For all the difficulties any person has had to deal with in their life, Faisal Talal has encountered tenfold. He was born in Iraq and spent his entire life up to the 2003 Iraq war living in Baghdad. Even after the fall of Saddam Hussein and the subsequent outbreak of the insurgency and increase in violence, Faisal thought it best to stay in the place he’s lived his whole life. The story of Faisal and his band Acrassicauda, told in the documentary Heavy Metal In Baghdad, is only a part of the band’s exciting story. With a book and a documentary already made telling the tale of their struggle, Acrassicauda are at a point that would be strange to any musician: they just released their first recorded group of songs, a four-song EP entitled Only The Dead See The End Of War, and already the world knows who they are.
Faisal spoke of his band’s ambitions with excitement and a bit of nervousness. He lists potential countries in which to tour based upon the encouragement the band has already received: “We’re gonna start with a lot of countries who have been supporting us in our journey, like Japan, England, Italy, Germany, the US — the whole world.” He fumbled, then apologized for not listing each country, wishing to mention every nation that contains fans. In a situation that any artist would love to be in (in terms of popularity), Faisal lets it be known that he is incredibly humbled.
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In addition to being humbled, he speaks fondly and with bluntness of the new release: “It’s like a new baby has been born…it gave us a lot of passion and that being accomplished is a big, big thing.” One can’t help but think that after having been through so much just to get one record released, a constant reminder lingers over their heads that all of it can go away in minute. Acrassicauda has already been split up due to no want of the band members; they’ve encountered at least as much trouble and heartbreak as any veteran rock band in the world, and they’re in a position where they just want to get their foot in the door.
Gaining American citizenship is no walk in the park either, and while being from a country America is at war with doesn’t help, the band remains hopeful. Currently with refugee status, the band members are going through the motions to gain citizenship that will let them continue to do what they love. “It’s just the next step” says Faisal, confident that there is a future for the band.
When I ask him what the success of the band means to other Middle Easterners, I expect him to speak of matters such as what it means to progress as a Muslim living in an oppressive country in the 21st century, what it means to be Muslim in a post 9/11 world, or any number of talking points that make for good cross-cultural analysis, but all he talks about are the fans. He routinely brings up in conversation that the fans are of the utmost importance, second only to his love of playing music. While his English can be a bit of a challenge to understand, especially over the phone, that’s the main point he keeps returning to: that he’s happier than ever to play music, he loves his friends and fans who support them, and that no presupposed definition of what it is to come to America in pursuit of the American Dream is going to change who they are or the music they play.
One thing Americans love is a good American Dream success story, and there’s no doubt that Acrassicauda is on its way to becoming one. Interestingly, while they’re a group of young guys who love to play music, the music they play falls within a genre that lands on the outskirts of American culture. Sure, Americans love a good, safe heavy metal song to play over the monster truck rallies and firework shows, but Acrassicauda is a band that is a large step away from “Enter Sandman” — they’re gritty, hard-hitting, fast-paced, and serve to get the blood pumping of an individual who can never get close enough to the speaker blasting guitar solos with a million watts behind it. Nowhere in this realm is a product placement inserted, a corporate marketing deal signed, or an exclusive deal to insert a song into the soundtrack to a major motion picture.
This is what makes me anxious to see what is to become of the Acrassicauda American Dream story. Surely they’re set to be noticed as a byproduct of the global war on terror, with a thousand different stories tacked onto what is already there. But can they do it while letting their music be what is at the forefront of their inevitable beacon of national attention?
What is for sure is that no one can claim their destiny except the young men of Acrassicauda. They have no intention of doing anything other than what they love, and what will become of their story will be up to them. The absolute truth of that fact is that a devout love for their music, a desire to fight to keep that love alive, and a respectful admiration of the fans is all anyone can ask of a musician. Everything else is just fluff that gets in the way, and while I can’t speak for the members of Acrassicauda, I get the idea that they feel the same way.