Because of increased fame after the Iraqi regime change, the band started to receive death threats from Islamic militants.
Due to this and the increasing violence in Baghdad the members of the band fled first to Syria and then Turkey before being granted refugee status in the United States of America.
Most of the band settled in New Jersey, but Tony Aziz decided to live with family in Michigan, before moving to Richmond, Virginia.
The band was formed in 2000 after Riyadh and Talal met Aziz in a Baghdad school where they were studying fine arts.
[5] Called "The Youth of Iraq", the song included the lyrics "Following our leader Saddam Hussein, we'll make them fall, we'll drive them insane!
"[6] Other restrictions on the band included the banning of headbanging because of its similarities with the head movement of Orthodox Jews (davening) while praying.
[6][8] After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein during the Iraq War, Acrassicauda staged a concert at the Al-Fanar Hotel in the summer of 2005.
[5] Due to threats against their lives and increasing violence in Baghdad the band members individually moved to Syria.
During the taping of Heavy Metal in Baghdad in 2007, it was revealed that the Syrian government did not intend to extend the visas of the band.
The members of the band fled to Turkey when the visa change took place to apply for refugee status and wait for a third country to accept them.
A humanitarian relief and refugee resettlement agency, International Rescue Committee, placed them in an apartment in the town of Elizabeth.
Acrassicauda followed the release up with a performance with Cannibal Corpse, Voivod, and other metal bands at the Scion Rock Fest in Columbus, Ohio, on March 13.
The story of the band was the subject of a documentary called Heavy Metal in Baghdad, which was made by Canadians Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi.
reportage...both a stirring testament to the plight of cultural expression in Baghdad and a striking report on the refugee scene in Syria, this rock-doc like no other electrifies its genre and redefines headbanging as an act of hard-core courage.
"[23] An hour-long cut-down version of the film was shown in the UK in December 2008 as part of the documentary series Imagine.
Heavy Metal in Baghdad shows the band playing covers ranging from Europe's "The Final Countdown" to Metallica's "Fade to Black".
[26] According to Vice magazine, the conditions in Baghdad after the American invasion resulted in the band's music becoming "even more hate-filled and intense and fucked than ever before.