In a currently developing story, a Sydney based religious group on Facebook has seemingly successfully protested against the running of a Black metal mini-festival at Sydney venue Newtown RSL. It is understood that the venue as pulled out from the event, and the promoter, Séance Records, has currently postponed the event until another date/venue can be found.

The protesting Facebook group has the following statement as their description, on a profile that has limited public content available to non-members.

“This coming Sat 27th November a satanic “Black Mass” celebration is to occur at Newtown RSL – it is simply disgraceful. The advertising which features the insignia of the Church of Satan and an inverted crucifix is encouraging people to come and partake in an “unholy spell to be cast upon the city of Sydney” featuring the “ultimate of soul possessing occult revelations…unbridled blasphemy… [and] a union of all things unholy”. (Link)

Promoter, Séance Records, has subsequently announced the postponement of the event until another date/venue can be found. They commented in a press released posted on Brisbane based metal forums Brismetal (link)…

“Less than two weeks out from the show The RSL board has pulled the plug on Black Mass Festival. They have blatantly cancelled with no prior notice and with no option of negotiation or compromise. They have sadly bowed under pressure from Christians who have lobbied them to cancel the show. The Christians have launched the full scale of their campaign at the last minute, I believe in a calculated manner to sabotage us to the fullest extent possible. They have done so via a series of facebook pages organized to have the event cancelled. From their website we can tell that these are the same people who lobby against gay & lesbian rights, womens reproductive rights & contraception. Their actions will cause large scale hurt not to a secret den of Satanists as they may imagine but to normal hard working, tax paying, law abiding Australians. Young people who have taken time off work, rearranged their schedules and family life, then spent money that they probably can’t afford on flights and tickets to the event in the pursuit of a shared love for heavy metal & live independent Australian music.“

Meanwhile, quite a lively discussion has popped up on a rival Facebook group – “AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS PROTESTING AGAINST “BLACK MASS” MUSIC FESTIVAL” (link) – with both level headed advice and passionate arguements both for and against being offered in regards to the topic.

As a supporter of Australian heavy metal in all its guises, MO would like to reaffirm its support to the event organisers, and wishes them luck in successfully resheduling the event in the near future.