Most Read
Most Commented
Read more like this

Azly Rahman has written some bizarre articles in his time, some of which need a dictionary just to plough through just to figure out that he's masking his lack of an argument with long words, but this time he's really gone off the rails.

Azly, have you spoken to any of these so-called 'black metal followers'? I suspect you've done no more than check the Internet for the most extreme examples of what's happening elsewhere in the world rather than taking a look on your own doorstep. And, forgive me, no serious researcher quotes Wikipedia - anyone can have their two sen's worth on Wikipedia and it's edited by readers.

Azly, go talk to rock fans in Malaysia. Malaysian teenagers are absolute angels compared with their Western counterparts. They're quiet, respectful, most of them are surprisingly pious. They simply like to find ways of letting off steam in a society that spends a lot of its time telling young people to shut up and do as they're told lest they wind in jail and/or hell.

That means, among other things, listening to music, some of it rock or punk. And some of it may sound awful to an elderly person but rock and roll was never about making your parents happy - and winding them up by listening to strange music is a long way away from being a genuine Satanic follower.

The bands who played at Paul's Place on New Year's Eve may not be your taste in music and they're not particularly mine either. Some of them sound like a soundtrack for a movie about neutering cats, but Satanists they ain't. Read the lyrics Azly. Nothing about the devil. Nothing about chopping Siti Nurhaliza into small pieces either (though if anyone writes that song please let me know).

Nor did the police check. Nor will the esteemed Shariah judges who will sit on cases where teenagers are accused of listening to black metal know what on earth they're listening to. What are they going to do? Call expert testimony from journalists from Kerrang or Rolling Stone magazine? Like heck. They're either going to be honest and admit it's outside their expertise or they're going to listen to some crank who fancies they see Satan everywhere. And what a recipe for injustice that would be.

No Azly, stop going off half-cocked. Do your research properly. Find some evidence of Satanic black metal cults in Malaysia and then kick up a fuss if you do. Metal bands sound loud Azly but I'll be blunt - empty vessels sound louder.

ADS