VIDEO God Dethroned – banned in Oradea by a Liberal city councilor on grounds of "Satanism"

A premiere in Romania: authorities in Oradea (West Romania) banned a concert of rock band God Dethroned, accusing the band of Satanism. The initiative belongs to local Liberal city councilor Dan Octavian (PNL), who announced the concert scheduled for Sunday, July 5, in Club Blue Monday, was canceled. The politician motivated his decision by saying it came from his „Christian orthodox citizen of Oradea county status”, according to Bihoreanul.ro.

„This cancellation is a premiere in Romania, bearing in mind that no other was show has been cancelled on these grounds by Romanian authorities in the last 20 years”, www.metalhead.ro reps said. Liberal Dan Octavian’s gesture came as a surprise for God Dethroned as well: the band has never once been censored in its almost 20 years’ history.

God Dethroned is one of the most influential rock bands on the Netherlands’s music scene, having launched 8 albums over 20 years through prestigious record label Metal Blade and playing their music worldwide. The band is currently promoting their last album, „Passiondale”, in the Balkans, in a tour that lists Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Hungary and Romania.

According to Mihai „Coro” Caraveteanu, the band’s promoter in Romania, the liberal paid the venue a visit, declaring he will not allow a Satanist concert to take place and mentioning animal sacrifice during the show. „It is ridiculous”, he said. „We believe that this shallow way of putting the issue across resembles a decision taken by a party secretary. God Dethroned is disappointed that it cannot hold a concert in a member of the European Union , where there is an authorised distributor of the band’s albums, because of someone’s overrated pride who abuses his public role to cancel, on whim, cultural and artistic events”, the promoter said.

Liberal Dan Octavian denied the local Council had anything to do with it and declared that his actions were of a „Christian orthodox citizen of Oradea county”. He said that there have been several posters featuring „Satan black rock” in the city and that he was informed that the band not only promotes black rock, but it is also affiliated to a Satanist organisation and accts accordingly.

The organisers decided to invite Oradea concert ticket holders to join God Dethroned in Bucharest on July 3 or in Debrecen, 60 km from Oradea, on Saturday.