Investigating the 'death metal' murders

[anythinggoes]

did anyone see this program last night on BBC2 UK i watched it, very interesting and quite disturbing them dudes were fucked in the head seriously but how the fuck can you blame it on the music i mean the poeple that did it were going to do something fucked up in there life whatever music they listened too but i suppose it will be a thing that will be said through all ages if you get a chance to catch a repeat its well worth a watch.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/4446342.stm

Investigating the 'death metal' murders 
By Sam Bagnall
Producer, Death Metal Murders 


One man's relentless search for his missing son led him to uncover one of the most shocking crimes in post-war Italy - a tale of satanism and violence that has gripped the country for more than a year.
 
In January 1998 Fabio Tollis and Chiara Marino, both just 16, disappeared.

They had been drinking at a pub called the Midnight - the centre of the heavy metal scene in Milan - and they never came home.

The police and many of their friends just thought they had run off together. But their parents refused to accept this.

Michele Tollis, Fabio's father, began to attend metal concerts and festivals across Europe, handing out leaflets and quizzing Fabio's friends.

Fabio and his friends were into the most extreme forms of heavy metal music - death metal and black metal, music obsessed with images of murder and satanism - and the role of this music is central to the story.

It emerged that Chiara, the girl who disappeared with Fabio, had a collection of satanic literature and paraphernalia in her bedroom.

During this search, Michele Tollis became convinced that satanism had something to do with his son's disappearance.

"No one can contradict me when I say that heavy metal and satanism are closely linked. They're inseparable," he says.



Many of Fabio's friends appeared to be evasive when questioned about his whereabouts and Michele became convinced they were hiding something.

Over the next six years he built up a dossier of intelligence about them; who knew whom and which bands they played in.

'Alarm bells'

Then in January 2004 Michele was watching the local news. An item came on reporting a brutal murder in their nearby town of Somma Lombardo.

A young man called Andrea Volpe had been arrested and admitted killing his ex-girlfriend.

Alarm bells went off in Michele's head because Volpe had played in a death metal band with his son. He called the police and arranged a meeting.

"It was a strange story, the one Michele Tollis told," says Teniente Enzo Molinari of the carabinieri.

"But he didn't only tell a story; he backed it up with a very convincing body of paperwork and photographs which he had gathered over the past six years.

"He had carried out a true investigation on the disappearance of his son and his son's girlfriend, all on his own."

Using Michele's dossier of information, the police interrogated Volpe about the disappearances.

Beasts of Satan

Finally Volpe confessed and led the police to where Fabio and Chiara were buried.

Michele's hunt was over, but the revelations were just beginning.

One of Fabio's school friends, Mario Maccione, confessed to having beaten Fabio to death with a hammer.

He also revealed that the boys had been part of a wider satanic sect called the Beasts of Satan.

It was revealed Andrea Bontade, a drummer, had been terrorised into committing suicide.

Soon, other mysterious deaths were being linked to the Beasts.

Controversial lyrics

The case has profoundly shocked Italy, still a very Catholic country.

One priest, Don Aldo Buonaito, has set up a helpline for parents and children worried about satanism.

He has also called for death metal music to be banned.

"If music makes itself an instrument of nefarious deeds and death it should be stopped," he says.

But this is just the latest case where extreme metal music has been blamed for vicious acts by teenagers.

Everyone remembers the secret messages that were supposed to be contained in Ozzy Osbourne's lyrics and the controversy over his track Suicide Solution.

In 1996, the parents of Elyse Marie Pahler took satanic death metal band Slayer to court in the US after their 15-year-old daughter was murdered in what was alleged to be a satanic ritual imitating the band's lyrics.

The case was dismissed by a Californian judge in 2001.

In Norway fans of the even more extreme black metal, burned down more than 40 churches in the 1990s.

One of the favourite bands of the Beasts of Satan sect in Italy was Deicide - an American death metal band led by Glen Benton, a self-professed satanist who has an upside down cross branded into his forehead.

Lack of evidence

Deicide sing about the occult, their most popular anthem being Kill the Christians.

