Mother Russia Bans Cannibal Corpse Music
It appears as if Mother Russia fears Buffalo, NY-based death metal icons, Cannibal Corpse. According to the Russian Legal 
Information Agency (RAPSI), the Oktyabrsky District Court of Ufa has ruled that the band’s music can no longer be distributed within the country, “due to violent content.”
RAPSI goes on to explain that the Prosecutor’s Office of Bashkortostan filed a suit “to ban the translation of the lyrics and illustrations on the band’s albums.” The claimant believes that Cannibal Corpse’s lyrics “could damage the mental health of children,” thanks to the descriptions of violence; the mental and physical abuse of people and animals; as well as murder and suicide.
Senior Aide to Prosecutor of Bashkortostan, Guzel Masagutova, has noted that the process to ban the band’s lyrics would be explained at a later date.
In October, Cannibal Corpse was slated to play eight gigs in Russia, but had four dates cancelled, thanks to what appeared to be Russian authorities putting the kybosh on the action.
On their official website, Cannibal Corpse explained what went down: “In Ufa the power was turned off shortly before the show (we were told because the venue was late on rent), and in Moscow and St. Petersburg we were told that we did not have the correct visas and that if we attempted to perform the concert would be stopped by police and we would be detained and deported (prior to the tour we had been told that we did have the correct visas and that all of our paperwork was in order). Our show in Nizhny Novgorod also had problems. In that city we performed half of our set before being stopped by police. We were told the police needed to search the venue for drugs and that the show had to be terminated. These are the reasons for the cancellations as far as we have been told.”
Earlier this year, Riffyou.com spoke with Cannibal Corpse guitarist Rob Barrett about his band’s motivation to put forth shocking, often brutal subject matter.
“If the music’s dark and eerie sounding, you’re going to want the lyrics to go with that,” explained Barrett. “It would take away from the brutality and the heaviness of the material if we were just talking about real life stuff like, ‘oh, I’m feeling bad and I’m going to get over it eventually.’ A lot of bands will base their lyrics on reality, which is cool because people have a connection with that, but people who are into comic books or horror movies are into [our] fantasy stories.
He continued: “I’ve heard some fans think that we’re actually into doing the stuff that we’re talking about, but it’s all fictional stuff…for the most part.”
-Adam Grant
Please be sure to follow us on Twitter @riffyou and at Facebook.com/riffyou.
