Iceland's Hatari Are Flying The Flag For Heavy Metal At Eurovision 2019

Every year we catch a glimpse or two of Eurovision in the hope that a European county will send another heavy metal band to take out the competition like monster rock band Lordi did back in 2006 and every year our expectations are met with a weird/wacky and heavy band gracing the competition and raising a few eyebrows...

This year THAT band is Hatari from Iceland who give off some arousingly indifferent vibes with their screams/yells, industrial metal sounds and, umm, appreciation for leather!? The best way to explain them is like if all the guys in Rammstein had kids and they wanted to continue in their father's footsteps, this would be the outcome.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1HNhA-7OEU&w=640&h=360]

The group have also just made the final 10 of the competition with their song 'Hatrið mun sigra', where they'll be taking on our very own contestant Kate Miller-Heidke (who fucking rules by the way), but according to our addicted Eurovision correspondent Kia Handley (@kiahandley), the whole point of them being in the competition kinda/sorta doesn't make sense, because of their stance on the world:

Hatari describe themselves as an "anti-capitalist BDSM techno band". They formed in 2015 in Reykjavik, Iceland and started to come into the public domain with a handful of gigs in 2016. At the end of that year they released their EP called Neysluvara through a company called Svikamylla ehf. (which I believe is their own label). In 2018 they said they were dissolving because they had "failed to topple capitalism" but they're back and went through the Icelandic selection for Eurovision in early 2019.

There's lots of talk online now that this band is as close to a protest song as you will get. Protest songs aren't allowed at the Eurovision Song Contest but with so much talk around whether the contest should be held in Israel and if artists should boycott lots of people are questioning if Hatari is saying what a lot of people around the world are feeling.

It's not the first time and it won't be the last that we see interesting bands, BDSM style costumes and hard rock on the Eurovision stage and anything that's a bit of a move away from cheesy Europop always gets people talking.

I am happy they are there. I voted for them. I am for seeing more bands and heavier music on the world stage. It's what Eurovision is about. Supporting all music and giving people the stage to compete and perform alongside each other.

Couldn't agree more with Kia on that last part... In my opinion, I still believe last year's metalcore act AWS from Hungary have been the best band in the competition for a few years and reignited our/my motivation to see Australia send a heavy act like Parkway Drive along to try their hand at the event (remember #GetParkwayToEurovision?). But, if you think we need to send a wacky/gimmicky band instead of PWD take a look at back at the Top 7 Australian Metal Acts Eurovision Needs we suggested back in 2015 right here.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVbShUW6QBM&w=853&h=480]