Heavy Metal Expats from Iraq

I enjoyed this Ben Ratliff article about Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda, now based in the U.S.

The film [Heavy Metal in Baghdad] shows the group’s four musicians playing sporadic gigs through bombings, with temperamental electricity run off gas generators and mortal fear of growing scorned rock ’n’ roll chin beards, to say nothing of singing in public — and in English — about typical metal themes. It outlines social, political and financial obstacles that make, say, Black Sabbath’s scratchy early years, as described in Ozzy Osbourne’s new memoir, seem deluxe.