AKERCOCKE will play Belfast tonight despite protests from Christian groups and a strong police presence at the Belfast show.

The impending release of the band's latest album, Antichrist, caused so much uproar amongst Northern Ireland’s religious community that the band appeared on BBC Northern Ireland on Wednesday night.

Nolan Live is BBC Northern Ireland's flagship topical affairs series. It is presented by double Royal Television Society Award winner Stephen Nolan, who also hosts a daily radio show on BBC Radio Ulster and a weekend slot on BBC Five Live.

See: www.bbc.co.uk/ni/nolan

As the title suggests, the programme is a late-night 60 minute LIVE programme, transmitted on BBC Northern Ireland television from 2240-2340 on a Wednesday night (also available on digital television). It is totally interactive thereby allowing viewers to e-mail, text and call the show LIVE - they will also be able to pose questions to Stephen and the studio guests.

Audiences took advantage of the communication channels on Wednesday night to air a variety of views. The programme consistently tops the ratings in Northern Ireland, achieving massive viewing figures. The overtly satanic content contained within Antichrist and the band's previous albums, specifically Rape Of The Bastard Nazerene has come under attack by religious forces, leading to the band's vocalist Jason Mendonca and drummer David Gray having a head- to-head live TV debate that aired on BBC1’s Nolan Live show.

View a clip of Wednesday night's show on YouTube.

According to sources in Belfast, there are Christian protestors outside the venue now and police are demanding to see Akercocke lyrics before letting them go on stage tonight. The band are determined to play and tickets for shows are now limited as the Irish metal community responds with support for Akercocke.

The band also guest on Steven Nolans BBC radio show the next morning. Listen in at this location.

Jason will be appearing on Totalrock radio www.totalrock.com on Monday morning at 11.30 AM to tell people about his thoughts on the BBC programmes.

To find out more about Antichrist and to listen exclusively to the track 'Summon The Antichrist' that has ignited this controversy, head over to www.myspace.com/akercockeantichrist.

Antichrist is released in the UK on Earache Records on May 28th (UK) and July 17th (USA).