Heavy Metal in Baghdad: The Story of Acrassicauda

by Andy Capper, Vice Media, Gabi Sifre

documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad featuring the members of Iraq’s only heavy metal band—Acrassicauda—and their daily struggle to survive and rock on even as their country fell into a bloody insurgency.

Acrassicauda (Latin for a deadly black scorpion) is Iraq’s only heavy metal band. Inspired by groups like Metallica, Slayer, and Slipknot, the band began writing and playing metal in 2001, performing a handful of shows before the war started in 2003. With increased security precautions throughout Iraq, it became difficult to practice or even get through a show without serious problems. When they began receiving death threats from insurgent groups and religious fundamentalists accused them of Satan-worship, they became a band on the run.

As recently seen in the feature film documentary of the same name, Iraq disintegrated around them while Acrassicauda struggled to stay together and stay alive, always refusing to let their heavy metal dreams die. Their story echoes the unspoken hopes of an entire generation of young Iraqis, and it became a race-against-time humanitarian effort, irrevocably transforming everyone’s lives in the process. Going beyond the documentary to explore all the players’ unique perspectives, Heavy Metal in Baghdad features new information about one of the most dramatic and unique stories in modern music.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This interesting book will be especially appealing to anyone who ever started a garage band with low talent & bad equipment. Now imagine trying to do that in a Muslim country that frowns on western culture & rock n roll, & is incidentally about to be invaded by the USA…
This ends up being a story about refugees & friendship as much as metal. It is basically a transcript of interviews with band members interspersed with photographs. The last 25% of the book is the actual transcript of the film; I'm really not sure why it was included. At any rate, I'll definitely be checking out the film after this intriguing introduction to the complicated & often sad lives of the band members.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. This, and the film, really opened my eyes to what Iraqis went through during the war. They went through hell, and their love of metal proved cathartic for them. Can't imagine such a life at a young age. Nothing but the best, and respect for these guys.

[Gabor Hernadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of some everyday guys from Iraq who wanted nothing else but play heavy metal but they were at a wrong place at a wrong time. Unfortunately the last 50 or so pages of the book is nothing else but the transcription of the documentary and as it is unreadable waste of paper and ink.

[Kriegslok]

The book is really a collection of interviews with Acrassicauda which detail how they band formed, the difficulties they went through rehearsing, getting gigs and the challenges of living in a country which was internationally isolated for a decade. Life then became even worse with the invasion of their country and the impact of gansterism and religious fundamentalism which saw them flee as refugees eventually making it to the USA. The group show no interest in politics and have a healthy cynicism towards all forms of power and political organisation. They just want to make music but the politics gets in the way. This is as much about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances as it is about an Iraqi metal band, then again this is about extraordinary people and what to many maybe an extraordinary concept - an Iraqi metal band! Well worth reading whether you are interested in metal or not just to gain an appreciation of how what we take for granted can be so difficult in other circumstances yet how those very difficult circumstances are often the key to producing something outstanding.