Hitler salutes, white supremacy slogans and symbols of hate: insiders say Nazi bands have become an open secret within Australia's metal scene, as fans prepare for the return of major international event Knotfest next month.
Black paint mixes with tiny droplets of sweat that run down the performers' faces.
The humid Melbourne evening only adds to the stuffiness backstage.
The players — all members of metal band Scaphis — grin at each other from beneath their face paint, cracking jokes while readying their instruments.
Moments later, they take to the stage with an explosion of sound from the drums and guitars.
Headbanging along with the crowd, the lead vocalist throws her neck back and lets out a fierce growl.
The band's been together almost 10 years.
During that time, its members say, they've glimpsed the dark side of the metal scene in Australia.
"We were supposed to play a certain gig around September," members of Scaphis told Hack.
"Out of coincidence, a fan of ours discovered that one of the bands on the bill had very clear signs of being pretty 'fash' (an abbreviation for fascist)."
Ultimately, Scaphis decided to pull out, to make a statement.
"Fascism shouldn't have a place in metal, and it shouldn't have a place in the Melbourne scene or anywhere," the band members told Hack.
It was a stance that would set off a chain of reactions that would expose the band to fierce backlash.
As metal fans in Australia prepare for the return of major international event Knotfest in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane next month, it's a conflict that is about to be repeated.
Nazi bands in metal an 'open secret': Researcher
An investigation by triple j Hack suggests the situation the members of Scaphis say they found themselves in is neither isolated nor unusual.
Insiders say that white supremacy and so-called "Nazi bands" have become an open secret within the metal scene in Australia.
They say National Socialist black metal — known as NSBM — is an established sub-genre, and that while the movement is mainly underground, with many NSBM events backyard gigs or invite-only, there have been times when a "Nazi" band has played at a mainstream Australian venue.
Independent scholar in musicology and ethnomusicology Dr Ben Hillier studies the metal scene closely.
Through his research, he says he has discovered major bands in the Australian scene that have "some pretty out there and racist beliefs".
"Metal likes to pretend it's not political, but National Socialist black metal is kind of a known genre," Dr Hillier told Hack.
And, he adds, trying to distinguish between what are authentically-held beliefs and what is "just a joke" — as bands accused of peddling hate speech sometimes declare — can make it difficult to hold groups to account.
"Any kind of discrimination or hatred dressed up as a joke is still just discrimination and hatred," Dr Hillier says.
"Whether they're joking or not, you're normalising that kind of material."
He adds that – while some bands use overtly fascist iconography and references – many others use coded language, in part to give themselves plausible deniability if challenged.
'Who's the real fascists?'
The group that prompted the Scaphis decision to withdraw from its gig last September was a Tasmania-based band called Ignis Gehenna.
The band, which did not respond to a request for comment from Hack, uses a modified black sun as its logo, printed on band merchandise and posters.
The black sun, also referred to as the "Sonnenrad" or sun wheel, is a symbol that was appropriated by the Nazi Party in Hitler's Germany, and is commonly employed by far-right groups including outright neo-Nazis.
The band's lyrics also reference Sig runes or Schutzstaffel, also known as SS, which was the Nazi organisation that carried out some of the worst atrocities in World War II, especially against Jewish people during the Holocaust.
The title track of Ignis Gehenna's 2017 album, Baleful Scarlet Star, includes the following lyrics:
As a deep mirror seen as the black sun, 12 Sig runes, sharp as knives
After seeing these symbols incorporated into the music of Ignis Gehenna, Scaphis notified the promoter, to raise its concerns.
Ultimately the gig was scheduled to go ahead as planned, prompting the Scaphis decision to pull out.
"They can say what they want, but we don't have to play a gig with them," members of Scaphis told Hack.
"We don't need to give them a platform."
Later, however, the venue opted to can the whole event.
In response, Scaphis members say their social media accounts started blowing up.
Boo fucking hoo. Let's just cancel every fucking band because someone ate a piece of Nutri-Grain that slightly resembled one of H*tl*r's landscape paintings. Who's the real fascists?
Legit who wants to support or work with a bunch of losers who cry Nazi to cancel gigs.
Fuck you and your politics, SCABBERS! If you don't like someone's views, walk away and move on with your fucking life, like an adult, you fucking pussies!!… KEEP YOUR SHIT TO YOURSELF AND PLAY BRUTAL METAL.. Or FUCK OFF and DIE, yourselves!!
