Gaahl strikes again. The ex-Gorgoroth vocalist finds himself in the middle of another controversy, surrounding his appearance in a musical after restating his support for church burnings.

It all starts when Kristian "Gaahl" Espedal gets casted in a musical based on the concept album Svartediket, which was inspired by myths and legends of the lake Svartediket, located outside of Bergen, Norway. The "first-ever black metal musical" is scheduled to premiere on May 26 at Festspillene I Bergen (Bergen International Festival), an annual international music and cultural festival. The event will be held at Bergen's Den Nationale Scene, one of Norway's oldest and most renowned theaters which was founded to develop Norwegian playwrights. But now, the artistic director - Bjarte Hjelmeland - of the renowned Norwegian Den Nationale Scene theater, is reconsidering his decision to cast the former black metal vocalist for the upcoming "Svartediket" production.

Gaahl's casting has caused controversy in Norway, particularly as both Festspillene and Den Nationale Scene are heavily funded by the Norwegian state. Halvor Nordhaug, the Lutheran bishop in the diocese of Bjørgvin, seated in Bergen and covering parts of Western Norway, is especially concerned about Gaahl's previously published statements to the media in which he appeared to condone and support church burnings.

After Gaahl's involvement with the "Svartediket" musical was made official this week, the former Gorgoroth frontman once again reiterated that he views church burning as "acceptable".

"I have left my past behind, but I still have an anti-Christian attitude," Gaahl told the Bergens Tidende newspaper. "Christianity has no place in this country. As long as the church has the power it has and supports oppression, we shouldn't give the church any sympathy. Therefore I don't think it's wrong if it [church burning] happens again. The symbolic value of burning down churches is important."

Responding to Gaahl's remarks, Bishop Halvor Nordhaug told the Bergens Tidende newspaper, "Gaahl displays some scary attitudes by defending church burnings. He says nothing about the fact that human lives were lost during one of the church burnings in the 1990s. I think everybody, no matter what their religious beliefs are, agrees with me that his attitudes are scary, but it could still be possible that his role at Den Nationale Scene will provide him with some kind of legitimacy, which is unfortunate."

Artistic director Bjarte Hjelmeland - who is now under pressure from both the clergy and the organization of Festspillene i Bergen - says he will travel to Oslo to have "a long talk" with Gaahl about his statements to the media before making a decision on whether to allow the singer to stay involved with the musical.

"It is important, both for me personally and on behalf of Den Nationale Scene, to completely distance ourselves from the attitudes Gaahl has expressed in the Bergens Tidende interview," Hjelmeland says. "My beliefs are diametrically opposed to his. I pretty much grew up in church and consider myself a Christian. But I do not automatically dismiss people whose views I do not agree with.

I was not familiar with Kristian's past when I hired him to do "Svartediket". And I could not possibly have known that he would come out and publicly support these serious crimes. But the matter is not simple. We find ourselves in an ethical gray zone. It is difficult to invoke freedom of speech to defend Gaahl if his statements to Bergens Tidende can be interpreted as an incitement to criminal acts."

Source:	roadrunnerrecords.com
Band profile:	Gorgoroth