Essential New Zealand Metal
New Zealand might be geographically isolated, but its remoteness has never hindered the creativity or determination of Kiwi metal musicians. Influences from abroad have always been filtered through a wry antipodean lens, and realistic expectations about the limitations of distance make for a passionate DIY scene.
Supported by dedicated fans, NZ's metal community is thriving, and the last decade or so has seen many bands get some well overdue international recognition. NZ's metal history is deep and its contemporary scene wide, but you can't include everyone on a list such as this. So, with due apologies to our metal founders, along with a gazillion other worthy bands there wasn't room for, here is a primer, a taster if you will, of the contemporary Kiwi scene.
Following the release of The Destroyers of All,Ulcerate found themselves on virtually every end of year 'best metal' list in 2011. The album was an icy blast of perfectly rendered technical death metal, and Ulcerate's previous albums, 2009's Everything Is Fire and 2007's Of Fracture And Failure, are also well worth investigating. With a who's who of NZ's metal elite playing a role in the band's success, and a recent signing to Relapse, the expectations for their upcoming 2012 release are stratospheric, to say the least.
See also: Vegan warriors The Mark Of Man, and guttural purveyors Dawn Of Azazel, Human and Heresiarch.
Two bands that best represent the varied sludge scene in NZ released excellent self-titled debuts in 2011. Doomy stalwarts Beastwars had a phenomenal year: sold-out shows, a top 20 debut and award nominations followed the release of their enigmatic and darkly psychedelic album. While nihilistic behemoths Meth Drinker went about things very differently. With an admirable DIY ethos playing a huge role in their excruciatingly dour assault, their underground reputation was firmly entrenched with an album that evoked the harshest social ills.
See also: Stone Angels, scouring glacial sludge from the devastated city of Christchurch.
Picking a band to represent NZ's booming post-metal scene is near impossible. A raft of NZ bands have produced celebrated albums utilizing those 'post' dynamics we know so well. Jakob have toured with Isis and Tool, both at home and internationally, and have a significant following outside NZ. While you could argue the band aren't really metal at all, their three full-lengths — Subsets Of Sets, Cale:Drew and Solace — have all been embraced by metal fans due to their mix of propulsive and frequently weighty riffs, juxtaposed with ambient textures.
See also: HDU, How to Kill, Kerretta and newcomers Spook The Horses.
NZ's blackened death metal scene is infested with genre-blending barbarians. Two bands that stand right at the front of the resulting shield-wall are Diocletian and Witchrist. With both bands signed to French label Osmose Productions, you can expect to hear more from them in 2012. The combination of über-underground, heavily ritualized metal saw Diocletian's War Of All Against All and Witchrist's Beheaded Ouroborus hailed in 2010's international press as hellish classics of palpable brutality. Cult war metal that demands to be heard, seek immediately.
See also: Skuldom,Vassafor,Winter Deluge,Bulletbelt and Sabbatic Goat.
There's no other band operating in NZ's heavy rock spectrum with the narrative vision of The House Of Capricorn. Their 2011 release, In the Devil's Days, was a hugely ambitious concept album. The storyline followed one man's journey through hell, and the gothic-tinged occult-rock matched the tale perfectly. While the band's debut, Sign Of The Cloven Hoof, hews closer to the traditional stoner line, it too is well worth investigating. Where the band head to next is anyone's guess, but In The Devil's Days set a new benchmark in NZ heavy rock.
See also: The House Of Capricorn frontman Marko Pavlovic's blackened side-project, Creeping.
In Dread Response's debut album, 2008's From The Oceanic Graves, hit the NZ metal scene like a sledgehammer. The band's ferocious mix of melodic death metal and thrash is backed up by a fearsome live reputation, with their 2011 release Embers In The Spiritless Void easily rivaling the best that European death metal has to offer. Guitarist and chief songwriter Trajan M. Schwencke is backed by an esteemed crew of NZ metal maestros, and the band’s plans for international touring should gain them even more acclaim.
See also: Razorwyre, whose NWOBHM influences see them primed for international attention, and the long-running Sinate.
