Three teenagers from a small town in the small South Pacific nation of New Zealand have managed to spark people's imaginations all over the world with their unique Thrash Metal sound. Many of the songs by the band “Alien Weaponry” have been produced in a language unknown to international audiences - New Zealand's mother tongue Te Reo Māori. Another element besides the language is the orientation towards the traditional war dance Haka.
If you listen to the song “Rū Ana Te Whenua” you will get an idea of what is meant. The song starts with a really terrifying war cry - to then fly around the listener's ears in the finest Thrash manner. “Alien Weaponry” play a heavy, groovy kind of Thrash that combines the influence of “Sepultura” and “Bolt Thrower” with a New Zealand touch. The trio of young musicians comes from Waipu, New Zealand and consists of the brothers Lewis de Jong (vocals and guitar) and Henry de Jong (drums) and Ethan Trembath (bass) and was founded in 2010 when they were just 10 and 12 years old. All three are descended from Maori tribes. Lewis and Henry attended a Kura kaupapa Maori, a school where the Maori language is the language of instruction. This is one reason that Alien Weaponry use the Maori language in their songs too.
The furious debut album “Tū” is short for “Tūmatauenga”, the Māori god of war. “Tū” also means to stand strong and proud for something. Standing up for something important is something the band does just as well in English or in Māori. With this album you come to realize an age old fact and that is that all cultures are pretty much alike. It doesn't make any difference whether a band is from New Zealand, Brazil or the USA, they always do a very similar kind of Metal in the end. And even if you subtract the exotic bonus, “Tū” is a pretty fat album. A highlight of the disc is undoubtedly “Kai Tangata”. The track has a lot of fat riffs and an interesting text that is about a cannibal cave. The aforementioned “Rū Ana Te Whenua” scores with its unexpectedly broad, stylistic palette, where the dynamics experience dizzying changes.
“Rū Ana Te Whenua” is dedicated to the great, great, great grandfather Te Ahoaho, who fought the British army with about 1864 other Maori in 230 and lost his life. It was the heaviest artillery fire the British Army has ever directed against the Maori. The battle that followed brought a humiliating defeat for the 1700 British soldiers. At first the band was unsure how their music and the topics they deal with in their songs would be received by the people. On the one hand it is about dealing with the history of your country, but also about personal issues. Lewis wrote a song about the fear of being excluded from the group of peers. The letter helped him deal with the fear. He thinks that there are many people who experience similar things and that the song “Holding My Breath” will go down well with them. And it is accessible to many because it is written in English.
The uncertainty about how their music would be received by the Maori was also due to the boys' fairness. Some of the New Zealanders come from the Maori / European connection and many of these “Pale Māori” say that the songs gave them bond and pride. Now “Alien Weaponry” want to show the world that three teenagers from a small town in a small country at the end of the world, who sing in their own language, can produce a remarkable album. It should have been a few faster numbers in favor of a more dynamic atmosphere. It will be interesting whether the melodic approaches, especially in the vocals, can prevail and give the trio an even more alternative touch. The comparison with the Sepultura masterpiece “Roots” (1996) is obvious, but “Tū” has a much more experimental character. Unfortunately, you don't get the really big madness from “Alien Weaponry” despite the rather grotesque basic requirements. A colorful mixture that gives hope for the future - not yet perfectly formed, but with high potential for tension. Friends of groove metal will definitely have fun.
Tracklist:
- Whaikorero
- Ru Ana Te Whenua
- Holding My Breath
- Raupatu
- Kai Tangata
- Rage - It Takes Over Again
- The Things That You Know (Bonus Track)
- Whispers
- PC Bro
- Urutaa
- Nobody Here
- Te Ara
- Hypocrite (Bonus Track)
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