I am Kenyan and a huge metal fan, obviously!
Africa's metal scene as a whole is growing immensely. When you try to peg it down geographically however it is quite depressing. For instance, in Kenya alone most of the bands playing "metal" are into metalcore/deathcore/melodic death and the like. Absence Of Light is the only truly unique extreme metal band we have going.

What the continent needs at this point is bands playing in different countries. It doesn't need to be festival huge in like in Europe. We could start small until it becomes bigger overtime.

This thread is strictly to discuss African metal. What you've heard, what you've liked, and hopefully to let those who didn't know, that there's actually a scene going on in our beloved dark continent!

I got this list from a Facebook page dedicated to African metal ranking the three best bands of each metal subgenre-and I think it is pretty accurate!

HEAVY/TRADITIONAL METAL
1. Skinflint
2. Scorched Legacy
3. Arcana XXII


POWER METAL
1. Strident
2. Agro
3. Wyvern


THRASH/GROOVE METAL
1. Contrast The Water
2. Infanteria
3. Overthrust



BRUTAL DEATH METAL
1. Bloodbeast
2. Scarab
3. Bile Of Man


MELODIC DEATH METAL
1. Mind Assault
2. Absence Of Light
3. Riddare Av Koden


BLACK METAL
1.Wildernessking
2. Crow Black Sky
3. Blackcrowned


SYMPHONIC METAL
1. Zatreon
2. Darkest Place
3. SuiderbeeS


DOOM METAL
1. Vale Of Amonition
2. Strage
3. Misanthrope


METALCORE/DEATHCORE
1. Deane Crescent
2. Destiny In Chains
3. Mephostophilis


FOLK METAL
1. Balyios
2. Haggis And Bong
3.?


ORIENTAL METAL
1. Myrath
2. Hathorious
3. Zajal


PROGRESSIVE METAL
1. Myrath
2. Anarchy
3. Vielikan

the link;
https://www.facebook.com/notes/african- ... te_comment

I can tell you that Myrath and Vielikan are both very interesting Tunisian bands. It was completely horrible to inquire about them there when I visited the country though, all that Tunisian people listen to is either really corny Arabic music or techno mixed with really corny Arabic music.

Myrath now have an international deal I think, they have distribution in Europe and the US if memory serves. Vielikan however are still in the "limited to 100 copies or so" phase, but from what I've heard someone should pick them up and properly issue their music. The full-length is one twisted prog death album which seems to have its own unique personality. I think I shall return to it and see what the memories are worth.

Anyone ever heard of any bands from Sierra leone or Liberia? After those brutal civil wars they both had, you'd think a couple really promising metal bands might arise from all the atrocities that took place over there.

There's also Crackdust from Botswana, although I think it isn't such a war infested country as the two you mention. I may be wrong though.

Well, just outta curiosity I searched for Myrath in YouTube, and I gotta say that this is pretty cool. Reminds me of Orphaned Land regarding the implementation of Middle Eastern elements, although these dudes are much more oriented towards power metal. More specifically, I can hear an important Symphony X influence. Colour me impressed.

There aren't any bands from those particular countries but seeing as Rwanda, Somalia, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Libya, Angola, Equatorial Guinea have all had brutal civil wars, the point can be made that all those places could breed promising metal

They have their own traditional music where they sing to death about said atrocities and metal is hardly the kind of music they'd think of when it came to expressing their darker feelings...gee, I wonder why?

I'm sorry I don't mean to take on a sarcastic tone seeing as I'm the one who made the thread but it really is rather silly when people assume that when Africa makes metal they will delve into the wars and strife so commonly associated with the continent. Look up any of the aforementioned bands. Hardly any of them covers the atrocities we have perceived.

But I think it would be wonderful if we had more folk metal bands. Africa has a diversity of folk music that I think would work well in a metal setting.

Interesting.
What about Pagan or Folkish Black Metal?
Does any of the listed above fall into this genre?
Thanks.

Arcana XXII from Namibia is great stuff too!

@androdion: Botswana is more peaceful than even South Africa with an even more even distribution of wealth. One of the continent's "success stories"!

I'm just saying metal and war atrocities kinda go hand-in-hand. if you've heard of bands like Slayer, Malevolent Creation, Dying Fetus, Misery Index, Hail of Bullets, god Dethroned, etc, they all have alot of lyrics based around warfare. Just because it happened in their own backyard doesn't mean they shouldn't write lyrics about it. If it helps raise awareness of some horrible events that most of the world doesn't even know about then whats so taboo about it?

Myrath from Tunisia are simply amazing! It's like walking along Sahara Desert while listening to heavy metal. A perfect collision of sandstorm and heavy metal!

Balyios probably?
Crow Black Sky is a bit on the proggier side of Black metal and Wildernessking on the post/ambient and etc side

Yeah, Myrath is bound to please Symphony X fans and their personal take with mid-Eastern melodies is indeed pretty cool.

Glad to know that there are some "successful stories" in Africa, it's get a bit tiresome hearing about one tragedy after another. On the subject of pagan/folk black, I do know that religious matters are very tricky in Africa and there are a few cultures where the "witchdoctors" still rule the land. How does it work to have a band that suddenly speaks such things? Are they viewed as heretic?

Death metal isn't therapeutic music. It is part of its nature to have the sensibility of a sledgehammer. You don't use death metal to deal with your national trauma. I mean it could be badass, but it's not likely at all. You'd need to distance yourself from the events and assume a more or less nihilistic perspective.

Salem from Israel wrote a song about the Holocaust. Imagine the implications of that! When the idea is to pass down the message that something horrible actually happened music is as good of a vehicle as any other.