The fallout didn't end there.
The headlining act, Misery, sent Scaphis a message, blaming them for the cancelled event.
Scaphis replied with the specific reason it had pulled out.
"And basically, the response we got from that was, 'We don't care if you have beliefs or values or if you're uncomfortable with things'," Scaphis members told Hack.
"The only thing we care about is music and we'll play with anyone.
"They think that people should be able to say the most offensive, obscene bullshit and get away with it, because metal's about being tough (but) that's not what free speech is, it's not freedom from consequences."
In a statement, Misery told Hack that the band plays for their love of heavy music, "playing live to everyone, excluding no one".
"Concerning the issue of Nazism we have never endorsed it or condoned it, sympathised with it or done anything else with it, period.
"To say otherwise is a blatant lie, a false allegation, slanderous and defamatory!
"People who know us know our character and our reputation is cemented in our 33-year history of playing death metal.
"The issue is now dead to us," Misery said.
'You've booked a Nazi band!'
Australian NSBM bands are not new – in fact, researchers say, they have a history dating back at least as far as the 1990s.
Queensland metal group Spear of Longinus is a band that appears to promote Nazism through its music.
The group's first demo tape, released in 1995, was entitled Nazi Occult Metal, with the title track featuring the lyrics:
Long live National Socialism, Long live Germany, The party is Hitler, Hiter [sic] is the party, Germany is Hitler, Hitler, SIEG HEIL!!!
Follow-up albums include The Yoga of National Socialism (2002), Black Sun Society (2004) and Swastikalotus (2007).
The band's now-deleted website also features swastikas and sig runes.
Hack contacted Spear of Longinus for comment and received no response.
Another Australian band that has included Nazi symbols and ideology in its music and album covers is a psychedelic Occult rock band from Tasmania called Black Magick SS.
Its 2012 album, Symbols of Great Power, features Swastikas and the Double Sig Rune.
The band's song, In the Circle has the following lyrics:
We chant heil the Führer, Mein Führer, king of truth, Beware the aryan race
Its 2015 album The Owls of Winter features what appears to be a Totenkopf, literally "death's head", on the cover – a skull and crossbones design the researcher Dr Hillier says is "associated with the SS and particularly the people that ran concentration camps".
"One of their album covers (Hidden in Plain Sight, 2015) is one of those things that you shift and the image changes," he explains.
"Like if you shift it to the right angle, it's a swastika."
A request for comment from Black Magick SS was sent to its label, Creep Purple Records, which was asked to forward on the correspondence, but no response was received from either party.
Dr Hillier said bands often respond to criticism by saying the Nazi references are "just a joke", but in his view that is "a very poor defence".
"Typically, when you ask someone to explain what bit's the joke, they don't have an excuse," he said.
He adds that when bands that feature far-right or neo-Nazi themes in their music are booked for mainstream venues, they are sometimes permitted to play simply because cancellations lead to lost revenue.
"The promoter just books a black metal band and says 'hey come and play a gig' and then someone notices, 'Oh, that's not any old band, you've booked a Nazi band!'
"Ideally, the promoter shuts it down, but sometimes people stick their head in the sand because it costs money to set up gigs," he said.
"You've got to vet the people that you book, particularly in a genre like metal where it is often hiding just below the surface."
Calls for Knotfest headliner to be pulled
The attention on far-right politics and neo-Nazism within the Australian metal scene comes as a similar debate roils the metal world internationally.
Against that backdrop, there are calls for the international headlining act of the Australian edition of Knotfest to be pulled from the line-up next month over an alleged Neo-Nazi scandal.
The Knotfest festival, which was started by well-known American heavy metal band Slipknot in 2012, and has expanded to events in Mexico, Japan, Germany, France, Colombia, Chile and Brazil, returns to Australia for the second time between March 21 and 24.
With events in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, American heavy metal band Pantera is set to headline.
But Australian black death grind band An Effigy to Extinction is calling for Pantera to be pulled from the line-up.
"Pantera should absolutely not be headlining that," the band told Hack.
The call for the band to be cancelled stems back to video footage taken in 2016 that shows the frontman of Pantera, Phil Anselmo, on stage at a gig doing what appears to be a Nazi salute and yelling the words "white power" to the crowd.
In response to this incident, Housecore Records published a video of Anselmo apologising for his "ugly and uncalled for" behaviour.
"Anyone who knows me and my true nature knows that I don't believe in any of that," he says in the clip.
