Iceland's Eurovision entry invites families everywhere into the BDSM pain-sphere
The “weird Eurovision entry” has been a staple of internet consumption of the annual international song contest for years now, as people around the planet—including non-combatants in the U.S.—wait to see which country fields the most bizarre entry in the yearly competition. Weird Eurovision picks tend to go the excessively goofy route, with earnest singers crooning about mustaches, or elaborate, Bjork-esque costumes overwhelming otherwise very normal singers. It’s much rarer for someone to do something purely daring—especially since this is, ostensibly, a competition meant to be viewed by music fans of all ages—but fuck if Iceland’s contestants at this year’s event didn’t just kind of go for it.
Meet Icelandic techno-industrial group Hatari, which busted out a pyro-heavy, BDSM-influenced performance at this year’s competition that made heavy use of a bit of set design that we can only really think of as a horny, spike-covered pain sphere. That’s to say nothing of the lyrics to “Hatrið mun sigra,” their entry in the contest, which features such cheerful sentiments as “Hatred will prevail” and “The void will swallow all.” It’s not precisely a party jam, although these kids seem to be enjoying it:
This will presumably all come as an absolute delight for the group’s fans, who had to cope with the possibility of Hatari breaking up last year, after deciding that they had failed in their stated goal to “topple capitalism.” They’ve also been vocal critics of Eurovision itself, protesting the decision to host the contest this year in Israel, and drawing censure from the contest’s organizing body for their various statements denouncing occupations and fascists. They appear to have refrained from any obviously political statements in their performance today, unless, of course, you consider “Hate will prevail, Europe will crumble, a web of lies will arise from the ashes” to be a political statement.