Titan metallers Behemoth were banned from playing a concert in Poznan during a tour of their home country of Poland on Saturday.

The band was due to play a university in the city on October 2nd, later moved to October 6th but then received a letter from the university president stating that the performance would not be allowed to go ahead. While our translation of the letter is a little rigid, the general gist states that the cancelling of the performance is for the safety of the students and workers of the university, a statement very daft in itself considering the widespread success of ‘The Satanist‘ tour without incident.

Behemoth responded to the argument stating that the cancelling was politically motivated:

“We have no doubt it is a political decision. It’s not the first clampdown on national artists. Poznan, instead of being a free culture centre, begins to resemble Russia.”

The band’s frontman Nergal has been the subject of much controversy in his native Poland over Behemoth’s career, the latest of which in 2007 where he became very close to serving jail time for the public desecration of a bible during a concert in Gydnia, as well as numerous outbursts attacking the Catholic church.

It’s a shame that there are still few that tie politics into band’s, where it is very evident that band’s like Behemoth have been very passive throughout their career despite more extreme views. We hope Behemoth’s Polish tour will continue without hinderance.