Terror Cancel Czech Republic Concert to Show Support for Randy Blythe

Century Media

Hardcore heroes Terror have elected to cancel their upcoming Czech Republic concert. It’s a show of solidarity for Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe, who is currently languishing in a prison in the country, facing manslaughter charges. Blythe has been incarcerated for over a month, having seen his bail denied by the prosecutor who protests his release.

The singer’s incarceration has certainly raised questions for metal bands planning to tour the region, especially since Blythe is staring down manslaughter charges stemming from an incident in which a fan died after suffering brain injuries allegedly sustained during an onstage altercation with Blythe; the incident took place back in May 2010, but Blythe was arrested upon entering the country in June of this year, despite not knowing about the fan’s death or the gravity of the situation. Band safety issues have come to light as a result of this incident.

Nevertheless, Terror are showing their support of Blythe by axing the show. Rather than make a t-shirt or create a widely circulated hashtag to get people talking, the band wants to take a firm stand and do something active and express its displeasure at the situation in which Blythe is currently embroiled.

The band issued a statement about the cancellation. It read as follows:

“Terror is going to cancel their show in the Czech Republic this month. We feel obligated to stand up for Randy Blythe. This situation seems to be taken too lightly. Randy comes from punk and hardcore roots, just like Terror. He still supports underground music and has always supported Terror– even singing on stage alongside us when we play Richmond. This hits really close to home for us having members of the band and our crew from the hometown of Lamb of God.”

We love our Czech fans very much and have amazing shows there, but we need to ‘stick tight’ to our friend Randy, which is why we have chosen to cancel the show. As a band that could easily be in this same position at any given show, we don’t think we can play there and act like this is OK – it isn’t.”

This is bigger than a hashtag or a clever t-shirt– we as a community need to take action and speak up. Free Randy Blythe.”