Deströyer 666

by Niklas Göransson

KK Warslut of Deströyer 666 has had an interesting July, as anyone that’s been paying the least bit attention to metal news lately could attest to. A stand defiant – KK finally gives his version of events and deals with the accusations, he also reveals how he hopes to scourge the underground metal scene from sheep lurking among the wolves.

For readers offended by anything in this conversation I’d suggest reading this interview with KK, preferably before airing grievances in public. Regardless of what you think of him, there are more facets to the man than what’s discussed here and this is essential knowledge in order to form an educated opinion.

Right, so the first allegation is that KK, during DESTRÖYER 666’s set at Metal Magic on July 9, first started insulting and subsequently fighting the Danish audience.

– Something as simple as a power cut to the amps and some pre-show boozin’ made it happen as it did, he explains. Drunk banter about the emasculating effects of forty years of feminist bullshit, much ado for nothing if you ask me. This is unless you believe that feminising men is a good thing, I don’t.

KK is not a fan of contemporary ‘gender theory’.

– If your position is that we should be insusceptible to animal instinct, then you’re no better than any of the other followers of monotheistic doctrine. You’re trying to place ideals and religious belief above our natural state. Let’s face it – can anyone really see a difference between these ideologues and the other religious fanatics goin’ nuts around the world today? Both seek to silence any dissent from their own narrative, some with explosives and others with slander.

While the exchange got a bit heated, and someone even tried climbing the stage to fight him, he finds it ridiculous that a little commotion during a rock’n’roll show would garner so much attention.

– To quote the Metal Magic promoter: ’I’ve seen the video and I think everyone should just shut up’ – says it all really.

KK once lived in Denmark for a few years, and I’m curious if this is where his resentment stems from.

– On the contrary, he proclaims, of all the Scandinavians I’ve found Danes to be the least emasculated. Sweden on the other hand, I’d say is the first real matriarchal society we’ve seen in the West – famous also for their staggering rape statistics. How’s that working out for ya’s, ladies?

It’s the gripes from people who themselves make claims of belonging to the underground metal scene that draw his firmest ire.

– These PC fuckwit-warriors … and let’s be absolutely clear here; they’re the nasty nippy lapdogs of a corporate globalist agenda. Proudly ensuring that no one, not even some metal band that sells ten-thousand records, escapes the current globalist mantra. It’s self-policing on an Orwellian scale.

Deströyer 666 – Felipe, Perra, KK, Ro

The initial press coverage of the Metal Magic mayhem made no mention of racism, the reason why this particular can of worms sprung open was because KK had supposedly tried to fight an attendee wearing an ‘antifa mask’. This report has in turn been interpreted as him taking a pro-fascist stance.

– Yeah more bullshit. After all the commotion, suddenly before me stood a masked individual. Now call me old fashioned but when I spot someone sporting a mask, I think bank-robber, ninja or left-wing extremist; all of them whom are prone to use violence when enforcing their will upon you.

KK says that such behaviour can’t be construed as anything but an act of aggression, one that necessitates a swift response.

– Using my drunken powers of deduction I concluded that it probably wasn’t a bank robber – and unless he was of the Teenage Mutant variety, highly unlikely to be a ninja. So I asked him twice to remove the mask, he refused. Then I figured the best defence was attack, and I still stand by that decision.

Two of KK’s friends who were present decided that the show must go on and jumped onstage to restrain him.

– Which brings me to another issue conveniently omitted from the narrative these cretins are pedalling. In the ‘official’ version of events, they quite happily dispersed to the whole fuckin’ world that ‘some girl’ suddenly appeared and stopped me from beating this fool. This lady is an Asian mate of mine since sixteen years back but of course that fucks with their agenda, does it not? So it’s conveniently left out of the reports – the nasty racist can’t be shown to have non-white friends.

Did you find out which category the masked man belonged to?

– As it turns out, this clown was no left-wing extremist at all; just an idiot who thought it would be cool to wear a mask to a show. I believe the common term for such types is twat.

MetalSucks – July 12, 2016

Things escalated when American blog MetalSucks posted their July 12 article Deströyer 666: Officially Racist D-Bags. While the Metal Magic incident was used as a segue, most of the facts used to substantiate this claim were two decades old and have been general knowledge for approximately the same amount of time. KK had just arrived in New York to kick off a US tour when it was published.

– I reacted with mild surprise and laughter, followed by indifference. Then I read the comments and felt a genuine sense of pride and connection with our fans.

So, is DESTRÖYER 666 a racist band?