Other death metal bands appear to glorify murder, torture, rape and necrophilia.

Benton is no stranger to controversy - several murders have been linked to his fans - but denies that any singer can be responsible for the actions of their fans.

"I say don't blame people like me and [Marilyn] Manson, because we never said: 'Hey, we're going to be role models for all your kids.' That ain't what this is about. It's about entertainment."

Indeed there is little evidence that ordinary kids can be turned into monsters by music.

But academics who have studied adolescents and music have expressed concerns about the possible effects on children who already have psychological problems.

Professor Don Roberts of Stanford University thinks that perhaps the children who are already violent or depressed are the people who should be kept away from death metal.

"What the music may well be doing is simply reinforcing beliefs that they might have started with in the first place," he says.

Death Metal Murders was broadcast on Thursday, 24 November, 2005 at 2100 GMT on BBC Two.

[Izzy]

Its very sad that people as messed up as this exist - but their madness manifested itself in a love of this music, the music didn't make them go mad - hell, to listen to this stuff u have to be somewhat unbalanced

I do question who gets any kind of genuine enjoyment from this stuff....

And to say heavy metal and satanism are inseperably linked is daft, thats like saying because some kids steal all kids are criminals

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

well tolisten to that stuff you first have NO taste.

but then again, the kids that go off limit are already unbalanced ... so .... we need a " not Suitable for Dumb People " sticker on the CDs.

[babydolls]

v interesting - cheers for posting that. ?I remember after the Colombine killings, marilyn manson was held up as being responsible for the kids actions. ?the interviews he did around that time in response to it (in the NME esp) were great, very intelligent guy. ?I think this is another form of extremism - but one that is largely covered up. ?I think its disgusting that someone was prosecuted for wearing a Cradle of Filth t-shirt - but this form of extremism (ie actual killings) is not so widely reported.

[anythinggoes]

some more from program

For Imediate Release

New York - 11/15/05

DEICIDE, MAYHEM Featured In 'Death Metal Murders' BBC Documentary - Nov.
15, 2005

DEICIDE frontman Glen Benton will feature in an hour-long BBC
documentary called "Death Metal Murders" (part of the acclaimed "This
World" series) which explores link between heavy metal music
(specifically death and black metal) and Satanism and murder.The show
will air at 9:00 p.m. (GMT) on Thursday, November 24 on BBC2. A program
description follows:
"Of the young heavy metal fans in this picture, three are now dead; four
are on trial charged with murder; one is serving 19 years; two more of
their friends are serving long prison sentences. They were called the
Beasts of Satan and their story has gripped Italy for more than a year.
With unique access to them and their families, as well as graphic police
footage, 'This World' asks ? how much did their addiction to satanic
death metal music influence their descent into torture, sacrifices and
murder? The film also travels around the world, from Milan to Oslo to
California, investigating the bizarre underground scene that is extreme
metal music. We interview the extraordinary musicians ? from Glen Benton
of DEICIDE (who has an upside down cross branded into his forehead) and
Necrobutcher of Norwegian black metal band MAYHEM, to a Capuchin monk
who struts the stage of a metal festival in Northern Italy roaring out
heavy metal songs, to self-confessed Swedish Satanists DISSECTION.
"'Bleeding on your knees/ My satisfaction is what I need/ The urge to
take my fist/ And violate every orifice/ You're nothing/ Beaten into
submission/ Raping again and again.' These are the lyrics of 'Sex.
Murder. Art.' ? a 1995 track by American band SLAYER, who have sold
millions of albums around the world. They and other death metal bands
sing about rape, torture, necrophilia, murder and Satanism. Over the
years, this type of music has been blamed for driving teenage boys to
murder and suicide. The parents of Elyse Marie Pahler took SLAYER to a
California court in a failed attempt to ban the sale of this kind of
music to children, after their daughter was murdered by SLAYER fans
obsessed with Satanism.