"I am a thousand per cent apologetic to anyone who took offence to what I said, because you should have taken offence to what I said.
"I am so sorry, and I hope you give me another chance."
During a tour in Europe last year, Pantera was pulled from three festival line-ups, including the Gasometer Festival in Vienna, as well as the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals in Germany.
Hack contacted both event organisers for further comment about the cancellation but received no response. It's unclear whether the cancellations were linked to the 2016 incident.
Nevertheless, for An Effigy to Extinction, Pantera as the headliner at Australian Knotfest sends the wrong message.
"We know that there's going to be a whole lot of people lining up to act as though a guy who screams about white power on stage is somehow not a fascist, or that it doesn't matter," An Effigy to Extinction told Hack.
"We know people are going to be doing that, because they like the art.
"I guess that's a really good example where I would say, 'Okay, you like the art form, but there's plenty of bands that don't do that shit'.
"Why the hell would that be headlining what's supposedly the biggest metal fest in the country at the moment?" the band added.
Hack contacted both Knotfest and Pantera for comment, but received no response.
An Effigy to Extinction believes white supremacy does have a grip on the metal scene.
The group says it is aware of groups openly using Nazi symbols, while others have hidden their ideology within song lyrics.
"It's sort of like a little trail of breadcrumbs, which is often a fairly common tactic deployed by fascists more generally.
"It is that concept of not being completely overt with what you're doing, hiding it behind a few layers of plausible deniability.
"Fascism in Australia has its foothold, but its foothold is objectively stronger outside of metal," the band said.
The band's concerns about neo-Nazism come as Australia's spy agency warns of a growing risk in Australia, with right-wing terror threats accounting for around 30 per cent of ASIO's current counter-terror caseload.
Last year An Effigy to Extinction was playing at a fundraising event to raise money for an anti-fascist organisation, when a group of "knife wielding Nazis" stormed the venue.
"You're there to raise money for an anti-fascist cause and enjoy some music," the band said.
"None of us were expecting to be violently assaulted.
"They're not there because it's about metal, they are there because it's an anti-fascist fundraiser."
ASIO has warned neo-Nazi groups are trying to recruit more members, and said demonstrations are primarily aimed at driving recruits.
White supremacists have gathered publicly a number of times in recent months.
A group of men wearing balaclavas and carrying a banner referencing a neo-Nazi group boarded a Sydney train on January 26 this year.
In December last year, a group of around 30 white supremacists dressed in black, with their identities hidden behind balaclavas, marched down the streets of Ballarat.
Shouting neo-Nazi slogans like, "Australia for the white man" and "Heil Victory".
Earlier this year, the federal government made performing the Nazi salute a criminal offence and has also banned Nazi symbols and the sale of goods-for-profit featuring Nazi symbols.
Nazism hiding in plain sight
Some Nazi bands use coded messages in their language, lyrics and symbols that the average person may not pick up on.
"It's not always just swastikas spray painted everywhere, sometimes there is slightly more subtlety than that," Dr Hillier said.
A common example is the use of the numbers 14 and 88, particularly 14/88 together.
The idea being that H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, so 88 translates to HH, which is a code for "Heil Hitler".
The number 14 is in reference to a 14-word slogan coined by neo-Nazi terrorist group leader David Lane: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."
"If you see a swastika or a black sun on something, there's pretty much no context in which that's not a Nazi symbol, at least in terms of metal," Dr Hillier said.
"There are obviously non-Nazi uses of the swastika that come from East Asia and really around the world.
"A lot of the time it's looking at interviews, album covers, band statements, things like that, to see what you can find out."
Taking a stand against Nazi bands
For Dr Hillier, he's pushing for bands, promoters and venue owners to take a stand against Nazi bands within the metal scene.
"I'm not trying to say that a handful of black metal bands in Tasmania are the vanguard of a fascist revolution."
"But what I am suggesting is that the metal scene needs to regulate itself and to understand that there are real consequences to political action and political discourse within the scene.
"It's not just music, it's not just a joke, it's something that is serious," Dr Hillier said.
Although Dr Hillier doesn't think it's possible to completely abolish NSBM bands — as they will continue to have backyard gigs — he does think it's time for lovers of metal music to take a stand and say, "it's not going to be part of our scene".
Credits
Reporting/Digital production: April McLennan
Photography/Videography: Claudine Ocampo, Danielle Bonica, Maren Preuss, Scott Jewell