– Jesus fucking Christ, that’s so fuckin’ old by now. Another example of a word thrown around so often it’s lost all meaning. This should be blatantly obvious to anyone that’s read our lyrics, including the ones written by Jaded Lungs – the woman alluded to a moment ago.

That would be Melissa, from ADORIOR.

– Yes. She’s contributed to three DESTRÖYER releases, including the first song on the last album “Wildfire”. She’s an incredible lyricist and I recommend people to check out her own band for evidence of this bold claim. Anyway; read every fucking lyric I’ve ever written and you’ll find that all of them are anti-politics if anything, period. I have no faith in either political extremes, or politics in general.

KK is infinitely sick and tired of what he describes as people from both sides of the political divide appropriating his lyrics for their own ends.

– One day the extreme right calls me nasty names, the next their counterparts are hurling political insults. It leads me to believe I must be doing something right, if two camps of fools manage to get so agitated.

As an example of his boundless tolerance, he refers to 2002 EP “…of Wolves, Women & War”.

– People do realise, don’t they – that we have cover artwork featuring a werewolf sodomising what appears to be Kylie Minogue? Now, I have yet to read Mein Kampf myself but I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that nowhere in this hefty tome does Adolf endorse the act of lycanthropic buggery. I’d go so far as to say he would’ve burned the records in a bonfire and then had me shot. Perhaps I’m wrong and if someone would care to enlighten me, I’ll gladly retract this statement.

MetalSucks – July 12, 2016

– A man sings about wolves for 25 years and then gets the Wolfsangel tattooed, stop the fucking presses. Work it out for yourselves, fuckin’ imbeciles! I honestly can’t lower myself to answer this in further detail; it’s so self-evident as to be a complete non-event. If some Nazi used it somewhere in history then really, I don’t give a shit. Neither the left nor the right have copyright on symbols which predate either ideology; runes are part of my cultural heritage, as is the wolf.

MetalSucks – July 12, 2016

– What a fuckin’ joke. I challenge anyone to find a single phrase on that album (“Through the Looking Glass”, 1997) that denigrates any race. These fools should make some inquiries themselves instead of just citing other unresearched articles, but I suppose that would just be a bridge too far.

This RAVEN’S WING exposé wasn’t exactly a scoop – it’s even listed on Metal-Archives. KK notes that it’s flared up a number of times over the past 19 years, but usually settles down once people actually check the record out.

– It can’t be that hard to do a little research on a subject before protesting it. Had they invested near as much time in real research as they do writing retarded blogs and regurgitating outrage on social media, they would have already known this. Social media, blogs and the like bring out the fuckin’ worst in people – actually, I’d say it magnifies people’s most disgusting traits. They’ve become emotional click-monkeys who, quite literally, feel an uncontrollable compulsion to publicise every self-serving emotion they have.

KK says that he wouldn’t have been part of an album featuring lyrics that belittle other races.

– That’s just not in my nature – I respect all ethnicities, my own included. I believe that all peoples deserve respect and access to live as they wish in their own homelands – without outside influence or coercion.

As for the actual music, KK says that he wrote one song and played on two tracks.

– I penned none of the lyrics but I actually think they’re really good. For my part, I’d always wanted to write a song celebrating the life and times of Ned Kelly (legendary Australian outlaw), and that’s the song on the album called “An Outlaw’s Life”.

Most of the trouble stems from the project’s inclusion of two prominent musicians from the Australian skinhead scene.

– Again, read the lyrics. Roky Erickson played in a band with paedophiles and axe murderers, where’s his fucking trial?

MetalSucks – July 12, 2016

– Keep in mind that there were four people playing on that record, that wasn’t my contribution – I think someone thanked their mum too, also none of my business.

MetalSucks – July 15, 2016

It’s interesting to note that in a July 15 article, MetalSucks casually mention KK as having ‘ties to the National Socialist Movement’ without further explanation. As such, this chain of guilt by association is built upon him playing on a 19 year old album with a booklet featuring a thanklist that mentions an individual who ten years later would be invited to play for said organisation. That’s like saying that KK Downing (ex-JUDAS PRIEST) has ties to organised paedophilia through his collaboration with pederast percussionist Dave Holland (ex-JUDAS PRIEST) in the eighties.

– Also featured in this thankslist were ex-cons, murderers, porn whores and lesbian junkies – but they’re not on the radar, are they, so not a mention to be heard. Fear not though, I’m convinced that now that this is out in the open, some on the right end of the spectrum will already sit poised at the keyboard with trigger-happy fingers, eager to spread the word about my degeneracy.

