Altohough he didn’t know it at the time, the first punch was thrown by top rating 3AW morning announcer Neil Mitchell who took umbrage at a little known death metal band, OUROBOROS, being handed a $20,000 grant from the Australia Council for the Arts. “It’s awful stuff, and you’re paying for it,” huffed Mitchell.

Over at Triple M, Dave Higgins, (pictured) who hosts a heavy metal show called Distortion, was outraged and went in to bat for the band and the genre. So did Frank who called in to Mitchel’s show claiming to presents a metal show on a community station.

Higgo’s blog in response to Mitchell now features prominently on Triple M’s website. And he doesn’t hold back,  “I understand heavy metal isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, just like country music, just like hip hop, just like pop music, just like opera. But do those genres come under fire from Mitchell? No. And why is that?

What business is it of yours anyway, Mitchell? I’m guessing you’d make more than $20,000 in other opportunities through your profession whilst these guys are gigging around the country flat out trying to make a living out of something they love. Who the hell are you to try and take that away from them, or anyone for that matter?” says Higgo.

On 3AW’s website, Mitchell’s regular listeners didn’t seem that fussed, the majority of comments coming from metal fans. This one from “Smith” was typical, “I’d personally like to thank Mr. Mitchell for bringing this to my attention. This band looks awesome, I ca’t (sic) wait to see them when the’re (sic) next in Melbourne! And here I was thinking that Mr. Mitchell was a useless complaining git!”

And the winner is. Bring up fire image and go to commercial. We’re back. And the winner is OUROBOROS. Yesterday almost no one knew their name and today, almost everyone is struggling to pronounce it.