Gorefest

Gorefest was an antiracist death metal band whose appearance as the opening act for Deicide in Stockholm made it a possible target in the aftermath of a bombing at the venue in December 1992. The episode brought the band into the account not as an established participant in the Black Metal scene, but as a group whose political stance helped shape early explanations of the attack.

Identity and Political Position

The book identifies Gorefest as an antiracist, politically correct death metal group. That position distinguished it in the immediate context of the Stockholm concert: investigators and commentators initially considered whether the Black Circle might have targeted the band, rather than Deicide, because of its political outlook.

The Stockholm Concert

In early December 1992, Deicide, an American Satanic death metal band, toured Europe and played in Oslo before appearing at the Fryshuset club in Stockholm. Gorefest was the opening act. Before the bands took the stage, an explosion went off beside the venue’s fire exit. It damaged an entire wall and caused major structural damage; several people were injured, though none seriously.

The first speculation connected the bombing to the Swedish Black Circle. One possible explanation was an attack on Deicide, whose Satanism might have made the band a rival in the eyes of its alleged attackers. A more prominent theory was that Gorefest had been the intended target because of its antiracist politics. These were early theories, not established findings.

Reconsidering the Suspects

Further investigation raised serious doubts about whether anyone connected to the Black Circle had planted the bomb. The book sets that uncertainty against evidence of threats made against Deicide before the band’s later appearances in England. Animal Militia, a radical anti-vivisectionist organization, threatened the band and specifically targeted its lead singer, Glen Benton, in connection with his stated advocacy of animal sacrifice and torture in Satanic rituals. The threat from the organization’s Manchester cell referred to Stockholm as a foretaste of what was to come.

That evidence pointed toward possible allies of Animal Militia as more likely suspects in the bombing, although the account presents this as a likelihood rather than a proven conclusion. Gorefest’s place in the episode therefore rests on the initial theory that its politics made it a target—a theory later unsettled by doubts about the Black Circle’s involvement and by the threats aimed at Deicide.