The war against metal continues! Japanese death metal group Defiled have been forced by local Christian authorities in Malaysia to cancel their shows that would have taken place this coming weekend. According to a statement from Season of Mist, authorities questioned the government why Defiled, along with several other bands, were allowed to perform the weekend of Easter.

Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM) general secretary, Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri, said, "The CCM calls upon the relevant authorities to explain the basis for granting permission to such bands that promote their music by using extremely offensive and denigrating language that can hurt the religious feelings of others. This will be considered an affront to the religious sentiments of Christians in the country."

"I am quite disappointed that some people still have serious misunderstanding about metal music and metal heads in general," Defiled guitarist Yusuke Sumita said following the cancellation. "Some bands may be singing about Satan, but it has to be understood that metal music is just metaphor to stand for intentional aberration...Most metal heads are peaceful and open minded individuals, nobody has intentions of hurting anyone. Nothing more, nothing less. I truly hope people will start to understand that."

Read the full statement from both Season of Mist and Sumita below.

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