![]() ![]() It’s a thrash metal wake up call to stop polluting the oceans. Penning songs like the title track ‘ Tangaroa’, the three have a deep understanding of what’s happening to the planet. It is said with age comes wisdom, but I would challenge that as brothers Lewis and Henry de Jong, joined by Turanga Morgan-Edmonds, show wisdom beyond their years. Stories of invasion and attempted genocide can’t be told in a gentle “bad people on both sides” way, this album is raw and unflinching. Take, for example, “ Ka pīrangi au te kikokiko pākeha”, translated into English its “I crave the flesh of the whiteman”. It’s a trashing heavy tribute to the great Maori Chief with lyrics as brutal as the music. The opening track lays down the groundwork for the rest of the album. From the outset, Alien Weaponry pay tribute to great leaders of the past. Who among us hasn’t been inspired to delve into the meanings of songs and discovered fascinating stories you probably slept through in history class. Through music the sharing of stories can have the biggest impact. For many cultures around the world, history is taught and shared through music, poetry and spoken word. New Zealand has a rich history both post and pre-white settlement, a history many have taken great pains to keep alive. The trio from Waipu put pen to paper, headed back into the studio, and emerged with Tangaroa.Īs with their first album, Alien Weaponry largely draw inspiration from their heritage, culture and history, especially around white settlement. Tours and festivals have been on pause for a while now but that didn’t stop the music. In 2018 the boys burst onto the international scene with their blistering debut Tū, and the album was a springboard for an international tour and a raft of festival appearances, including Download and Wacken. What others dared not dream, three young Kiwis made a reality. What we didn’t have, nor ever dreamed of, was combining that beautiful language with heavy fucking metal. We regularly heard te reo Maori sung and we sang in the language, but that was confined to traditional songs like ‘Pōkarekare ana’, mostly acapella but sometimes with an acoustic guitar. When I was a boy growing up in the north of Aotearoa there wasn’t a metal scene, hell there was hardly a music scene. The music slammed into me and left a permanent mark. When I first heard Alien Weaponry I likened it to being hit by the All Blacks front row. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |