Acrassicauda

The members of Acrassicauda learned about heavy metal from bootleg tapes they were able to get during the regime of Saddam Hussein. And just like many heavy metal bands in America, the group was accused of worshipping Satan. Except that in Iraq, this meant credible death threats. The trials and...

By Tom Murphy

July 20, 2011

Audio By Carbonatix

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The members of Acrassicauda learned about heavy metal from bootleg tapes they were able to get during the regime of Saddam Hussein. And just like many heavy metal bands in America, the group was accused of worshipping Satan. Except that in Iraq, this meant credible death threats. The trials and tribulations of the band were captured in the 2007 film Heavy Metal in Baghdad, in which a determined and passionate group of guys were shown merely trying to play legitimate thrash and speed metal in a truly forbidding cultural climate. In 2009, Vice released Only the Dead See the End of the War, an EP heavier than most. After all, this band literally had to flee for its life for the crime of playing music. It really doesn't get more rock and roll — much less metal — than that.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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