Aborted have had to cancel a scheduled Halloween gig in Dubai after a complaint about the content of their lyrics and videos.
The Belgian band say the United Arab Emirates government put pressure on the promoter to pull the plug on the show at the city’s Music Room venue after an angry letter from a member of the public.
In a statement, Aborted say: “It is with great sadness we have to announce that our show on Halloween is cancelled. We received notice from the promoter today that an angry parent had written the authorities about us performing and being appalled by our lyrics, themes, videos and the government decided to force the promoter to cancel and prosecute them.
“Flights were booked, everything was arranged by both the promoter and us. We are in 2015 and it saddens us that these kind of practices still happen and people can not seem to understand that this music genre is about release and especially for a band like us, about fun. Sure, delicious gory fun, but we all know how to take death metal lyrics, right?
“We are all brothers and friends in the same cause here, and that is music, music is the one thing that binds all of us worldwide, race, gender or religion aside. We had a great time in Egypt, we have played Israel several times, Indonesia and so many places where different cultures meet and it has never been an issue.
“Hopefully no other bands have to deal with this type of situation anymore and our support goes out to the promoters and fans over there.”
The band continue on a widespread European tour, which concludes with a string of UK dates in February. They split with guitarist Danny Tunker last month.
Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, Behemoth and LetLive have all fallen foul of censors in recent months.
