It is very sad to hear that Belgian death metallers Aborted were forced to cancel their debut Dubai show due to government intervention…

Even worse to hear that the letter of ONE parent to the government of the UAE was responsible for disappointing hundreds of metalheads in Dubai, a city that does not often get to see a metal band passing through their town. Just the latest victim in a string of government censorship activities around the world that have forced multiple bands of high profile to cancel their shows.

Well leave the statement from Aborted to shed light on the situation:

“Dear fans in Dubai, it is with great sadness we have to announce that our show on halloween is cancelled. We received notice from the promoter today that an angry parent had written the authorities about us performing and being appalled by our lyrics/themes/videos and the government decided to force the promoter to cancel and prosecute them.

“Flights were booked, everything was arranged by both the promoter and us, and we are in 2015, it saddens us that these kind of practices still happen and people can not seem to understand that this music genre is about release and especially for a band like us, about fun, sure, delicious gory fun, but we all know how to take death metal lyrics, right?

“We are all brothers and friends in the same cause here, and that is music, music is the one thing that binds all of us worldwide, race, gender or religion aside. We had a great time in Egypt, we have played Israel several times, Indonesia and so many places where different cultures meet and it has never been an issue. Hopefully no other bands have to deal with this type of situation anymore and our support goes out to the promoters and fans over there.

“This is a small piece from the angry letter which was sent to the government: The band called Aborted and they are from Belgium, apparently they play Extreme Death Metal, I am open to all kind of music even Heavy Metal but this band was much more extreme, I went through their lyrics and their videos and they were nothing but disturbing, their lyrics promoting disgusting ideas like Sex with Gods, same sex, force sex and rape, sex with kids, anal sex and other horrible similar subjects. I couldn’t believe that someone could invite such a band to our country, our culture and traditions never supported such ideas and we should keep it this way, my son will go nowhere near that filthy party.

“Make up your own mind, stand up for music, and grind on!”

Just as a note many popular music videos are filmed in Dubai where lyrics blatantly objectify women and glorify sexual acts with realistic intent. No one would ever think of banning Flo Rida or Pitbull from performing in the city. Metal is more timid and casual in musical approach, and breaks the situation down to nothing more than pure stupidity in people and politicians lashing out against what they don’t understand.

Governments, stay the f**k away from metal.