Belfast Churchgoers Challenge GORGOROTH's Anti-God Message; Video Available

Video footage of a group of Free Presbyterians protesting at GORGOROTH's November 23, 2008 concert at Limelight in Belfast, Northern Ireland can be viewed below (clip shot by GORGOROTH guitarist Teloch).

The Rev David McIlveen reportedly led outraged churchgoers to the club.

Speaking to the News Letter in September 2008, McIlveen said about the Norwegian black metal band's appearance in Belfast, "This reprehensible group's influence on the young may push them to evil acts and lead to the fragmentation of family life.

"Organizers need to rethink their decision to give them concert time in Belfast as the majority of people in Northern Ireland will be highly offended by their apparent anti-God message.

"Anything that is detrimental to the Christian belief must be challenged and I will be doing that."

But Limelight publicist Ian Wilson countered: "We book bands with absolutely no concern about their religious or political viewpoints. It's just music."

According to GORGOROTH's lead singer Gaahl, the goal of black metal is to turn its practitioners into "the true Satan."

In an interview with The Observer in 2005, he said: "Black metal was never meant to reach an audience. It was purely for our own satisfaction. Something entirely self-centered.

"The shared goal was to become the true Satan; the elite human, basically. The elite are above rules."

Gaahl stoked controversy in a Canadian documentary called "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey", in which he spoke out in support of a spate of arson attacks on churches linked to the Norwegian metal scene.

He said: "Church burnings and all these things are, of course, things that I support 100 percent and it should have been done much more and will be done much more in the future.

"We have to remove every trace from what Christianity and the Semitic roots have to offer this world. Satanism is freedom for the individual to grow and to become Superman. Every man who is born to be king becomes king. Every man who is born to be a slave doesn't know Satan."