MetalSucks – July 12, 2016

– I also wrote a song called “Ghost Dance” about an incident in American history, which I could say was about the spirit of the Native American. You notice how we’ve been trained like Pavlov’s dog to react to trigger words. There’s only one way, or more accurately, merely one political perspective where that statement could be construed as me being ‘ racist’; a position from what we can call the radical and extreme left. Really, do people even know what the word means?

Let’s look at the Merriam-Webster definition of the word ‘racism’.

: poor treatment of or violence against people because of their race

: the belief that some races of people are better than others

– The statement in question falls into neither of these categories. If you believe that all Europeans are by heritage ‘evil’ and must atone eternally for the sins of our fathers – then yes, I can see how this would annoy you. You may even out of desperation and strong desire to signal your piety call it ‘racist’, no matter how incorrect.

KK says that he refuses to atone for any transgressions by his forefathers.

– Fuck them and the boat they sailed in on. We’re born into a burden of guilt because of the colour of our skin. What they are in fact saying is that we are to be judged by our ancestry and heritage – that we are to be judged by the colour of our skin. ‘Poor treatment’ perhaps? It’s not too far of a stretch to say that this stance falls into a certain dictionary definition.

KK says that he can unequivocally state that he doesn’t agree with degrading any race or ethnicity.

– Religion on the other hand? Yep … philosophy – certainly, and needless to say; ideology. But shaming someone for something they can’t possibly have influenced one way or another? No, definitely not. I stand firm in that conviction, it was my belief back then as it is now. I will add, although I’m not racist – I’m extremely fucking prejudiced against fools.

Invisible Oranges – July 14, 2016

Before calling KK to account for this, I thought we’d hear from Blair Hopkins – the writer who authored the much-debated article Destroyer 666 Live at St. Vitus, featured by Invisible Oranges. First of all, I’m curious if she maintains that KK called an attendee ‘chink’. I’ve been unable to find any sources besides her article supporting this – all other witness testimony I’ve come across claims he said ‘good looking chick’. This conversation took place over email on July 26.

– Between the volume of the event and Warslut‘s accent, says Blair Hopkins, it is possible I misheard that statement. I’m glad people have come forward with their own recollections, as accuracy is important to me personally and to the editorial staff at IO. The article was adjusted to reflect the conflicting reports of what he said as soon as the other reports emerged.

I can’t seem to find this adjustment in the article, could you please let me know where it is?

– Hm. she replies a while later, I’ll remind them to fix that today. Thank you.

50 minutes later, I hear from Joseph Schafer who is the Features Editor at Invisible Oranges.

– I want to make one correction: we have not edited Blair‘s article to note that there is some debate over her quote. This is because we have reason to believe that there are audio or visual recordings of the show which have yet to be released and may put that misunderstanding to rest. We will not take action until said footage sees the light of day.

Back to Blair:

– I did not mishear the crowd member’s statement calling for ‘more white women’, nor did I mishear Warslut‘s reply.

Many have pointed out that a big part of the audience were of non-European descent, with DESTRÖYER 666 enjoying a large Latino following in United States.

Did you notice this?

– I’m not sure how to answer this. The phrasing of the question immediately brings to mind the quintessential defensive cry of ‘but I have black friends!’ employed by people confronted with their problematic behaviour.

Isn’t this perhaps something that might have been pertinent to mention in the article?

– No, I don’t think it’s especially pertinent. My assignment was not to confirm or dispel the rumours of Warslut‘s attitudes toward minorities. My assignment was to review a concert and recount my experience, which is what I did.

Blair says that it’s her responsibility to respect the art form in its context by presenting the facts at hand.

– Passing them on with as much accuracy as possible and without overt judgement or agenda, and interpretation is the responsibility of the reader. It is, in turn, the responsibility of the performer to accept discussion, praise and criticism of their art based on the interpretations of said readership.

She explains that she has no vested interest in whether or not KK Warslut is in fact a racist.

– I am fully aware that acts like his have a schtick that often involves challenging the boundaries of social propriety. What I can say with certainty, though, is that he has acted like a whiny, childish bully in the wake of his recent critical coverage, lobbing intellectually lazy insults at me and directing violent social media tantrums at anyone he perceives as challenging him.

She is particularly displeased with the way KK chose to deal with the MetalSucks editors.

– Disgusting and reprehensible, she continues, I hope they seek legal action. If Warslut is going to continue to have a controversial or outrageous stage show, it might behoove him to also acquire the courage of his convictions and accept gracefully that people will have mixed reactions to it.

Hopkins also feels that the purely musical part of her review has been overlooked.

