ROTTING CHRIST Encounters Religious Protests In U.S. (Video)

May 1, 2011

Greek black metal veterans ROTTING CHRIST recently completed the 30-date "Apostles Of Darkness Over The Americas" headlining tour with support from MELECHESH, HATE, ABIGAIL WILLIAMS and LECHEROUS NOCTURNE. Several of the band's concerts were picketed by Christian groups, including the two that can be seen in the YouTube clips below.

Commented ROTTING CHRIST: "History repeats itself! And it proves that mankind still needs a hell of effort to break the shackles of tremors that still divides humanity into camps. Meanwhile we will keep on rotting any kind of organized religion worldwide…"

In May 2005, MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine famously refused to play at a Greek concert if ROTTING CHRIST remained on the bill (apparently because of their name). In response to his band's forced cancelation, ROTTING CHRIST vocalist Sakis Tolis stated, "I didn't expect something like that from Dave Mustaine, because, you know, he's supposed to be metal — you know, 'metal band,' all metal ... I just feel sorry for him and for every new Christian with new ideas, because we think Christianity is the worst thing to happen in human history. This is a well-organized trick in order to control society, so when I see someone that's very much Christian, that's full of the system, I feel very sorry for him because he's not free." Tolis added in a separate statement, '[Our name] expresses our opposition to any kind of religion, a name that opposes to any fake visions of an eternal calmness and peace, a name that is a punch at the conservative basis of the hypocritical and religious so-called democratic societies. Unfortunately the middle ages still find their way into the new millennium and METAL must support the freedom of the mind, something that it has been doing since its foundation."

In a 1998 interview, Tolis was asked if he still thought that ROTTING CHRIST was a good name for his band, which formed in 1987. "It's not a strange question... it's a pain in the ass for us, you know?" he replied. "Maybe this name doesn't suit our music very well now, but we keep it to avoid disappointing our old fans, the ones who have followed ROTTING CHRIST all these years, and on the other hand, I think metal music needs extreme names, and this way we show our indifference towards any religion. So we keep this name, and if someone won't listen to the band [because of the name], we won't give a shit about him."

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