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My "what's the deal with Dominick Fernow's fashy friends" question is picking up steam again, so here's a new chapter about his friends in the band AKITSA.
cw: racists, nazis, fascists, ranting, raving
A FRESH THREAD …
1/ https://twitter.com/CosmicChambo/status/1347918194934226944
cw: racists, nazis, fascists, ranting, raving
A FRESH THREAD …
1/ https://twitter.com/CosmicChambo/status/1347918194934226944
So far the only pushback I've gotten over Fernow's connections to fashy artists has been on the band Akitsa. Akitsa is a black metal band from Montreal, and an example of why it's often a waste of time asking artists about obvious connections.
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It's the same mistake that news media outlets make when giving airtime to far right activists:
-We know what fascists think
-We know they're operating in bad faith
-You don't have to interview them
A good thread from @socialistdogmom about that:
https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1349929868121812993?s=20
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-We know what fascists think
-We know they're operating in bad faith
-You don't have to interview them
A good thread from @socialistdogmom about that:
https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1349929868121812993?s=20
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The pushback comes in part from a 2015 Noisey interview with Akitsa founder OT, aka Pierre-Marc Tremblay. The headline announces that he's "Squashing NSBM* Rumors."
Very Reassuring!
*NSBM = National Socialist Black Metal
4/ https://www.vice.com/en/article/65z348/akitsa-grands-tyrans-interview-black-metal
Very Reassuring!
*NSBM = National Socialist Black Metal
4/ https://www.vice.com/en/article/65z348/akitsa-grands-tyrans-interview-black-metal
Akitsa is probably(?) not actually capital N nazis.
But this is where gaslighting and the right wing corruption of identity politics begins. It's a problem of terminology, and a distraction from the real question of "why do you platform extreme right wing/fascist ideology?"
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But this is where gaslighting and the right wing corruption of identity politics begins. It's a problem of terminology, and a distraction from the real question of "why do you platform extreme right wing/fascist ideology?"
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"Are you a Nazi" starts a game of distinguishing between assholes, edgelords, classic National Socialists, occult Italo-fascists, Pan-European Satanists, genocidal anti-communists, identitarian eco-fascists, pagan white supremacists, et al.
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Akitsa showed up on my radar in an August 2020 @stereogum review of the funeral doom band Atramentus ...
7/ https://www.stereogum.com/2096545/the-month-in-metal-august-2020/columns/the-black-market/
7/ https://www.stereogum.com/2096545/the-month-in-metal-august-2020/columns/the-black-market/
The writer offers a parenthetical ("heads up") that Atramentus' drummer "also plays live" in Akitsa, and that Akitsa "has sketchy connections."
Each of the words is a link. This means it's up to the reader to figure out what "sketchy" means.
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Each of the words is a link. This means it's up to the reader to figure out what "sketchy" means.
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If anyone clicks-thru – that's maybe as likely as skipping to the endnotes in a book you're casually thumbing through – it's not immediately clear what they're looking at on the other end.
Unless they're deep into underground metal.
Let me help clarify.
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Unless they're deep into underground metal.
Let me help clarify.
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"has" points to Encyclopedia Metallum, and a 2004 Akitsa split with Satanic Warmaster.
There's a lot of online chatter about whether or not Satanic Warmaster is fash. Unresolved "inside metal" debate as to whether you're pro-Hitler is a red flag.
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https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Akitsa/Akitsa_-_Satanic_Warmaster/50368
There's a lot of online chatter about whether or not Satanic Warmaster is fash. Unresolved "inside metal" debate as to whether you're pro-Hitler is a red flag.
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https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Akitsa/Akitsa_-_Satanic_Warmaster/50368
Satanic Warmaster also raises the puzzling existential question of "if your band is on a compilation called Declaration of Anti-Semetic [sic] Terror, are you anti-semitic?"
11/ https://www.discogs.com/Various-Satanic-Skinhead-Declaration-Of-Anti-Semetic-Terror/release/1110349
11/ https://www.discogs.com/Various-Satanic-Skinhead-Declaration-Of-Anti-Semetic-Terror/release/1110349
As for the [sic], it's worth noting this bit of Discogs trivia if there's any question of intent:
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![As for the [sic], it's worth noting this bit of Discogs trivia if there's any question of intent: 12/](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsmeA2oXIAcFHcD.png "As for the [sic], it's worth noting this bit of Discogs trivia if there's any question of intent: 12/")
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Another possible red flag is if the longest part of your Wikipedia page is an *inconclusive* section called "Ideology" about whether or not you're a nazi.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_Warmaster
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_Warmaster
back to stereogum:
"sketchy" points to Metallum and Akitsa's split with THE SHADOW ORDER. At first glance nothing seems bad, but their profile lists lyrical themes including:
War, Nationalism, Pride, and … National Socialism!
Done. An easy one.
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https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/The_Shadow_Order/7539
"sketchy" points to Metallum and Akitsa's split with THE SHADOW ORDER. At first glance nothing seems bad, but their profile lists lyrical themes including:
War, Nationalism, Pride, and … National Socialism!
Done. An easy one.