Black Boned Angel's vast droning soundscapes have been celebrated in avant-garde metal circles for many years. The band is spoken of in hushed whispers in Europe and Japan. Their epic dirges are worshiped by fans of obscure desolate noise for very good reason; albums like 2009's Verdun and 2008's The Endless Coming Into Life are crushingly emotive, with an almost life-extinguishing heaviness about them. Frontman Campbell Kneale's extensive discography is a treasure trove for fans dedicated to sourcing limited-run releases.
See also: Our Love Will Destroy the World or industrial/drone outfit Dying Of The Light.
Cobra Khan were born from the ashes of some of NZ's most venerated metallic hardcore outfits, and their 2008 release Helgorithms is firmly enshrined in the Kiwi metal canon. They came storming back in 2011 with Adversities, a refined and forward-thinking hunk of molten metal. Think Refused melded to Slayer and you'll get somewhere close to Cobra Khan. Their ability to blend disparate genres into a singular pulverizing entity has allowed them to release some of NZ's most astute metal.
See also: Label mates Sticky Filth; after 26 years of service to the crusted metal and punk fraternity it would be treasonous not to mention them.
NZ's most cosmically inclined metal band, Arc Of Ascent, specializes in colossal psychedelic stoner jams. Witnessing the band locked into a groove and transcending these earthly bounds is a hypnotic experience. The band's 2010 release Circle Of The Sun was an enthralling, deeply spiritual set of astral projections layered with intoxicating riffs and a dash of sitar. Led by multi-instrumentalist Craig Williamson (who has a sideline in the raga-droning Lamp of the Universe), Arc of Ascent are true galactic overlords.
See also: Second Gear Grind, another band with their foot set firmly in the stoner camp. Their 2010 Grayscale EP was a delight for fans of herb-fueled rocket rock.
Shihad are NZ's most commercially successful 'metal' band — although the industrially tinged thrash they exhibited on their debut Churn is now long gone. They've shifted styles throughout their career (some might say a little too calculatingly) and while 1995's Killjoy and 1999's General Electric albums are generally regarded as NZ classics, each represents a very different strain of metalized rock. Long regarded as a Kiwi rock institution, Shihad remain hugely popular at home and abroad.
See also: Legendary heroes of raucous debauchery Head Like A Hole.
Supported by dedicated fans, NZ's metal community is thriving, and the last decade or so has seen many bands get some well overdue international recognition. NZ's metal history is deep and its contemporary scene wide, but you can't include everyone on a list such as this. So, with due apologies to our metal founders, along with a gazillion other worthy bands there wasn't room for, here is a primer, a taster if you will, of the contemporary Kiwi scene.
•Ulcerate
Following the release of The Destroyers of All,Ulcerate found themselves on virtually every end of year 'best metal' list in 2011. The album was an icy blast of perfectly rendered technical death metal, and Ulcerate's previous albums, 2009's Everything Is Fire and 2007's Of Fracture And Failure, are also well worth investigating. With a who's who of NZ's metal elite playing a role in the band's success, and a recent signing to Relapse, the expectations for their upcoming 2012 release are stratospheric, to say the least.
See also: Vegan warriors The Mark Of Man, and guttural purveyors Dawn Of Azazel, Human and Heresiarch.
•Beastwars and Meth Drinker
Two bands that best represent the varied sludge scene in NZ released excellent self-titled debuts in 2011. Doomy stalwarts Beastwars had a phenomenal year: sold-out shows, a top 20 debut and award nominations followed the release of their enigmatic and darkly psychedelic album. While nihilistic behemoths Meth Drinker went about things very differently. With an admirable DIY ethos playing a huge role in their excruciatingly dour assault, their underground reputation was firmly entrenched with an album that evoked the harshest social ills.
See also: Stone Angels, scouring glacial sludge from the devastated city of Christchurch.
•Jakob
Picking a band to represent NZ's booming post-metal scene is near impossible. A raft of NZ bands have produced celebrated albums utilizing those 'post' dynamics we know so well. Jakob have toured with Isis and Tool, both at home and internationally, and have a significant following outside NZ. While you could argue the band aren't really metal at all, their three full-lengths — Subsets Of Sets, Cale:Drew and Solace — have all been embraced by metal fans due to their mix of propulsive and frequently weighty riffs, juxtaposed with ambient textures.
See also: HDU, How to Kill, Kerretta and newcomers Spook The Horses.
