{"id":291621,"date":"2026-02-11T02:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T02:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/291621\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T02:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T02:58:10","slug":"slaughter-to-prevail-and-behemoth-shows-axed-by-turkish-officials-over-societal-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/291621\/","title":{"rendered":"Slaughter To Prevail and Behemoth Shows Axed by Turkish Officials Over “Societal Values”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Officials in Istanbul preemptively pulled the plug on performances by deathcore act Slaughter To Prevail<\/a> and blackened death metal outfit Behemoth<\/a> over what\u2019s being described as potential issues stemming from \u201csocietal values.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement posted on social media, Istanbul Governor Davut G\u00fcl explained the cancellations earlier today. In his statement, he said this decision was consistent with long-standing morality rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo activity that corrupts society in Istanbul has ever been permitted up to this day, and it will not be permitted in the future either.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that metal is seen in many predominantly Muslim countries as a Satanic endeavor. Too often, metal musicians in various Middle Eastern countries are harried by officials and sometimes thrown in jail for their music. In the official press release from the governor\u2019s office (translated from Turkish by our friends at The PRP<\/a>), public backlash had apparently built up to a point where the shows slated to take place today and tomorrow at Zorlu Performing Arts Center Turkcell Stage had to get nixed.<\/p>\n

The official statement cited Articles 17 and 22 of Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations and Article 32\/\u00c7 of Law No. 5442 on Provincial Administration. As a result, all events at Zorlu PSM and Zorlu Center have been banned for two days, running until 23:59 tomorrow.<\/p>\n

According to a report by Bianet<\/a>, some members of Turkish media pointed directly at the two bands\u2019 upcoming performances as \u201cpreaching satanism and stealing the faith of young people\u201d and \u201cblatantly opposing religion with their satanic attire.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the wake of the cancellations, Slaughter To Prevail\u2019s frontman Alex Terrible shot back on the officials\u2019 assessment of his band.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no clue what they saying but we are SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL\u2026 Also we are not satanic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are brutal death metal band. I personally will go to Valhalla after I die. Our guitarist\u2026 probably will go to hell coz he is orthodox Christian. Turkey\u2019s people I love you and respect your country and religion views. But don\u2019t call me satanic.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Terrible also took to Instagram and posted a video of himself explaining why the show got cancelled:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Turkey show got canceled because one Islamic group of people put a high pressure on select government, saying we\u2019re spreading satanic propaganda, which is completely not true. I believe in God. Our guitarist Jack\u2026 he\u2019s literally performing with the Orthodox cross on his chest. But we cannot do anything against Turkey government, and we\u2019re guests here. So respectfully, I don\u2019t know what to do. It\u2019s very sad situation.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Of course, Behemoth is no stranger to religious zealotry hampering their ability to perform. I\u2019m sure Nergal will have a reaction sooner than later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Officials in Istanbul preemptively pulled the plug on performances by deathcore act Slaughter To Prevail and blackened death…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[88715,93,61,60,278,139540],"class_list":{"0":"post-291621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-behemoth","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-slaughter-to-prevail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}