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https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/The_Shadow_Order/7539
"connections" points to a discogs page for EIGHT ACTS OF ORIGIN, a 2008 comp overloaded with white supremacist codes and featuring open Nazis like Gaszimmer.
Akitsa's the first band on Side 88. Dominick Fernow's band ASH POOL closes Side 88.
15/ https://www.discogs.com/Various-Eight-Acts-Of-Origin/release/1609853
Akitsa's the first band on Side 88. Dominick Fernow's band ASH POOL closes Side 88.
15/ https://www.discogs.com/Various-Eight-Acts-Of-Origin/release/1609853
Stereogum's half-hearted hyperlinked reference to "sketchy connections" could be rephrased as "Atramentus' drummer also plays guitar in Akitsa, a band that has several connections to overt Nazis."
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Is Atramentus cool? I don't know. Probably?
FWIW Phil from Atramentus wrote to me when this first came up to reassure me that they're "openly anti-fascist."
He seemed sincere. But he also offered an unsolicited defense of Akitsa dude OT. Who seems ... not antifascist?
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FWIW Phil from Atramentus wrote to me when this first came up to reassure me that they're "openly anti-fascist."
He seemed sincere. But he also offered an unsolicited defense of Akitsa dude OT. Who seems ... not antifascist?
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So let's consider Akitsa dude OT's boutique underground metal label, Tour de Garde.
https://www.metal-archives.com/labels/Tour_de_Garde/251
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https://www.metal-archives.com/labels/Tour_de_Garde/251
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A glance through Tour de Garde's roster includes a host of outspoken right-wing/neo-nazi/fascist bands including
Peste Noire (2009)
Baise Ma Hache (2014)
Satanic Warmaster (2015)
Krüel Kömmando (2017)
Pagan Hellfire (2020)
Do your own research, but be warned: It's overt.
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Peste Noire (2009)
Baise Ma Hache (2014)
Satanic Warmaster (2015)
Krüel Kömmando (2017)
Pagan Hellfire (2020)
Do your own research, but be warned: It's overt.
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And that's my point:
If I can see that these bands are openly fascist WHILE DOING CASUAL RESEARCH FOR A COMMUNITY RADIO SHOW it's hard to imagine that OT is not seeing the same thing while working with them on releases for his tiny underground label?
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If I can see that these bands are openly fascist WHILE DOING CASUAL RESEARCH FOR A COMMUNITY RADIO SHOW it's hard to imagine that OT is not seeing the same thing while working with them on releases for his tiny underground label?
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Online makes it a lot more difficult to claim plausible deniability.
It's actually helpful when a site like Encyclopedia Metallum lets these ... [checks notes] ... 745 nazi bands hang around.
https://www.metal-archives.com/search?searchString=national+socialism&type=band_themes
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![Online makes it a lot more difficult to claim plausible deniability. It's actually helpful when a site like Encyclopedia Metallum lets these ... [checks notes] ... 745 nazi bands hang around. https://www.metal-archives.com/search?searchString=national+socialism&type=band_themes21/](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsmmrHxW8AUVLlG.png "Online makes it a lot more difficult to claim plausible deniability. It's actually helpful when a site like Encyclopedia Metallum lets these ... [checks notes] ... 745 nazi bands hang around. https://www.metal-archives.com/search?searchString=national+socialism&type=band_themes21/")
It's actually helpful when a site like Encyclopedia Metallum lets these ... [checks notes] ... 745 nazi bands hang around.
https://www.metal-archives.com/search?searchString=national+socialism&type=band_themes
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And yet!
Here's OT in @NoiseyMusic in 2015 telling a very credulous writer that he's not a racist. Despite discussing his collaborations with fascists both avowed (Mikko Aspa) and crypto (Satanic Warmaster) in the same profile.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/65z348/akitsa-grands-tyrans-interview-black-metal
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Here's OT in @NoiseyMusic in 2015 telling a very credulous writer that he's not a racist. Despite discussing his collaborations with fascists both avowed (Mikko Aspa) and crypto (Satanic Warmaster) in the same profile.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/65z348/akitsa-grands-tyrans-interview-black-metal
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Despite the voluminous evidence that turns up with *minimal* research, the writer has no follow-up questions.
Such as "if you're not racist, why does your tiny boutique label distribute explicitly racist bands? Why are you on an NSBM compilation with a bunch of Nazis?"
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Such as "if you're not racist, why does your tiny boutique label distribute explicitly racist bands? Why are you on an NSBM compilation with a bunch of Nazis?"
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Noisey has 447k Twitter followers. It's part of the multi-million dollar global media conglomerate Vice Media. The interview in question is the first result when I ask Duck Duck Go* if Akitsa is racist.
*Results from a private window to minimize search history bias
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*Results from a private window to minimize search history bias
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This is systemic racism.
The writer and Noisey's editor are all looking the other way as OT spends years platforming and collaborating in plain sight with outright fascists.
This is why fash feel comfortable and safe in metal.
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The writer and Noisey's editor are all looking the other way as OT spends years platforming and collaborating in plain sight with outright fascists.
This is why fash feel comfortable and safe in metal.
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