Horna, Band with NSBM Ties, Scheduled to Begin U.S. Tour Next Week
Planning to go see Horna when their U.S. tour begins next week? Well, you may wanna reconsider.
The Finnish black metal band’s current line-up includes guitarist Shatraug (né Ville Iisakki Pystynen) and vocalist Spellgoth (né Tuomas Rytkönen), both of whom have strong ties to the world of NSBM.
Shatraug was once a member of the band Blutschrei, whose 2006 album was called The Voice of Forbidden Pride, and featured song titles like “White Agony” (sample lyric: “If we don’t change the course, our culture will be dying”), “Fight to Win” (sample lyric: “Mother Europe, here I stand, a proud son today and a white father tomorrow”), and “Battle for Survival” (sample lyric: “Let us take the course of time and turn our heads toward the rising of a better Reich”). He currently has a one-man project called Finnentum; earlier this month Finnentum released an album called Vapauden laulu, which is Finnish for The Song of Freedom. Draw your own conclusions.
Shatraug also owned the now-defunct label Grievantee Productions, who released albums by NSBM bands such as Kristallnacht, Raven Dark, and Hammer, the latter of whom have a swastika as part of their logo. In a 2003 interview, he espoused the virtues of National Socialism, stating, “In my opinion the National Socialism means to be proud of the own inheritance and the country, to believe in the brothers in arms and to the values which exclude any foreign influence or religion.”
Meanwhile, Spellgoth also plays keyboards in Peste Noire. That band’s mastermind, La Sale Famine de Valfunde (born
Ludovic Van Alst), has disputed past assertions that the band is NSBM, preferring instead to identify as a “right-wing anarchist.” But their 2001 demo was called Aryan Supremacy, their albums are routinely released on NSBM labels like Militant Zone and La Mesnie Herlequin, their logo (of which Spellgoth apparently has a tattoo) is a variation on that of the White Aryan Resistance, the cover and accompanying promo photos for their most recent album utilize blackface and not-so-subtly endorse lynchings, and Famine has openly made anti-Semitic comments in interviews.
When Blastfest decided to drop Peste Noire from their bill in 2017, Horna dropped off, too, as a sign of solidarity (while claiming no political affiliation, natch).
Although I haven’t been able to find photos online, the Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung reports that in 2017, Horna, alongside two unspecified neo-Nazi bands, also played a “private event” in Helsinki; attendees were notified of the venue by mail. The show’s flyer, according to Wiener Zeitung, included “a Celtic cross, symbol of the extreme right, and two swastikas.” The article also claims that Shatraug has been associated with bands featuring such charming names as Aryan Art, Aryan Blood or Final Solution, but, again, I haven’t been able to verify that at this time. (For the record, Wiener Zeitung is basically Austria’s The New York Times, so if they’re reporting something as a fact…)
Horna are free to claim they “don’t bow left or bow right,” but it seems clear where the band members’ ideologies stand. Here’s hoping next week’s tour is sparsely-attended at best.
Thanks to all the MetalSucks readers who e-mailed us to bring the situation to our attention.
