By now, almost all of us have heard of the most famous example of a transphobic/transmisogynistic incident in the metal scene, when Russ… sorry, “Proscriptor McGovern” (insert spooky sound here), the leader of Absu, fired from the band Melissa Moore (now of Sonja) as soon as she came out to him as a trans woman, saying to her that “there is no place for a woman in the band” and that she “fired herself with her decision” – and then made himself look even worse with a ridiculous meltdown about Melissa “ruining his legacy” and the band being only consistent with “male energy“. Imagine: an occultist, with all the focus of this school of thought on self-actualization and self-transformation, who is scared by women and transness!

But while the incident received much publicity (such as Loud Arriver), the actual effects were minimal for the band, which simply reformed under a slightly different name – Prescription McGovernment’s Apsû or something similar, which everyone still refers to as Absu. Of course, we didn’t expect much – the band is signed to the sketchy Agonia Records, which works with pedo/nazis Inquisition and other bands connected to the NSBM scene like Αχέροντας and Akitsa.

Russ Prediction McDonald is characteristically unrepentant about the incident; his reaction from then until now was to ignore the issue completely and avoid talking about it as if it hasn’t happened at all… and, with the band touring Europe right now with little to no reactions so far, it seems like transphobia isn’t considered that much of a serious issue in the metal scene. But it SHOULD be, especially in this dark period with attacks towards trans people by the fascist Trump/Musk administration and its similars all over the world, where reactionary thought has put anti-trans ideology as the centre of its rhetoric, and they all Want Us All Dead.

We treat transphobia very seriously at ABMN. But honestly… just go home, Russ. You’ve embarrassed yourself enough, you ruined your legacy yourself and no nostalgia touring is going to make up for the fact that you can’t write any decent new stuff because you decided to be a misogynistic, transphobic idiot, fired your best guitarist and blew up your own band – and then threatened to steal the songs she produced but chickened out as the coward you are. Your Candle Burns Low. If you call yourself a Magus outside but still act like the most conservative Christian inside, we have a new name for your band, which is much more proper: Apsûrd.