Islamophobic band nominated for prestigious Norwegian music award

And you thought the Brit longlist was depressing – Norway's The Spellemanns have nominated Taake, a black metal band with songs like "To hell with Muhammad and the Muhammadans!".

Proof that Scandinavian music isn’t all fey pop and artful electronica – Taake, a band so hard in the anti-Muslim paint that they sell T-shirts called ‘Anti-Islam,’ have been nominated for the best metal album at the Spellemann Awards, the Norwegian equivalent of The Brits.

Other distinctly iffy lyrics by Taake include “To hell with Muhammad and the Muhammadans!” and “Norway will soon awake!”. Singer Ørjan Stedjeberg appeared four years onstage in Germany with a swastika painted on his chest.

Defending their decision to nominate the band, chairman Marte Thorsb said “We enjoy full freedom of expression in Norway and [our] jury is not going to censor content in any way”.

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