Finally, playing in a heavy metal band in Baghdad isn't easy. For one thing, it can get you killed. That was the experience of group of Iraqi heavy metal musicians. Now -- as Dorian Jones found out -- the group is looking for gigs in Turkey. Iraq's hottest heavy metal band Acrassicauda.

Playing to a packed concert at Istanbul's Kermanci's rock club, they are fast winning new fans But tonight's performance is a far a cry from their last gig in Baghdad. As band members Marwan Riad, Firas a.Abdulrazaq and Faisel Talal explain.

Acrassicauda: "I remember the last concert, there was impacts and mortar rounds all around the place, concert, and the people were kind of scared."

"There were really risking their lives, back then."

"They risked themselves just to get into the concert and they knew they could got killed by any explosion on the street. Or because they're seen wearing a heavy metal t-shirt."

Such experiences are the main driving force behind their music. Drummer Marwan Riad writes many of the songs.

RIAD: "You can figure that out from the names. Massacre, Message from Baghdad, Between the ashes, the underworld. It is our experience in life.. It is us. We have got a lot of sadness, a lot of drama. But still we got a lot of happy moments, that we enjoyed in our lives."

But being in a heavy metal band in Baghdad, carries its own risks, as Riad and his bass guitarist Firas a.Abdulrazaq, explains.

Acrassicauda: "You get killed for any reason, but heavy metal is another reason to get killed."

"The garage where we used to practice, we had a small piece of paper stuck on the lock of the door saying like, you need to stop doing playing this music, otherwise.....and period."

"And you took it seriously?"

"We kept practicing and going there, until the practice place got blown up, like the whole building got bombed so after that we decided to go to Syria."

But surviving in Syria like for most Iraqi refugees was not easy, especially when their savings ran out. But thanks to a documentary made about them in Baghdad meant heavy metal lovers around the world, came to their aid, Abdulrazaq and Riad again.

Acrassicauda: "We got help from all our fans across the world, they set up a donation web site, so people started donating money. This is how we collected the money, for the tickets, and here we are."
The concert at Kemanci, one Istanbul's most famous clubs, saw some of Turkey's top bands perform in support of their Iraqi rock brothers.

The members of Acrassicauda hope they can return to Iraq someday. But only if a lot of things get better.

For the World I am Dorian Jones in Istanbul.