"'No-one can contradict me when I say that heavy metal and satanism are
closely linked. They go hand in hand, they're inseparable. I say this
without the shadow of a doubt," says Michele Tollis, father of Fabio,
who was murdered in a Satanic ritual by the Beasts of Satan sect in
Italy. Michele has become something of an expert in the genre, having
attended more than 80 heavy metal concerts during a six year search for
his son which culminated in the discovery of the body last year.

Not surprisingly, death metal musicians deny that they have any
responsibility for the actions of people who profess to be their fans.
"I say don't blame people like me, and [Marilyn] Manson, because we
never said, 'Hey, we're going to be role models for all your kids.' That
ain't what this is about. It's about entertainment,' says Glen Benton of
Florida death metal pioneers DEICIDE ? who were the favourite band of
the Beasts of Satan.

"And indeed there is little evidence to suggest that normal,
well-adjusted kids can be driven to murder by music. And yet the
concerns persist. According to Don Roberts of Stanford University, it is
not the majority of kids we should be worrying about. It*s the kids who
already have problems with violence or depression who perhaps should be
kept away from death metal. 'What the music may well be doing is simply
reinforcing beliefs that they might have started with in the first
place, and building on them and justifying their world view,
legitimizing the way they feel. The lyrics are violent, they lyrics are
misogynist, the lyrics are depressed and depressing, the lyrics are
satanic, they talk about suicide, they talk about self-mutilisation. The
very kinds of things we're worried that these problem kids will get
engaged in.'
"This appears to be born out by the experience in Norway. In the 1990s,
more than 40 churches were burnt down by followers of Norwegian black
metal (a fusion of Satanism, Norse Paganism and noise). State Prosecutor
Bjorn Soknes interviewed many of the arsonists and found they had a lot
in common. 'They were young, 16 to 22, they were lonely people. Many of
them told us they were listening over hours to black metal music before
they burnt churches.' Yet the hysteria that the church burnings produced
? it is still something of a national obsession in Norway ? has only
served to spread the gospel of black metal around the world. Bands like
Britain's CRADLE OF FILTH sell hundreds of thousand of albums.

"Necrobutcher is bass player of the most famous black metal band of all
? MAYHEM. He acknowledges that the huge controversy surrounding the band
has only fuelled the cult of black metal: 'The people we scared are
scared and the people who understood the joke are still there, and just
smiling about the whole thing. It's not totally a joke, of course. It's
something that the government couldn't control, you know? They tried to
keep us down, and by doing that, what happened? Cult fucking legends."

"So what should you do when your kids come home wearing upside down
crosses and pentagrams? The mother of a 13-year-old extreme metal fan in
Norway thinks all you can do is engage with them. 'You have to go along
with them I think. I think it is very important not to just deny it or
say that you're not supposed to do that and this, but to find out what
it is, what he is thinking and why is he fascinated. What is it with
this music?'

"And Mario Maccione, convicted in Italy of murdering his friends in a
Satanic ritual? 'You can count on the fingers of one hand the number of
people who have done what we have done. Of the millions of people who
listen to metal music, no-one, I repeat no-one has ever been involved in
anything like this. In fact many more people have done things like this
who do not listen to metal at all."

[Genesis]

Death metal has always been crap. I don't there's any point in blaming the music industry though, if it sells, they'll put it out... I guess it's the really dumb that actually do what the lyrics say... Hmmm, something for Walk to think about.. 

[Mr. Dick Purple]

People can sing, and act however they want, all these crap has been happening for years, and people doesn't want to understand that you can take always a good side of everything, but people seem to be too blind. There's no diference in any guy in the past years trying to kill in God's name than a guy today killing cause he/she heard some freaking song.
The most stupid thing about this is that people around seems to know too much about this kind of music, saying that Slayer is satanic, I don't even know if they are satanic how come a freaking journalist know? that's so dumb to label something because it is suitable.

[Izzy]

I think its disgusting that someone was prosecuted for wearing a Cradle of Filth t-shirt.

If ur referring to the incident in the UK, he was prosecuted for wearing a T-shirt that said Jesus is a cunt, which aside from the fact it breaches religious hate laws is just offensive - do u want ur kids standing next to some guy with profanity on his t-shirt?