Mixing local musical traditions with metal doesn't necessarily mean folk metal. Listen to Skinflint for example.

On the other hand it would be cool to have bands with traditional instruments: hand percussion, kora, mbira, etc.

I don't see why Arcana XXII is listed as traditional metal though, they are gothic metal.

By the way, is there a decent copy of Darkest Place's demo? They seem really good, but most of the stuff is so badly recorded it's hard to judge. It could be a bad rip I guess, but I'm not sure.

Metal is far more the realm of bored first-worlders than of people from war-torn and poverty ridden countries. I think in fact that they'd rather listen to music that makes them forget about those atrocities than sing about them in a death metal song.

I whole-heartedly agree. I would really be interested in African folk metal, especially if they integrated their local folk music rather than emulating European bands.

I remember there was an Egyptian band that sounded a lot like Summoning. I can't remember the name off-hand, but they seemed extremely promising.

The only 2 bands I recall are Wildernessking ad Vomit the Hate. The former is pretty majestic BM a bit like Enslaved while the latter is like Necrophagist but less technical and more gritty.

I couldn't help but laugh

Arcana XXII's, last album is the one that incorporated Gothic influences but their earlier (and seminal) works were traditional metal

Vomit The Hate is awesome. caught them when they were here two years ago.

Wildernessking is truly majestic and their album is one of the best produced, well marketed African metal releases.

Special mention should also go out to the Gothic/Black band SPECTRAL REALM from South Africa and the Industrial/Gothic band TERMINATRYX, also South African.

You're probably referring to Seth E
http://www.myspace.com/setheband

Try Lamasy from Madagascar. Some quite enjoyable and really melodic kind of black metal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoXYmxsu8cQ

Among all the bands listed here I have only listened to Mind Assault, Crow Black Sky and Myrath. Mind Assault was real generic melodeath with horrible vocals and bored me to death. Crow Black Sky seemed to be progressive for the sake of being progressive which was rather annoying. Myrath is the only band I like and this is coming from a guy who doesn't like power metal. But they somehow made things interesting with all the progressiveness and folk melodies.

I've only heard Infertile Surrogacy from DR Congo. Quite wonderful slam death metal.

I listened to Vielikan's album yesterday again, for the first time in a long time, and I have to say that any fan of OSDM should check it. Really twisted old school prog death with some treats and it's a 7 track, sixty something minutes long album that actually doesn't bore me. That says a lot!

Thanks for the link. This is great fucking black metal!

There's also Wrust from Botswana, i like it band.

Infertile Surrogacy are not from the Congo.
Two other bands worth mentioning are Sasamaso (Madagascar) and Groinchurn (SA).
Metal from Africa can be worthwhile to listen to, but the fact remains that most bands are not under the radar for me personally to enjoy and have repeat listening sessions with.

Well, in order to play Metal one needs electricity which seems to be the major problem in the named countries.

Vale Of Amonition from Uganda is really good stuff and very promising. I have reviewed the material I managed to get a hold of. They play Doom but with a bit of Progression to it and there's an obvious African influence but with a psychedelic twist very reminiscent of the Zamrock scene. They claim Manilla Road as one of their major influences and the "Black cathedral" single does sound like MR circa "Invasion" and "Metal".

Plus they did a wonderfully dark and original cover of Mercyful Fate's "Come To The Sabbath"!

I was at Zamalek when Scorched Legacy, Anarchy, Headstock, and Last Remaining Light played. For those who wonder how such an event in Egypt went down. Here is a very good review of the gig;
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/eg ... 3-volume-4

Scorched Legacy covered "Gutter Ballet"?

I know and they did a good job too! It surprises people when I tell them but heavy metal fans in Egypt worship Savatage.
Here's the full proof!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eIJqLb9sfI
Scorched Legacy is great Karim the singer is more Rob Halford influenced though!

Other great covers by African metal bands I'd recommend;
Vale Of Amonition's superb reinvention of Mercyful Fate's "Come To The Sabbath"
SuiderbeeS' cover of Bloodbath's "Eaten"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBfoMgllphs
Christ Grinder's cover of Immortal's "Blashyrkh"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBkDZB_c6dw
Mauritius band AMAkARtUS' cover of Slayer's "Raining Blood"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OPzpGgKS5s
Dark Philosophy's cover of Darkthrone's "Transilvanian Hunger"
Odious' cover of Cradle Of Filth's "Scorched Earth Erotica"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrPYAIyzIec
Traxxx's cover of Metallica's "Fade To Black"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT95CKBNVYQ

Speaking of Metallica, Botswana's Metal Orizon's song "I Cry" is the purest "Nothing Else Matters" worship I ever heard;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8rgHCGel9w

Scorched Legacy's cover of Sabbath's "Headless Cross" is good too;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kd1rtFxr1Q

The Ocean Doesn't Want Me, anyone?

TODWM is a great band! I tried submitting them to MA but they were rejected. Too ambiguous I guess.
Progressive/Post-rock/Sludge/Ambient is narrowing them down.
But I find them sludgey in a Neurosis kind of way above all else!

I would love to hear African pagan metal band, singing about the cruel and blood lusty Negro gods, and their tribes, eating every missionary that came along their way.

I did an interview with the Botsuaner heavy metal band Amok for the 20th edition of my magazine. I tried to get some of the more established bands, but it is really difficult to get in touch with them. Anyway, you can read it here:
http://archive.org/details/ADeadSpotOfLight...Number20

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Sadly, such seems to be difficult when it comes to metal. Other music is easier to create and play.