Venue Shuts Down Black Metal Show With Strong Neo-Nazi Ties

The owners of Harpos Concert Theatre have issued a lengthy statement in response to a Jan. 25 show at their venue, which was shut down part-way through the night once police arrived due to online threats made. The concert featured bands that have prominent ties to neo-Nazis, antisemitism and racism.

A fire marshall has also released a statement, recapping two dozen violations found at the concert venue while the show was happening, including “padlocked doors” and “blocked exits.”

More details about the concert, the band who were booked to play, the fire marshall’s response as well as the statement from the venue owners, one of whom is a Black woman (Krystle Dzajkovska).

About the Show

An event promoter had booked the concert, which featured Grand Belial’s Key, Crucifier, Blue Hummingbird on the Left, Nexul, Perversion, Genocidal Rites and Lurid, only informing the venue that it was a black metal festival called A Night of Black Metal and Carnage.

The promoter requested that the venue do nothing to promote the show, which the owners acknowledge was their own shortcoming as they did not look further into the details and put their trust in this person who was booking at Harpos for the first time.

At the bottom of the flyer, text reads, “Venue to be announced to ticket holders only” and that it would be taking place in the “Detroit area.”

The general secrecy and limited details of the event are in large part due to the controversial nature of many of the bands involved. Ticket holders are said to have been informed about the location just one hour prior to its scheduled start.

The Detroit Free Press reports that police arrived on scene upon hearing of “threats made to that location.” Venue co-owner Ruzvelt Stevanovski, however, was the one to shut down the show during the second performing band’s set. “As soon as I found out, I walked onstage and said: ‘We’re shutting down. Kill the sound,’” Stevanovski told the aforementioned news outlet.

Band Associations With Racism, Etc.

Below, we detail the connections of various bands from the canceled show to racism, Nazi ideologies, white supremacy and/or antisemitism.

Grand Belial’s key were founded in 1992 in Virginia.

The band espouses antisemitic, anti-Christian and otherwise blasphemous viewpoints throughout their lyrics, song/album titles and visual imagery. The band also features three members of Arghoslent, whose outwardly racist declarations are obvious on albums titled Incorrigible Bigotry and Hornets of the Pogrom.

A pogrom, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “an organized massacre of helpless people” and “specifically: such a massacre of Jews.”

One of the guitarists in both bands, as well as the aforementioned Crucifier, (Alexander Halac, who operates under the aliases Gelal, Gelal Necrosodomy and Pogrom) is also a member of Absurd, a long-running German band with National Socialist ties, albeit no longer operating with its original members.

Halac is a founding member of both Grand Belial’s Key and Arghoslent, the latter of which has also covered songs by Chaos 88, a Nazi punk band. The guitarist joined Crucifier in 2023.

In a 2004 interview, Halac had this to say when asked about Grand Belial’s Key’s lyrical themes changing from mystical/occult to ones that “advocate for the destruction of the Judeo-Christian religion”:

The terrorist retaliation for United State-Israeli political fornication was in no way, form or shape a catalyst for our extreme prejudice towards Judeo-Christian society. Our mindless anger was sparked a long time ago. I will say this however: all those f–gots who oppose Christianity and claim to be part of so-called black metal world but feel offended when G.B.K ridicules and desecrates Judaism can fuck off! For any metal hippie bastard to think that one is not the root of the other and deserves an even worse attack is a fucking ignorant and pacifist homosexual slave!!! Complete denial of Islam goes without saying; there is no need to write about that filthy religion, as it hasn’t infiltrated Europeans in the same degree as the kosherbeast has. Don’t assume Muslims haven’t been taken into consideration. France in particular is ridden with their physical and ideological filth.

The aforementioned interview includes a photo of the band’s members in front of a wall with writing that reads, “White racist and proud!”

Halac has numerous other associations with record labels and bands with National Socialist, antisemitic and racist views.

Nexul were formed in 2011 in El Paso, Texas.

Two of its members (Xaosforos and Lux Vexiller, known only as Mike and Josh, respectively) are also in Nyogthaeblisz. Xaosforos is an original member of the group while Lux Vexiller joined in 2022.

Nyogthaeblisz have released outwardly antisemitic material,such as a song titled “A Bewitched Outbreak of Chemical Pestilence Quells the Subhuman Race.” This song is featured on a compilation titled Satanic Skinhead: A Declaration of Anti-Semetic Terror, which was released through Satanic Skinhead Propaganda in 2006.