Anyone that has swear words on their clothing is obviosly so painfully inadequate they have to go to great lengths to get themselves noticed and therefore validated - check so many right-wing posts on this board, they do the exact same thing

[jarmo]

Anyone that has swear words on their clothing is obviosly so painfully inadequate they have to go to great lengths to get themselves noticed and therefore validated

Yeah, people like Axl Rose, Slash etc. 


Some people are offended by the name of this web site too. So I guess the t-shirts we made earlier this year will offend some people. 




/jarmo

[anythinggoes]

I think its disgusting that someone was prosecuted for wearing a Cradle of Filth t-shirt.

If ur referring to the incident in the UK, he was prosecuted for wearing a T-shirt that said Jesus is a cunt, which aside from the fact it breaches religious hate laws is just offensive - do u want ur kids standing next to some guy with profanity on his t-shirt?

Anyone that has swear words on their clothing is obviosly so painfully inadequate they have to go to great lengths to get themselves noticed and therefore validated - check so many right-wing posts on this board, they do the exact same thing

so i was painfully inadequate for Wearing a Gnr shirt which said Get In The Ring MotherFucker 12 years ago i think not

[anythinggoes]

Anyone that has swear words on their clothing is obviosly so painfully inadequate they have to go to great lengths to get themselves noticed and therefore validated

Yeah, people like Axl Rose, Slash etc.?


Some people are offended by the name of this web site too. So I guess the t-shirts we made earlier this year will offend some people.?




/jarmo

cool i gonna wear mine more often then if thats the case

[Jonathan]

did anyone see this program last night on BBC2 UK i watched it, very interesting and quite disturbing them dudes were fucked in the head seriously but how the fuck can you blame it on the music i mean the poeple that did it were going to do something fucked up in there life whatever music they listened too but i suppose it will be a thing that will be said through all ages if you get a chance to catch a repeat its well worth a watch.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/4446342.stm

Investigating the 'death metal' murders?
By Sam Bagnall
Producer, Death Metal Murders?


One man's relentless search for his missing son led him to uncover one of the most shocking crimes in post-war Italy - a tale of satanism and violence that has gripped the country for more than a year.
 
In January 1998 Fabio Tollis and Chiara Marino, both just 16, disappeared.

They had been drinking at a pub called the Midnight - the centre of the heavy metal scene in Milan - and they never came home.

The police and many of their friends just thought they had run off together. But their parents refused to accept this.

Michele Tollis, Fabio's father, began to attend metal concerts and festivals across Europe, handing out leaflets and quizzing Fabio's friends.

Fabio and his friends were into the most extreme forms of heavy metal music - death metal and black metal, music obsessed with images of murder and satanism - and the role of this music is central to the story.

It emerged that Chiara, the girl who disappeared with Fabio, had a collection of satanic literature and paraphernalia in her bedroom.

During this search, Michele Tollis became convinced that satanism had something to do with his son's disappearance.

"No one can contradict me when I say that heavy metal and satanism are closely linked. They're inseparable," he says.



Many of Fabio's friends appeared to be evasive when questioned about his whereabouts and Michele became convinced they were hiding something.

Over the next six years he built up a dossier of intelligence about them; who knew whom and which bands they played in.

'Alarm bells'

Then in January 2004 Michele was watching the local news. An item came on reporting a brutal murder in their nearby town of Somma Lombardo.

A young man called Andrea Volpe had been arrested and admitted killing his ex-girlfriend.

Alarm bells went off in Michele's head because Volpe had played in a death metal band with his son. He called the police and arranged a meeting.

"It was a strange story, the one Michele Tollis told," says Teniente Enzo Molinari of the carabinieri.

"But he didn't only tell a story; he backed it up with a very convincing body of paperwork and photographs which he had gathered over the past six years.

"He had carried out a true investigation on the disappearance of his son and his son's girlfriend, all on his own."

Using Michele's dossier of information, the police interrogated Volpe about the disappearances.

Beasts of Satan

Finally Volpe confessed and led the police to where Fabio and Chiara were buried.

Michele's hunt was over, but the revelations were just beginning.