– What’s been lost in all Warslut‘s chest-pounding is that I actually gave him a pretty positive review, musically and performance-wise. I’m honestly not sure what it is exactly he’s so upset about, beyond some contention about whether he said ‘chick’ or ‘chink’ to the Asian kid in the front. I believe my writing to have been unbiased and more than fair to DESTRÖYER 666.

–

Now for KK’s side of the story.

– Yep, he says, more fucking bullshit. Much of her review was her letting folks know how excruciatingly alluring she is to drunks, and the other part about how the show was too rowdy for her.

Dramatic pause.

– At a metal concert! I’ll leave that one to linger a bit, much like a stale fart.

She points out that she gave DESTRÖYER 666 a ‘pretty positive review, musically and performance-wise’.

– Certain parts were, yeah – but that’s akin to sayin’: ‘the defendant was dressed immaculately in an Armani sports jacket with matching pinstripe pants and Magnanni alligator leather shoes. He looked magnificent as he plead guilty to 160 counts of paedophilia, and proceeded to advise the oriental judge that yer honour was pretty good lookin’ for a chink’.

So what is this ‘chink’ business about?

– A fella upfront yells, ‘we love you KK’ whereupon I replied ‘damn, if only you were a good lookin’ chick’, or something to that effect. That was it. She was corrected on this in the comment section below her brilliant journalism and did she edit, amend or retract? No siree. As for lacking the courage of my convictions? My conviction is this; if you fuck me for no good reason, I’ll fuck you back twice as hard.

On July 15, MetalSucks posted another article – Deströyer 666 Frontman K.K. Warslut Digs in on Racist Comments at NYC Show. The new allegations were based entirely on the Invisible Oranges story and features a quote from one of the article’s comments:

‘IO commenter Stellavore made the following observation underneath the article: “They have more to lose by apologizing or denying anything than they do just saying ‘bullshit’ and giving everyone the finger.”’

Interestingly, the same user had posted another comment a few hours earlier than the quoted one and this remark went by unreported:

Comment at Invisible Oranges – July 14, 2016

KK has been condemned for his use of ‘sexist’, ‘misogynistic‘ and ‘homophobic’ slurs in his enticement of the New York audience.

– The whole atmosphere at the show, as far as I gathered from talking to attendees, was one of disgust and embarrassment about what happened in Denmark and the reaction from metalheads over there. No thin-skinned lady-boys here they said; ‘bring it on motherfucker’ was more their attitude – hence my jocular banter with the crowd. And she did correctly point out that they were vocal with their support.

Which brings us to the request for additional Caucasian females.

– It couldn’t have been that, amongst all the cheering and yelling, I might not hear every single thing cried out in a crowded room full of raging metallers? My ‘that’s the spirit’ remark was in response to the noise in general.

You have no understanding as to why people might take offense from terms like ‘faggot’?

– It’s colloquial language to denote someone of piss-weak character. It shouldn’t need to be explained – don’t like it, don’t be there.

A few English bands have since ‘called out’ KK for his opinions and vocabulary, publically condemning him.

– It’s something I really can’t wrap my head around these days … there’s a million and one bands that I personally don’t care for. That said, I’d never dream of going to their websites to simply get exasperated and then voice my grievances. I never partook in a CRADLE OF FILTH or DIMMU BORGIR concert just to see what new fag-dangled outfit they were wearing. I saw it once, knew it wasn’t for me – and that was it. Yet folks today keep comin’ back to our pages to declare their indignation.

Unable to comprehend the logic behind this, he suggests that all offended parties simply refrain from exposing themselves to DESTRÖYER 666.

– Most of these whiners don’t even like the band in the first place, yet they make a point of mentioning it. Trolls are truly sad individuals, and no better are these social justice clickheads who waste their days patrolling the internet like mentally handicapped sharks lookin’ for the faintest scent of blood, to be recognised for ‘making a stand’. I just do not get it myself, life’s too short.

More than anything, KK is angry that his personal safety was compromised, especially given that he was on tour in the US at the time.

– To publicly air such erroneous accusations in the racially charged America of late is playing the mainstream media’s game of race-baiting. It’s askin’ for trouble – and they knew this. They were prepared to put lives at risk to make their sites seem more relevant and garner clicks to earn more advertising revenue.

This is when things get serious.

– That first article, I was prepared to just laugh it off. Then the second came, followed by the one based on Blair Hopkins’ propaganda piece. Let’s call it what it was – a concerted character assassination plot. You notice how they reference each other? ‘I’ll cite your article to add credibility to my own agenda, then you can reference mine’ – and they wonder why I have nothing but contempt for them.