•Diocletian and Witchrist
NZ's blackened death metal scene is infested with genre-blending barbarians. Two bands that stand right at the front of the resulting shield-wall are Diocletian and Witchrist. With both bands signed to French label Osmose Productions, you can expect to hear more from them in 2012. The combination of über-underground, heavily ritualized metal saw Diocletian's War Of All Against All and Witchrist's Beheaded Ouroborus hailed in 2010's international press as hellish classics of palpable brutality. Cult war metal that demands to be heard, seek immediately.
See also: Skuldom,Vassafor,Winter Deluge,Bulletbelt and Sabbatic Goat.
•The House Of Capricorn
There's no other band operating in NZ's heavy rock spectrum with the narrative vision of The House Of Capricorn. Their 2011 release, In the Devil's Days, was a hugely ambitious concept album. The storyline followed one man's journey through hell, and the gothic-tinged occult-rock matched the tale perfectly. While the band's debut, Sign Of The Cloven Hoof, hews closer to the traditional stoner line, it too is well worth investigating. Where the band head to next is anyone's guess, but In The Devil's Days set a new benchmark in NZ heavy rock.
See also: The House Of Capricorn frontman Marko Pavlovic's blackened side-project, Creeping.
•In Dread Response
In Dread Response's debut album, 2008's From The Oceanic Graves, hit the NZ metal scene like a sledgehammer. The band's ferocious mix of melodic death metal and thrash is backed up by a fearsome live reputation, with their 2011 release Embers In The Spiritless Void easily rivaling the best that European death metal has to offer. Guitarist and chief songwriter Trajan M. Schwencke is backed by an esteemed crew of NZ metal maestros, and the band’s plans for international touring should gain them even more acclaim.
See also: Razorwyre, whose NWOBHM influences see them primed for international attention, and the long-running Sinate.
•Black Boned Angel
Black Boned Angel's vast droning soundscapes have been celebrated in avant-garde metal circles for many years. The band is spoken of in hushed whispers in Europe and Japan. Their epic dirges are worshiped by fans of obscure desolate noise for very good reason; albums like 2009's Verdun and 2008's The Endless Coming Into Life are crushingly emotive, with an almost life-extinguishing heaviness about them. Frontman Campbell Kneale's extensive discography is a treasure trove for fans dedicated to sourcing limited-run releases.
See also: Our Love Will Destroy the World or industrial/drone outfit Dying Of The Light.
•Cobra Khan
Cobra Khan were born from the ashes of some of NZ's most venerated metallic hardcore outfits, and their 2008 release Helgorithms is firmly enshrined in the Kiwi metal canon. They came storming back in 2011 with Adversities, a refined and forward-thinking hunk of molten metal. Think Refused melded to Slayer and you'll get somewhere close to Cobra Khan. Their ability to blend disparate genres into a singular pulverizing entity has allowed them to release some of NZ's most astute metal.
See also: Label mates Sticky Filth; after 26 years of service to the crusted metal and punk fraternity it would be treasonous not to mention them.
•Arc Of Ascent
NZ's most cosmically inclined metal band, Arc Of Ascent, specializes in colossal psychedelic stoner jams. Witnessing the band locked into a groove and transcending these earthly bounds is a hypnotic experience. The band's 2010 release Circle Of The Sun was an enthralling, deeply spiritual set of astral projections layered with intoxicating riffs and a dash of sitar. Led by multi-instrumentalist Craig Williamson (who has a sideline in the raga-droning Lamp of the Universe), Arc of Ascent are true galactic overlords.
See also: Second Gear Grind, another band with their foot set firmly in the stoner camp. Their 2010 Grayscale EP was a delight for fans of herb-fueled rocket rock.
•Shihad
Shihad are NZ's most commercially successful 'metal' band — although the industrially tinged thrash they exhibited on their debut Churn is now long gone. They've shifted styles throughout their career (some might say a little too calculatingly) and while 1995's Killjoy and 1999's General Electric albums are generally regarded as NZ classics, each represents a very different strain of metalized rock. Long regarded as a Kiwi rock institution, Shihad remain hugely popular at home and abroad.
See also: Legendary heroes of raucous debauchery Head Like A Hole.
