Cannibal Corpse Lyrics and Artwork Banned in Russia

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Dec 1, 2014

A Russian court has deemed Buffalo, NY outfit Cannibal Corpse's infamously violent lyrics and artwork too offensive for the country and has instated a ban on distribution and translation of the death metal materials.

The Russian Legal Information Society reports [via Metal Injection] that the ruling took place last Friday (November 28) at Oktyabrsky District Court of Ufa, following complaints from citizens in the city of Ufa.

According to the suit, the group's lyrics "could damage the mental health of children because they contain descriptions of violence, the physical and mental abuse of people and animals, murder and suicide."

The accompanying artwork was similarly criticized. The court agreed with the Prosecutor's Office that putting Cannibal Corpse's art out in the public domain could be harmful to minors.

Senior Aide to Prosecutor of Bashkortostan, Guzel Masagutova, has not yet determined how the ban will roll out.

During Cannibal Corpse's tour of Russia earlier this fall, the band faced protests from religious activists and were forced to cancel performances in Ufa, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

"We were present in these cities and ready to perform each of these shows but were not permitted to," the band had explained in a statement at the time. "In Ufa the power was turned off shortly before the show (we were told because the venue was late on rent), and in Moscow and St. Petersburg we were told that we did not have the correct visas and that if we attempted to perform the concert would be stopped by police and we would be detained and deported (prior to the tour we had been told that we did have the correct visas and that all of our paperwork was in order)."

This is not the first time in Cannibal Corpse's career that they've faced censorship. Germany had banned the sale of the outfit's Eaten Back to Life, Hammer Smashed Face and Tomb of the Mutilated in the early '90s, with the government likewise prohibiting the act to play tracks from those releases in concert. The ban was lifted in 2006.

Australia had also placed a ban on the group's albums in 1996, lifting this in 2006 but restricting sales to music fans over the age of 18.

The band issued their A Skeletal Domain in September and have North America tour dates coming up in the new year with Behemoth. You'll find the details of the trip, which hits Canadian clubs between Vancouver and Montreal, over here.

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