NAZI-LINKED FINNISH BAND HORNA ATTEMPTING TO PLAY ANOTHER U.S. SHOW

Notorious Finnish black metal band Horna plans a return to the U.S. this fall. They want to play at this years “Metal Threat Festival” put on by Metal Threat Booking (MTB) and hosted by the Brauer House in Lombard, Illinois. In addition, at least one member wants to film some adult scenes for his U.S.-based partner’s Only Fans account. According to both MTB and Horna guitar player Ville Pystynen’s aforementioned partner, Jade Fox (Domina.diaboli on Instagram) this will be an exclusive American appearance by the band.

Horna’s members have so many ties to neo-Nazi music and musicians that metal fans have wholly put them into the category of National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM) even though Horna claims to be politically neutral. NSBM is a subgenre of the Black Metal scene that uses neo-Nazi ideology and imagery to reach their intended audiences.

Guitar player Ville Iisakki Pystynen, who tours under the name “Shatraug” and has also used the stage name “Malice Pooper,” was in the neo-Nazi band “Blutschrei” which is German for “Blood Scream.” Blutschrei only ever released one album called “The Voice of Forbidden Pride,” with lyrics like, “you know that we are right, don’t believe their propaganda, seek for the white insight” and “together we are strong, allegiance to our race, together we are strong, show the world our place”.

According to Wiener Zeitung, an Austrian-based news outlet, Pystyenen also played in bands “Aryan Art” who had songs titled: “For Total Extermination of Inferior Scum” and “The Holocaust Lie.” He also played in the bands “Aryan Blood” and “Final Solution” with lyrics like “genocide on the inferior races, white revolution the solution” and song titles like “Blood and Honor.” Besides the so-called music that Pystyenen himself makes, he also ran a label in the past called “Grievantee Productions” which was home to Nazi bands like “Kristallnacht.”

Horna singer Toumas “Spellgoth” Rytkonen and the band as a whole consider themselves friends with neo-Nazi band “Peste Noire,” (PN) going as far as dropping off of shows the two were booked to play out of solidarity after PN were booted for their Nazi beliefs. LCRW covered that show and Horna’s previous tour here. Spellgoth even played keyboards for PN in 2018. Lead singer for PN “Famine” considers himself a “race realist” an “ethno pluralist” and is “absolutely against race mixing.” PN has also claimed that they are not Nazis but “national-anarchists,” a bullshit reskin of Nazism with borrowed anarchist flavor.

While Metal Threat Booking owner Paul Dunski of Geneva, IL, doesn’t appear to have any overt connections to the NSBM scene, it appears he went to bat for another problematic band in 2016 “Destroyer 666”, Who will also be playing on this year’s MTF.

Destroyer 666 had several gigs canceled in Australia and New Zealand  in the wake of the Christchurch shooting after lead singer KK Warslut’s said on stage at a German festival that Muslims were “invading” and followed his comment with the Nazi roman salute. He also told audiences that women participating in the “Me too” movement just needed a “hard dicking.”

Destroyer 666 thanked Dunski by name for helping them get their tour back on track in an article put out on “Death Metal Underground” a blog that carries water for bands and fans with less than healthy obsessions with German history. On that same blog Destroyer 666 tried to doxx the Metal Sucks reporters who had written about the bands problematic actions.

While Dunski and MTB seem to be firmly on the fence, it would be hard for them to be unaware of the controversy surrounding Horna. Several of the comments and commenters under MTB’s Horna announcement post contain Neo Nazi dog whistles, people with 1488 and other Nazi codes in their handles claiming they will be attending this show.

MTB has yet to respond to LCRW’s multiple requests for comment.

LCRW has reached out to the Brauer House in Lombard, IL several times through every means we could find including two separate email accounts, via telephone, and over Facebook messenger. Over the phone a waitress took our information but we were never contacted by owners or booking managers as we requested. After messaging them on Facebook messenger, we received a reply stating that the owners were out of town for the week and that they would address us when they return. Still no effort has been made to answer our questions or to make any comment at press time.

The Brauer House bills itself as a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, and specifically as a “transgender safe space” on their google page.

The Brauer House also appears to have been part of the movement of businesses who decided the corona-virus pandemic was over and began throwing, or attempting to throw,  super spreader events. Owner Steven Brauer went as far as suing the IL governor J.B. Pritzker over the ban on indoor dining.

As reported by Eater Chicago:

“the suit claimed the governor lacked the authority to declare disaster emergencies beyond his initial executive order in March 2020. a DuPage County judge denied Brauer’s bid for a temporary restraining order that would allow him to continue serving inside his venue”

Eater Chicago also reported that Steven Brauer stepped down from ownership after he made racist and antisemitic comments on Facebook. LCRW was not able to find these comments. However on his Linkdin profile Brauer is still listed as the current owner.

But this isn’t even the only Nazi show Brauer House is booking

Hellvetron currently have a show booked through MTB at the Brauer House in mid September. Hellvetron, as reported by Metal Injection, is a re-brand of the band “Nyogthaeblisz” who contributed to the NSBM compilation “Satanic Skinhead: Declaration of Anti-Semetic Terror.”

Steven Brauer previously refused to book Hellvetron in 2018, after they were booted for their Nazism from a gig at the Cobra Lounge.

As previously stated, questions LCRW asked about why Brauer House  reversed their stance on hosting neo-Nazi bands have gone unanswered.