It’s bad enough when hellraisers become born-again Christians (lookin’ at you, “Lawless”!), but metal musicians entering politics?!
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That’s bizarrely what’s happening in South America as the former drummer of death/thrash pioneers Pentagram has announced he is running for political office. Dios mio!
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Eduardo “Topo” Topelberg, formerly of Chile’s extreme metal legends Pentagram, is hoping to become elected as one of ten councilors of Ñuñoa, a commune in Santiago, on October 28th.
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Topelberg’s campaign ‘jingle’, which can be seen HERE (recommended), has had over twenty thousand views in less than two weeks.
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When asked why he stopped drumming for Pentagram, the 45 year-old musician-turned-politician stated: “I started to feel a pain in my right leg and I was diagnosed with neuropathy [nerve damage]. I had to stop playing and change some of my habits. I underwent gastric bypass surgery last year and lost 80 kilograms.”
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That doesn’t explain much as to how he got involved in politics, but Topelberg is still somewhat involved in music however, stating: “I have two musical projects: Ogre, which performs covers of Camilo Sesto and other songs in Spanish, and my other band is Electropónico, a ‘tango trash’ project which I intend to finish mixing soon.”
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Earlier this year, drummer Juan Pablo Donoso (Sadism, Thornafire) was announced as Topelberg’s replacement. Guitarist/vocalist Anton Reisenegger explained, “We all love Eduardo dearly and we wish him nothing but the best, but my impression is that playing drums is just not a priority for him anymore. I sincerely hope he proves me wrong in the future, as he will always be part of the Pentagram family, but we needed a change if we wanted to move forward.”
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Come the 28th, ZT will be waiting to see if Topelberg gets elected.
