DOWN Meets Italian 'Heavy Metal Monk'; Video Available

July 2, 2009

Friar Cesare Bonizzi, the 62-year-old Italian self-described "preacher-singer" who has released a couple of albums with his heavy metal band FRATELLO METALLO (Metal Brother),joined DOWN on stage during the New Orleans group's June 28, 2009 performance at the Gods Of Metal festival in Monza, Italy. According to the Italian news blog Musica Metal, "While announcing the last song of their show, [DOWN] frontman Phil Anselmo spotted at the barriers Frate Cesare, an actual monk with a long white beard, who plays in a metal band in Italy shouting lyrics about alcohol, sex, tobacco and 'metal life' in general. Anselmo was amazed by the sight and requested him to get onstage, hugged him, and kept saying it was unreal — then made a wanking off sign behind [Bonizzi's] back, causing a huge laughter in the audience."

Video footage of Bonizzi's onstage appearance during DOWN's concert can be viewed below.

Photos of DOWN's concert at the festival are available at Musica Metal.

DOWN's setlist was as follows:

01. Hail The Leaf
02. The Path
03. Lysergik Funeral Procession
04. Lifer
05. New Orleans Is A Dying Whore
06. Losing All
07. N.O.D.
08. Eyes Of The South
09. Stone The Crow
10. Bury Me In Smoke

Friar Cesare Bonizzi meets DOWN:

Reuters report on the "heavy metal monk":

Photo courtesy of Musica Metal:

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).