The Marduk show that was scheduled for February 18 at the Oakland Metro Operahouse in Oakland, CA has been canceled by the venue. The cancellation came after the venue received threats in regards to hosting the band. Claims were made accusing the band of profiting off of glorifying Nazi imagery and songs about Nazi SS officers and antisemitism. In response to these claims and threats, the venue released a statement explaining that they have read “interiew after interview” with Marduk over a 20 year span and could not find any sort of evidence to support these claims. The Oakland Metro Operahouse would then go on to state that they had to reluctantly cancel the show in regards to the safety of their security staff and concert goers. “We just cant risk it…We apologize for the inconvenience,” they would go on to explain.
Anti-Fascist Action Bay Area released the following post on Facebook (it has since been deleted):
“Heads up: The Oakland Metro Operahouse has scheduled to host Marduk, a black metal band with known white supremacist ties from Sweden that profits off of glorifying Nazi imagery and songs about Nazi SS officers and anti-semitism, on Saturday, February 18th.
Marduk has just kicked off a tour in the U.S. called Frontschwein North America 2017 tour. ‘Frontschwein’ is the name of their latest album which is entirely about the Third Reich. The term ‘Frontschwein’ (meaning Frontline Pig) refers to the nickname given to Nazi field marshal Walther Model because he preferred to lead from the front and was known for his abuse and crudity.
One of Marduk’s album is called ‘Panzer Division Marduk’ (referring to the Nazi armored tank division in WWII). Another Marduk album, ‘Warschau’ (the site of a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust), uses photos of Nazi tanks rolling through the rubble of Poland as cover and booklet artwork. The album sleeve of ‘Iron Dawn’ and album cover of ‘Here’s No Peace’ also show pictures of Nazi tanks. The title on the cover of “Here’s No Peace’ is arranged in such fashion as to resemble an honorific cuff band, a type of distinction badge which the German Wehrmacht allowed individuals who were serving (or had served) in some elite units (Grossdeutschland division, named Waffen-SS divisions) or who took part of renowned campaigns to wear (North African campaign, assault on Crete).”
The Oakland Police Department also had a pretty substantial nudge in the shows cancellation. Andy McNeal, the Sargent of Police, would then go on the release a public statement, which can be seen below. Essentially touching on the threats received but also mentioning the riots that occurred due to Milo Yiannopoulos’ remarks during a speech at Berkeley.
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