READ MORE: 10 One-Woman Black Metal Bands You Need to Know

Statement From Fire Marshall

Detroit Fire Department Fire Marshall Don Thomas detailed the violations discovered during the concert (via Lambgoat):

Upon arrival at the business in question, the fire marshal division noted multiple egregious life and fire safety violations, including padlocked doors, blocked exits, and no emergency lighting. This is unacceptable. A total of 24 violations were written by the Detroit Fire Department.

Statement From Harpos Concert Theatre

In a statement posted on Jan. 28, co-owners Ruzvelt Stevanovski and Krystle Dzajkovska (who took over Harpos in 2017), reflected on their mistakes throughout the booking process, lamenting what happened while expressing shock that a concert with associations such as this one were even actively being pursued.

Read the entire statement below.

On Saturday January 25th, there was an event held at Harpos Concert Theatre that needs to be addressed publicly. The community has demanded answers, which is rightfully deserved, to which we intended on providing. Starting off, I would like to issue our deepest apologies to the community on behalf of myself (Krystle Dzajkovska), Ruzvelt Stevanovski, and Harpos Concert Theatre. While the events on January 25th do not reflect our values, or that of our community, we are truly sorry and are holding ourselves and others involved accountable. We at Harpos are deeply committed to fostering an environment of inclusivity, respect, and equality for all. We want to unequivocally state racism has no place in our business or community, and we stand against all forms of racism.

We were not given certain information during the process of booking this event that could have prevented this from happening. After reflection on our end, we realize that although we should have asked for more and done more research, we feel that by design, they deliberately failed to provide such information. We feel manipulated throughout the entire process and will continue to address where we need to improve.

For the event held on Saturday January 25th, we were not made aware ahead of time that some of the bands were in any association with Nazi/Neo Nazi, White Supremacy, and/or Nationalist Socialist black metal. If I were made aware of this ahead of time, this event would have never happened. This was the first time this event organizer has done an event at our venue. In the process of the event organizer booking this event with Harpos, this information was never given. It was communicated that it was just a Black Metal Festival, which Harpos has had many in the past.

As far as the event location being hidden. It was not Harpos’ that kept the location of the event from the public. This was per the request of the event organizer explaining that this is the way he does his metal shows; he sells tickets for the event and the location is only disclosed to the ticket holders the day of the event. I did not assume that the reason for this was due to the nature of the band(s). The event organizer also stated for us not to promote on our website, Facebook, or Instagram, and that he would handle his own promotion for the event so that the location wouldn’t be disclosed. This was not our decision. This is also the explanation as to why we were not aware of the circulating hate driven flyers with the red markings clearly indicating the nature, which was different from the original flyer. We were not tagged in those original posts.

On January 25th, the day of the event, before the event started, we were still not aware. Once the event started, that’s when we became aware of the nature of the bands from an internet post and calls. Once we were made aware of the situation, the event was shut down immediately. At this time the second band was performing and there were 5 remaining. The event did not continue. Also, Harpos did not call law enforcement to the venue, the police officers came to the venue on their own due to the threats made online, which we were unaware of.

Although this event was not booked by Harpos and was booked by an outside event organizer, I am still the owner of the venue and I take full responsibility and accountability for not doing my due diligence. I foolishly did not follow up as intensely as I should have. This is not who we are or what we represent. As a Black venue owner, I fully understand that hate and racism comes in all forms and skin tones. However, my race/ethnicity is no defense or excuse for my ignorance of not knowing. Since we took ownership in 2017, I have always been devoted to promoting inclusion of all nationalities at Harpos and would never intentionally jeopardize the trust that I’ve earned with the community. I intend on doing everything I can to gain back that trust. Harpos has a rich history and I now realize I need to do more to address concerns about vetting bands and doing more research. I have an immense amount of improvement to do and I need to do better for the sake of my business and my community.

The outrage and anger is completely understood and shows that there is still some humanity left in this world and that there are still individuals out there that will stand up against what is wrong and hateful.

Hate and racism is not something that I or Harpos stand for, encourage, or promote and I would never knowingly or intentionally hold this type of event at my venue with the risk of losing the support of my community and my venue. This is not who we are, this is not what we represent.
We truly thank all our loyal patrons over the years and all the memories we share. We look forward to making more for years to come.

Sincerely,

Ruzvelt Stevanovski and Krystle Dzajkovska
Owners Harpos Concert Theatre