One of Fabio's school friends, Mario Maccione, confessed to having beaten Fabio to death with a hammer.

He also revealed that the boys had been part of a wider satanic sect called the Beasts of Satan.

It was revealed Andrea Bontade, a drummer, had been terrorised into committing suicide.

Soon, other mysterious deaths were being linked to the Beasts.

Controversial lyrics

The case has profoundly shocked Italy, still a very Catholic country.

One priest, Don Aldo Buonaito, has set up a helpline for parents and children worried about satanism.

He has also called for death metal music to be banned.

"If music makes itself an instrument of nefarious deeds and death it should be stopped," he says.

But this is just the latest case where extreme metal music has been blamed for vicious acts by teenagers.

Everyone remembers the secret messages that were supposed to be contained in Ozzy Osbourne's lyrics and the controversy over his track Suicide Solution.

In 1996, the parents of Elyse Marie Pahler took satanic death metal band Slayer to court in the US after their 15-year-old daughter was murdered in what was alleged to be a satanic ritual imitating the band's lyrics.

The case was dismissed by a Californian judge in 2001.

In Norway fans of the even more extreme black metal, burned down more than 40 churches in the 1990s.

One of the favourite bands of the Beasts of Satan sect in Italy was Deicide - an American death metal band led by Glen Benton, a self-professed satanist who has an upside down cross branded into his forehead.

Lack of evidence

Deicide sing about the occult, their most popular anthem being Kill the Christians.

Other death metal bands appear to glorify murder, torture, rape and necrophilia.

Benton is no stranger to controversy - several murders have been linked to his fans - but denies that any singer can be responsible for the actions of their fans.

"I say don't blame people like me and [Marilyn] Manson, because we never said: 'Hey, we're going to be role models for all your kids.' That ain't what this is about. It's about entertainment."

Indeed there is little evidence that ordinary kids can be turned into monsters by music.

But academics who have studied adolescents and music have expressed concerns about the possible effects on children who already have psychological problems.

Professor Don Roberts of Stanford University thinks that perhaps the children who are already violent or depressed are the people who should be kept away from death metal.

"What the music may well be doing is simply reinforcing beliefs that they might have started with in the first place," he says.

Death Metal Murders was broadcast on Thursday, 24 November, 2005 at 2100 GMT on BBC Two.

This makes me sick.. Fucking death/black metal.. I fucking hate it.

[Buddy J.B.]

This makes me sick.. Fucking death/black metal.. I fucking hate it.

Yeah that shit is for pussies. Who I blame are the parents of these demented people, they must have been raised wrong or abused to turn out like this.

[Walk]

Most of the deaths and murders over extreme heavy metal music are because of BLACK metal, not DEATH metal.  Black metal is inherantly Satanic and anti-Christian by definition. Death metal and black metal don't even sound the same; I can't see how people get them confused. They probably haven't even heard a single song of either genre except mainstream crap like Crade of Filth and Cannibal Corpse.

That article said that Slayer were death metal.  Slayer are thrash metal; whoever wrote that has an anti-metal agenda and can't even discern between the genres.

So many people here should be more open-minded about heavy metal. Articles like this only make people more confused about what it's about. Do not allow the mainstream media to tell you what type of music you should be listening to. If you do that, you're just a corporate tool.

[Buddy J.B.]

Yeah I know the differences, the metal bands I like are mostly from the 80's.

[Walk]

If ur referring to the incident in the UK, he was prosecuted for wearing a T-shirt that said Jesus is a cunt, which aside from the fact it breaches religious hate laws is just offensive - do u want ur kids standing next to some guy with profanity on his t-shirt?

They should be immediately reported to the Ministry of Love, right?

Anyone that has swear words on their clothing is obviosly so painfully inadequate they have to go to great lengths to get themselves noticed and therefore validated - check so many right-wing posts on this board, they do the exact same thing

I don't use bad language to express my views. Solid reasoning works well enough, but I often get curse words thrown back at me. 

[Walk]

Yeah I know the differences, the metal bands I like are mostly from the 80's.