Once KK started receiving death threats, he decided they’d gone too far.

– They put my life in danger. Once that point’s been reached, there is no return to be had – all bets are off and recourse to stern digital responses is no longer an option.

After the Los Angeles conclusion of their US tour, KK posted a lengthy statement about the situation featuring strong words about the MetalSucks editors. He also posted their real names and personal information – shortly thereafter; the blog deleted their articles and posted an apology.

– I informed them that since I was now receiving death threats it had become personal. I let them know that they had printed lies and innuendoes about me, and by proxy advertised my exact locations for the next five days by way of the shows in America I was about to play. They did all this in perhaps the most racially volatile period in recent US history. I informed them in no uncertain terms that along with their lies, their whereabouts had also been made public from our side. I let them know they had set the rules of the game.

Other objections have implied that KK is himself engaged in censorship and going after people for merely having an opinion.

– I doubt there’s all that many who’d agree they were merely voicing an honest ‘opinion’. Misinformed, poorly researched opinions you can talk about with friends, or post on ya’ Facebook pages. Let’s be clear here; there’s a ranking of social pariahs today – paedophile, racist and rapist. Only one of them seems to require no evidence to be levelled at someone, casting them into the often irrevocable social stigmata of being exposed as a hateful bigot.

He takes an example:

– If I publicise an ‘opinion’ that ‘Vince Neilstein’ (MetalSucks) is a kiddy-fiddler, this ceases to be an opinion – it’s an accusation. Try as he might, even if he refutes it successfully it will stick to him like shit to a pig’s arse for the rest of his life. Thus, I’d never profess in the public sphere to know such things. It’s disgusting and can affect people’s lives in dramatic ways.

KK has his doubts that this is the last time he’ll be dealing with these matters.

– Mate, we’ve been coppin’ this shit for twenty plus years. Through wars, recessions, environmental disasters, climate change and now terrorist attacks; still it manages to retain paramount importance to some people. I think history will laugh at these pointless digital witch-hunts. Or maybe they’ll pity a people that wasted so much of their lives obsessing over words on an electronic screen.

He mentions instructing their booking agent that any festivals or shows cancelling over this were to be promptly advised to ‘go fuck themselves’.

– Ultimately, even those that considered cancelling decided not to once they read the online post with my take on the matter and the subsequent apology. It’s getting near-impossible for these oracles of moral outrage to convince folks that the danger is where they say it is – at the same time someone’s mowing down 80 folks in a truck elsewhere.

Speaking of which; after the Nice terror attack on July 14, KK shared his thoughts on the DESTRÖYER 666 Facebook page – only to take the post down again a day or so later.

– It was an hung over attempt to shed some fuckin’ perspective on the issue. One; hey kids – there’s bigger things goin’ on right now and two – yes, the current European response to being butchered makes me me wanna vomit. Nothing at all do with those personally effected, but rather the organised response we see on the news; flowers and placards and meaningless vows of solidarity.

KK hopes that things like this will help forge an entirely new underground.

– Something like the Silk Road of metal; a new underground scene completely free of outside legislation. It would take new bookers with balls, new magazines – it would require enterprising and daring individuals to start everything anew. I believe I’ve met enough people to convince me that there’s folks out there with the energy and conviction to make it a reality. Hell, it may even become a necessity.

He says it must be made very clear that these media watchdog-types are neither tolerated nor invited.

– Because they’re not wanted, nor are their reviews and ‘coverage’ – I’d be happy with none of their support whatsoever. It comes with too many conditions and compromises, which only the most banal and harmless of bands with nothing at all to say can comply with.

According to his own calculations, he estimates that approximately 90 to 95 percent of the comments posted on these articles contained harsh criticism.

– That must have been hard for them to wake up the next morning, expecting their dopamine-hit of Likes and ‘you go get ‘em tiger’, only to find instead hundreds and hundreds of folks saying ‘eat shit and die you lying scum’.

More than anything, he says the greatest gift has been the new-found bond with their fans – one built on a great admiration and mutual respect.

– To see first-hand that DESTRÖYER fans didn’t fall for this bullshit one bit, that they came out and publicly spoke out against this pathetic slander. I can only offer my deepest gratitude for their support. The wolfpack is strengthened by shared experiences and while this was primarily directed at me, it was also an attack on our fans – one we fought back, shoulder to shoulder. It’s heartening to know that folks actually understand where I’m coming from with the lyrics, that they understand and are prepared to say to these clowns as one, ‘fuck you!’ Forever defiant.