Death Threats for the Dimebag Grave Vandal: Two Wrongs Do Not Make A Right

It’s been an emotional weekend for the metal community.

Late Saturday night, the legendary metal band Pantera posted to their FB page that someone had vandalized the grave of their late guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. Dimebag was shot and killed on stage during a performance with his post-Pantera band Damageplan on December 8, 2004, with four other people killed and seven others injured by gunman Nathan Gale. 

It didn’t take the Internet long to figure out who was related to the vandalism (below right) once Pantera posted about it. Within the hour the Instagram account was traced to a band named Nuclear Hellfrost of Fort Wayne, IN. Public outcry began to mount rapidly against Nuclear Hellfrost, who seemed to be caught off guard by the sudden outrage. The band posted a statement denouncing their involvement with the act, saying: 

The original image

The posts about us and to us are a complete surprise to us. Anything having to do with grave desecration was entirely a hoax put on by our former lead singer completely disconnected from the other members of the band. If you see Dimebag’s grave you can see there is nothing carved into his grave, the only thing that exists is a photo of a piece of paper posted by the former member. We are strongly against any sort of homophobia, racism, or outright disrespect for a human being. We have nothing but the utmost respect for Dimebag and this is a misguided political publicity stunt that we were dragged into by a former member with an awful sense of humor. Nuclear Hellfrost as a band would like to apologize on this former member’s behalf to not only Dimebag’s fans, but most importantly his family. Again, the members of Nuclear Hellfrost had absolutely ZERO actual involvement in any of the alleged actions described by our former singer. Again, nothing but respect to Dimebag as a human being and condolences to his family. These are fabricated and contrived allegations on the internet that never happened in real life.

Shortly thereafter Reece Eber, the former lead vocalist for Nuclear Hellfrost, came forward and confessed to the vandalism and cleared his former bandmates of any wrongdoing. Reece posted an apology on the band’s FB page which read:

This is Reece Eber, the guy who ignorantly acted like a fool and pulled the dumbest possible delinquent act of my life… And where to begin… I’ve become famous today in the worst possible way. My friends and I have received death threats and multiple insults over the past day or so, I’ve made the news, and all I can say to sum it all up is I’m deeply sorry. I acted ignorantly and completely out of line. There is NO reason for doing what I did, and when I say “I”, I mean ME alone. My friends were not present for the event and should have caught up with them when they were walking away, instead i left a piece of paper with an insult to a man many people idolize and for a cheap laugh that I didn’t think about the consequences. I did not carve into it and it was a piece of paper and nothing was stolen. I’m not asking for forgiveness, I’m not asking for sympathy, I am only attempting to express an apology that I want to reach out to the people I hurt and offended with this dumb act. There is no reason for what I did and it was the worst mistake I’ve made in my young and evidently dumb life. I don’t blame the threats and comments. I understand how you feel and that’s why I’m an asshole because I knowingly was out for blood, and so I don’t blame anyone for wanting to do god knows what to me. The fact of the matter is I feel awful and guilty and this will stick with me forever, just like the Seinfeld guy using the N word… I can not express how sorry I am to Vinnie Paul and the Abbott family for the distress I caused, and the other members of Pantera and other acts Darrell was a part of. I owe everyone an apology for my actions because they were uncalled for, and horrible, despicable, and I went way too far. Some jokes are NOT funny and this is one of them. I took a joke way too far with a piece of paper and some hurtful words and as I’ve expressed, I don’t expect any sort of acceptance or sympathy. I’m doing this out of the guilt I feel, knowing I caused this and I want to attempt to make it right even though I’m sure many will not accept this… I’m truly sorry for my actions and I’m sorry I put people I care about in potential danger and upsetting people for my selfish and morbid sense of humor. Anyways to wrap this up, I hope this was read, I hope at least someone will accept this and I hope for a better future for everyone…

By this point in time, the collective wrath of the entire metal community, which included a sizable portion of Pantera’s 9 million plus member fanbase, was falling mercilessly upon Nuclear Hellfrost and Reece. The band’s show that evening was cancelled by the venue, and the band’s spot on an upcoming festival was removed. Their FB page continues to get bombarded by the collective fury of metalheads everywhere, and while at the time of this writing Reece has not been formally charged, it is conceivable that this will not end anytime soon.