There were tons of great death and black metal bands in the 80's, before the scene got overexposed and attention whores started killing each other.

[R4tfink]

So many people here should be more open-minded about heavy metal. Articles like this only make people more confused about what it's about. Do not allow the mainstream media to tell you what type of music you should be listening to. If you do that, you're just a corporate tool.

Nuff said.

[Izzy]

Anyone that has swear words on their clothing is obviosly so painfully inadequate they have to go to great lengths to get themselves noticed and therefore validated

Yeah, people like Axl Rose, Slash etc.?

Exactly - most rock stars are desperate for attention, hence why they do what they do

Some people are offended by the name of this web site too. So I guess the t-shirts we made earlier this year will offend some people. 

Probably




/jarmo

[Izzy]

so i was painfully inadequate for Wearing a Gnr shirt which said Get In The Ring MotherFucker 12 years ago i think not

Whatever U wanted to be noticed wearing it and u know it

[chineseblues]

I think its disgusting that someone was prosecuted for wearing a Cradle of Filth t-shirt.

If ur referring to the incident in the UK, he was prosecuted for wearing a T-shirt that said Jesus is a cunt, which aside from the fact it breaches religious hate laws is just offensive - do u want ur kids standing next to some guy with profanity on his t-shirt?

Anyone that has swear words on their clothing is obviosly so painfully inadequate they have to go to great lengths to get themselves noticed and therefore validated - check so many right-wing posts on this board, they do the exact same thing

Havng a shirt that says "jesus is a cunt" is breaching religious hate laws? I don't agree with that. Now if it says "all christians are cunts" then I would be inclined to agree.

[Hammy]

I think its disgusting that someone was prosecuted for wearing a Cradle of Filth t-shirt.

If ur referring to the incident in the UK, he was prosecuted for wearing a T-shirt that said Jesus is a cunt, which aside from the fact it breaches religious hate laws is just offensive - do u want ur kids standing next to some guy with profanity on his t-shirt?

Anyone that has swear words on their clothing is obviosly so painfully inadequate they have to go to great lengths to get themselves noticed and therefore validated - check so many right-wing posts on this board, they do the exact same thing

Havng a shirt that says "jesus is a cunt" is breaching religious hate laws? I don't agree with that. Now if it says "all christians are cunts" then I would be inclined to agree.

Meh. Jesus Is A Cunt. It's freedom of speech.  You would not have the same problem with a T-Shirt saying Axl Is A Cunt, unless he saw you.  It's even more stupid considering Jesus is a fictional character.....

[Sakib]

WHAT A LOAD OF SHIT!!!! I LOVE HEAVY METAL BUT IM NO SATANIST!!! AND ANYWAY, THE PROBLEM NOWADAYS ARE FUCKING CHAVS!!!!!!!!!!! CHAVS SHUD DIE!!!! CHAVS SHUD DIE!!!!! DOCUMENTARY DUDES ARE IGNORANT DICKHEDS!

[Mr. Dick Purple]

I read a link that led to the problems that also went through Judas Priest.
People believe whatever they want and blame the easy way and never asummed control to their failed actions 

http://members.firstinter.net/markst...l#JULY%201990:

[Sakib]

Mr. Dick Purple i totally agree

[Mattman]

Death metal and black metal don't even sound the same; I can't see how people get them confused. They probably haven't even heard a single song of either genre except mainstream crap like Crade of Filth and Cannibal Corpse.type of music you should be listening to. If you do that, you're just a corporate tool.

Yeah, because Cradle of Filth and Cannibal Corpse are sooooo mainstream.? I heard them at the supermarket just the other day.?

[Axl_owns_dexter]

At least the guy wasn't wearing a "Muhammad is a Cunt" t-shirt.  He would have gotten his head chopped off for that one. 

RIP Van Gogh

[Skeletor]

Heh Mattman, I think we got you on the first post Did you know you can delete your own posts?

[Mattman]

Heh Mattman, I think we got you on the first post Did you know you can delete your own posts?

Dammit....a perfectly witty remark ruined by my own oversight.