In perhaps the most unexpected metal-related news of the day or any other day for that matter, a man wearing a shirt with 'GOD' written in large letters across the front of it has tried to burn down The Satanic Temple! His brazen blazing attempt to invert the church burning practices of '90s black metal, thankfully failed, but he did make it far enough to get himself arrested!
According to the Boston Globe the man believed responsible for the crime is 42-year-old Daniel Lucey who is now facing charges of arson of a dwelling, interfering with civil rights, and destruction to a place of worship. Lucey has confessed to travelling to Salem with the intention of lighting the temple on fire, and that he intended for it to be a hate crime.
Satanic Temple co-founder and spokesperson Lucien Greaves has posted a handful of photos from the night on Twitter.
A story told in pictures.
We will fix it. We will clean it up, air out the smoke, and we will reopen.
We are extremely grateful to be in Salem, and a part of the Salem community, which has been nothing but helpful and supportive. pic.twitter.com/DWzj6VwpeJ— Lucien Greaves (@LucienGreaves) June 11, 2022
Speaking to the Boston 25 News, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll confirmed the arson attempt and stated that it was being treated as a hate crime.
"I am enormously grateful for the quick and professional response by the Salem Police and Fire departments to last night's criminal arson attempt and share our community's relief that no one was hurt in this awful incident," said Driscoll. "On behalf of the City of Salem, we condemn this hateful attack. Salem is a welcoming place, and the actions of this individual are not reflective of who we are or our values as a community."
As you can see from the above video from CBS Boston, the attack has made mainstream media in Boston. No word yet on whether not he was listening to Stryper at the time. This bizarre occurrence has inspired us to revist the excellent Church Burns by Zeal & Ardor. Back in February we had the absolutly delightful opportunity to sit down for a wide-ranging chat with a true innovator, the one behind Zeal & Ardor, the one, the only Manuel Gagneux, who had this to say on the topic.
One song I have to ask you about is Church Burns, what inspired you to write a song that seems quite literally to be about a man, burning down churches?
I wanted our most pop-structured song on the album to have the most outlandish lyrics. That was the intention. It's not literally about burning churches, although we do play with that imagery. It's about you know, being out with the old in with the new. Sometimes rebuilding something requires something else to burn down.
Are you being a little vague with the deeper meaning of the metaphor there?
Well, no, I'm just not a great supporter of the church or you know, organized religion.
Well, I don't think a lot of people particularly remain steadfast supporters of organized religion so that’s understandable.
That’s an astute observation.
Read the full interview here.
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