Pushing the Limit

Ban Nuclear Hellfrost, which was the first FB page to appear shortly after news began to break, was posting quite a bit of material (most of which is unsuitable to reprint here) against the band, and in a few short hours the page topped 3,000 likes. But by the end of the night, it was clear that the fanbase was pushing the limit for what was considered an appropriate response. Around 8PMish the page posted:

It’s kinda ridiculous that I’m even having to say this, guys. But can we please refrain on the death threats to them and their families? We all want to get to the bottom of what really happened. I am just as upset about any of this as you guys are and I do agree that they need to see justice. But we are better than this. People always want to talk about how violent metalheads are… but it’s not like that. All of the threats and things that you are seeing from these die-hard fans is because we are passionate! Pantera touched the lives of millions upon millions of people and the amount of support that this page has gotten in the couple of hours alone shows that!

Several hours later, the page posted:

Just going to go ahead and say this now before logging off. I know that tempers are high and that people are saying a lot of things. I, myself, have tried to look at this from all points of view before just spouting off nonsense and half truths like the majority of Pantera’s fans have. Any true fan of Dime’s would not want to cause the same type of pain that has been brought on his family and all of us by his passing on someone else. So, again, I say… enough with the death threats. There are much more productive ways that we can get what we want. I think that making sure that they never play another note live without getting booed off the stage is a much better revenge. That’s the worst kind of hell to a musician. And I will personally make sure of that.

It’s impossible to survey each comment on the Internet to see if there’s any bite to the bark, but the fact that Reece himself and even the anti-Nuclear Hellfrost page acknowledge that death threats have been made means that some of these barks intend to bite should they get so lucky. 

Adding Fuel to the Fire Doesn’t Extinguish the Flames

Reece Eber

What Reece did was terrible and disgusting, and he should be punished by the law and by his social circles for what he did. Yet calling for the kid’s death (and by extension, the band and family’s death as well) takes what was already a messed up situation and makes it worse, not better. Adding fuel to this fire by threatening and wishing harm to the vandal and those related to him will not put the fire out. Not only does it confirm every negative stereotype given to metal lovers by society, it just makes the situation plainly worse and solves literally nothing.

Reece will suffer the social consequences of this for the rest of his life. His reputation is permanently tarred, and no band will want to associate themselves with the man who defaced the grave of one of the greatest guitarists of all time. But vandalism is not a crime worthy of someone’s death. Death is not one of the things Reece should experience for what he did. That so many Pantera fans think that their response, no matter how extreme, is justified because of what Reece did is just as terrible as Reece’s vandalism – if not worse. Dimebag was killed by an act of senseless violence – Pantera fans ought to know better than anyone that senseless violence brings nothing but destruction and grief.

The Gospel amid a sea of “F*** YOU!”

Christians who identify with the metal community (myself included) have an amazing opportunity to show that wrongdoing doesn’t have to lead to more wrongdoing, and that the Gospel is the solution to this situation. Dimebag’s death was brought about by the evil of another, but even if Dimebag was still alive, death would have come upon him at some point later on. All of us will die at some point because of our sins, but God has made a way for us to have life beyond death through Jesus Christ. The life, death, and resurrection of Christ allows for us to have a change of heart to where we bless those who curse us (or our favorite musician) and where we love our neighbor as ourself. I highly doubt Pantera fans want to receive death threats for doing something idiotic to someone else, and I highly doubt Reece would want people to vandalize his grave whenever he dies. This change of heart is what the situation with Reece and Nuclear Hellfrost needs – an idiot kid did something stupid, and we can either call for his death or let him suffer the consequences and acknowledge that we’ve all done stupid stuff and need something fixed in our lives. The call of Christ to turn away from our sins and place our trust in Him runs entirely against the grain of the broader metal scene and is often mocked and scorned to no end, but in many ways it’s the very thing the metal scene needs.

Two wrongs do not make a right, and over this weekend many wrongs have been suggested to make the situation right. Death threats are not what Dimebag would’ve wanted, and it’s not what we should want either. Reece will reap what he has sown – and so will those who want to respond with violence.