT LEINER) for allegedly "satanist" ideology at a ST. PETERSBURG AIRPORT in RUSSIA as a scuffle nearly broke out with an anonymous Orthodox man picketing BELPHEGOR, the incident was filmed by PNA KATIOWA.





Anatoly Artyukh (Orthodox) spat on a member of BELPHEGOR (HELMUT LEINER) as the musician spat back.

Anatoly Artyukh persuaded government officials to cancel Austrian black metal band BELPHEGOR's 4/19/2016 ST. PETERSBURG RUSSIA set under blasphemy laws as the band was forced to cancel and re-structure sets, vocals and stage production for the rest of the bands RUSSIAN run.

NILE announced SPRING 2016 RUSSIAN/UKRAINE tour dates with BELPHEGOR.

  MELECHESH have cancelled out the bands anticipated RUSSIAN/UKRAINE tour with NILE and BELPHEGOR due to an injured band member. 







MELECHESH unleashed "ENKI", 2/27/2015 via NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS.


NILE unleashed "WHAT SHOULD NOT BE UNEARTHED",  8/28/2015 via NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS.



BELPHEGOR unleashed  "CONJURING THE DEAD", 8/8/2014 (EU, NORTH AMERICA, BRAZIL) and 8/11/2014 (UK/FRANCE) via NUCLEAR BLAST.

FROM BELPHEGOR:

BELPHEGOR FORCED TO CANCEL RUSSIAN DATES!!!
After a great tour kickoff in Minsk, Belarus [18th April], BELPHEGOR dealt with heavy opposition and censorship within Russia resulting in three shows being cancelled. We apologize to Russian supporters. The troop tried everything to secure the shows. The St. Petersburg concert was canceled just a few hours before BELPHEGOR was scheduled to enter the stage on the 19th of April. We arrived in Moscow hoping for the best on the 20th. We were ordered to remove the already hanging backdrop, then told that stage props such as sculptures and crosses were forbidden, and Helmuth was not allowed to do vocals for the track "Lucifer Incestus". During the second track, the sound engineer had been forced to mute the vocals for the rest of the show because of our lyrical content. We were outraged by the entire experience. Afterward, we were informed that we would be unable to play in Ekaterinburg [21st April] and Krasnodar [23rd April].

Helmuth adds: "We've toured Russia three times since 2006 and always had amazing experiences. We've ignored all protests including death threats during the past few weeks. I was aware many black and death metal bands were having trouble recently, but we still marched in. To people who think they know everything: When that waste of oxygen approached us at the airport on the 19th, he had a hand in his pocket. I expected him to have a weapon. If I had hit him, I would have been thrown in jail, and he would have ended up in the hospital. That was their plan; he had that other degenerate filming the entire thing. Special thanks to brother Mr. Karl Sanders, who had the courage to block him as he continued to harass me. I'm a musician, not a fighter, especially in Russia. I've survived Typhus and have already been dead for six hours, hanging on only by machines followed by open-heart surgery. I do not fear anyone other than myself. No excuses to anyone!! End of story. It is of the utmost importance that artists have freedom of expression. Throughout history religions and governments have and continue to censor creative works all around the world. Thank you very much to all metalheads who loyally stand behind us and fight against oppressors and hypocritical moralizers. Russian supporters, be prepared!! BELPHEGOR are unstoppable and will return."
Thanks to Sviatlana Dubavets for the photo shot during our Ritual in Minsk, Belarus.

FROM KARL SANDERS (NILE):
I would like to thank everyone who reached out with kind words after the St Petersburg Airport Incident. Thank you to our very metal Russian fans, who came out to the shows despite heavy religious protests across the country. I sincerely appreciate your support ! 


FROM  MELECHESH:
This is so so wrong , when people of a certain belief preach but dont practice what they preach but rather do the opposite. So much bigotry and hate. Kudos to our brother Helmut for restraining himself , you didnt deserve that brother. And huge respect to our bro and friend Karl Sanders for being a gentleman . It was good we weren't there knowing Ashmedi's own legal challenges at the moment. To our friends in Nile and Belphegor we stand by you. And to those biggots, wasn't jesus about forgiveness and love? You have sinned according to your own beliefs. So i guess according to your beliefs you will go to hell. Maybe there Helmuth will have some fun with you wink emoticon again according to your beliefs.



Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-