Ask any metalhead born in the post-Soviet space in the late 80s and early 90s what their entry band was. Most of them will probably say Aria. It’s a Russian equivalent to Iron Maiden—both in the musical style and the scope of popularity. They are Russia’s biggest heavy metal band, with a career spanning almost 40 years.

Aria’s lyrical themes always seemed slightly more profound than the usual heavy metal obsession with beer, bikes, dragons, and horror stories. With the assistance of professional poets and lyricists, the band made an impression that they were not mere headbangers and rock stars but rather progressive-thinking intellectuals. There were songs based on literature, history, and the Bible (with a critical twist, of course); there were songs with obvious anti-war and anti-dictatorship messages. But on the other hand, there were also songs about war heroes, imperialism, and even a little bit of xenophobia (albeit hidden between the metaphors).

Overall, Aria was in a pretty safe place during the years filled with political and ideological turmoil in post-Soviet countries. For every rebellious song, they’ve made a bunch of conformist ones. An impression of intellectualism and progressiveness faded, and they became nothing more than a band of aging metalheads that play decent music with above-than-average lyrics.

The point is—they are an apolitical band through and through. So it was not much of a surprise that when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Aria stayed silent. Some of the band members made some foggy statements on social media, but no more than that. Well, at least they’ve not supported the war, unlike their original singer.

Anyway, they remained apolitical without taking financial risks. I’ve seen some criticism towards the band for their silence—some people remembered their explicitly anti-war songs (that they expectedly haven’t dared to play live anymore). But it was mostly from the fans abroad that weren’t risking getting persecuted for saying something that’s not suitable to the Putinist recent agenda.

But the problem with the Putinist agenda is that it’s inconsistent. It can shift and change shape fast. Like all vague, empty pseudo-ideological systems, Putinism utilizes every idea suitable for the moment. Everything goes—imperialism and anti-imperialism, liberalism and conservatism, Slavic supremacy and Christianity. Pro-Putinist activists inside Russia are vultures, scrambling for a comfortable place in the hierarchal chain by trying to prove their worth in any way possible.

One of those activist organizations (let it remain nameless forever) decided to initiate Aria’s persecution for anti-christian themes in their songs. They want police to analyze specifically a live performance of the song Palach (The Hangman) that tells a story of a dude that crucified Christ and now struggling with a crisis of faith of sorts. During the show, there’s a huge cross coming down from above and the singer finishes the song standing upon him like Jesus. I’m attaching the video to the post so that you can judge the scope of the offense yourself (and enjoy some decent riffs while you’re at it).

So the activists decided to condemn such a gruesome attack on Russian Christendom and snitched to the cops. I wouldn’t expect serious consequences to this if it happened several years ago. But today, Russian people can get into prison for basically anything.

The point I’m trying to make is perhaps an obvious one theoretically but not so easy to understand in practice. Silence won’t save you against systemic oppression, even if you are not an initial target of this oppression. When a house is on fire, there are only two survival strategies: escape or try to turn off the flames. Many Russians escaped. Most of those who tried to firefight were pushed into the flames. And now the fire is spreading unto those who are hiding in the corners.

Martin Niemöller’s poem “First they came…” became a cliché by now, but it is still relevant. No matter what kind of oppression is happening around you—transphobia, racism, apartheid, or a fucking full-fledged imperialistic war—and you have some privilege by not being straightly oppressed by it for now, silence won’t save you, it’ll just slightly delay the moment when you’ll become the target.

I’m not saying to get suicidal, and in the case of Russians, to risk spending decades in jail. But trying to continue living as if nothing happened is the most destructive thing to do—not just for those suffering now, to whom you turn your back, but also for you because you’ll be next eventually. And no one will remain to help you.

Horror Radio 24/7/365 plays horror radio plays from back in the day literally 24/7/365, also there’s fun vintage ads and stuff too, it’s very cool, me and my friend Luis like to listen to it, anyway consider tuning in and donating, I try to donate as much as possible to them because I listen to the station all the time

Also just wanted to point out they’re also on radio.garden, that’s usually how I listen just for convenience