Black metal fans have never been slow in exhibiting extreme behaviors to broadcast their devotion to the genre’s unholy cause. Usually this is restricted to the safety of Internet elitism and misadventures with corpsepaint for weaponized cosplay. We’ve all seen photographic evidence of the latter and been subjected to the former. But at Ptahil’s hometown show in Fort Wayne, Indiana some dude took a bite out of dead rat and threw the rest onstage.
Like many of their contemporaries, animal carcasses, bones and other such necrotic ephemera decorate Ptahil’s live show. It adds to the vibe, for sure; even when, or rather especially when your atonal skronk for Satan is just filling out a dive bar it’s important to have something extra to add a sense of ritual. But, folks, you’ve got to remember that all that dead shit on stage is just for show. Zac Bau, black metal fan and devourer of the rat, disagrees.
“I felt it necessary to step outside the rest of the fans behavior and show that it only takes one person to break the monotony of fist-pumping metal fans,” says Bau, via a press release. “Everybody can mosh; everybody can throw the horns but the true metal fan will eat things that the spirit of the moment moves them to no matter the rest of the world’s thoughts on it.”
Indeed, I guess the “spirit of the moment” quashes our hypotheses about such bestial hunger as a forebear of the Apocalypse, or even that eating the stage props was an earnest protest made on behalf of the silent P in Ptahil. Whatever, it kinda makes it difficult to take the moral high ground when the cat does the same.
Here’s the video. Fast forward to 11:50 for evidence of Bau’s leftovers flying stage-wards, but maybe sit through all 12 minutes to see what the spirit of the moment does for you. Either way, Ptahil are delighted, just glad to be playing shows and subverting dietary norms.
https://youtu.be/iNT-pPvCN5M
“It is good to see that when a human being is bombarded with specific emotions, smells and sounds that they can commit actions that are normally unthinkable to them,” says drummer Mhaghnuis. “We are proud that our music and presence helped this person do something unthinkable to any current standard of social behavior.”
Granted, this might lose a bit of impact seeing as it’s going out at a time when most people are attending summer festivals across Europe, and the idea of eating decomposing vermin compares favorably with festival catering. Plus, the video quality isn’t extreme close-up HD with a Man Vs. Food-style shot of diner and meal.
Here’s Decibel’s artist representation of Zac Bau at mealtimes.
It begs the question: What’s the most extremely extreme thing you’ve done under the influence of metal?
**You can always ask Ptahil for recipes here.**
