I read this article the other day in the NYTimes about this band from Iraq.

From left, Firas Al-Lateef, Faisal Talal and Marwan Riyadh, three members of Acrassicauda, in Elizabeth, N.J.

I caught their DVD on Netflix and it was both fascinating, frightening and heartwarming.

Here’s just a portion of the Times article published February 2, 2009:

It was a heavy metal miracle.

Acrassicauda had been through hell as a rock band in wartime Baghdad. Its practice space was bombed. Its members were branded Satan worshipers and received death threats for making Western-style music. Then they suffered through two purgatorial years as refugees in Syria and Turkey, killing time and dreaming of rocking out in the land of the free.

And on Sunday night, two days after the last of the band’s four members was resettled in the United States, they enjoyed what any metal fan would have to call heaven: bearhugs and “Wow, dude” heart-to-hearts backstage with Metallica at the Prudential Center in Newark. It probably wasn’t necessary for James Hetfield, Metallica’s lead singer, to surprise them after the show by handing over one of his guitars, a black ESP, and signing it “Welcome to America”; their minds were already blown.

“That’s for keeping the faith,” Mr. Hetfield said, adding as he disappeared with his entourage down a corridor, “Write some good riffs.”

Acrassicauda’s rock ’n’ roll faith was traced in a documentary, “Heavy Metal in Baghdad,” released in 2007. That film portrayed the members as ordinary if tenacious rock Joes amid the most extraordinary circumstances, and they continue to embody those roles in their new lives.

The United States government has granted them refugee status, which allows them to apply for green cards in a year, and the International Rescue Committee has placed them in a modest one-bedroom apartment in Elizabeth, N.J., where there are as yet no Metallica or Slayer posters on the walls but a bundle of guitars are piled in one corner.

“This is more than we ever could have expected or dreamed of,” said Firas Al-Lateef, 27, the bassist, who arrived four months ago.

Backstage after the Metallica show, Mr. Al-Lateef giggled in disbelief along with two of his band mates, Faisal Talal, 25, the lead singer and rhythm guitarist, and Marwan Riyadh, the drummer, who was the last to arrive. (The lead guitarist, Tony Aziz, who will turn 30 on Wednesday, was in Michigan working to bring over family from Iraq; heads were shaken gravely over his unfortunate timing.) It was only the second full rock concert they had ever attended, after seeing the venerable Testament in Turkey.

But they say they are acutely aware that another set of challenges lies before them, as they set out to make good on their commitment to play music and compete in the open marketplace of metal.

“We’re good at process,” said Mr. Riyadh, 24, who has previously used the name Marwan Hussain. “Going to the U.N.H.C.R.,” he said, referring to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, “standing in a queue for three or four hours. We’re good at that. But musically, we need to practice.”

There may not be many metal bands from Baghdad, but as refugees the members of Acrassicauda (pronounced “a-crass-a-COW-da” and derived from the name of a species of black scorpion) are far from alone, and not all have made it through the same hoops.

Of as many as two million Iraqi refugees around the world, only 13,000 were admitted to the United States in fiscal year 2008, which ended on Sept. 30, and another 17,000 are scheduled for fiscal 2009.

Read the rest of the article here.