Metal Hammer reporter Joel McIver received an unexpected phonecall in the evening of July 8 from Morbid Angel frontman David Vincent: “I was arrested in Italy today and charged with a weapons offense!” The singer went on to explain that the veteran death metal outfit had arrived at Milan airport that morning for a flight to Greece, but he was detained after customs officials found a bullet-belt inside his checked-in luggage.
Arrested and escorted by a group of 15-20 armed police officers to a holding cell, Vincent endured over two and a half hours of questioning before being released. “I asked them again and again if they were kidding,” recalled David, “but they said no. The belt is obviously not made of real bullets. Metal is clearly not fashionable in the fashion centre of Europe.” The bullet-belt, given to Vincent in 1989 by the Earache owner Digby Pearson when MORBID ANGEL signed to his label, was confiscated and the singer was charged with an offense that translates approximately as “possession of contraband weapons.”
Asked for a statement by McIver, Vincent replied: “My comment is this. For 20 years I’ve had my same friendly bullet-belt with me at all metal occasions. After 20 years of being a lawless individual, I’m happy that the Keystone Kops of spaghetti western fame have been able to show me the error of my ways.” He was given a document requesting his attendance in an Italian court, with the date yet to be decided, and was required to contact a lawyer on his return to the USA in order to arrange his defense. “I doubt very much that I’ll ever get the belt back,” he fumed down the line from Greece, where Morbid Angel are playing tonight (July 9). “We barely made our flight,” he added. “We only made it to the plane because we make a point of showing up early at airports in case of bullshit like this.”