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Victor_Of_The_Void
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 9:19 am
Posts: 84
Location: South Africa
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:49 pm 
 

Whenever anyone on MA mentions South African metal, Voice Of Destruction is the name that quickly pops up as if the country only manged to produce one good metal band. It is usually them or Retribution Denied - both bands have been dead for what seems like ages by the way.

So I've made this thread to widen the eye on what is quite a big metal scene in my country. I've profiled twelve of my favorite bands, tell me what you think.

P.S: Metal in South Africa is very big right now and bands gig regularly and metalheads turn out en masse to support them. Granted, most bands are playing extreme metal but of late there's been a growing interest in Power metal with Strident (http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Strident/3540321802) leading the trends and we'll probably see more of those as the years roll on.

1. CROW BLACK SKY - "Our Path Disdained"
Crow Black Sky is undoubtedly one of the best extreme metal bands in the country right now. They hail from Cape Town and play a great mix of melodic black and death metal. Their debut album "Pantheion" is available for free download.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR4O5tvIFeI

2. ARCHITECTURE OF AGGRESSION - "The Covenant"
http://www.myspace.com/aoa666/music/son ... t-61353735
Architecture Of Aggression is fronted by Van Zyl Alberts who plays some of the most delicious metal guitar this side of the world. Although a fan of Petrucci and Loomis, Van Zyl and company bash out mean evil Death metal that is complex but still easily digestible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoT7xIYAQwc

3. BLACKCROWNED - "My Will Is My Hammer"
S.A's premier Black metal band and famous for their great shows!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD12EVBk134

4. HAGGIS AND BONG - "Let The Hunt Begin"
Celtic Folk metallers Haggis and Bong hail from Pretoria and have carved a niche for themselves by melding their bagpipes fueled sound with a groove driven metal approach. They released their first album in 2008 titled "Fire In The Bowl" and will release "Of Myth And Legend" this month.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovAof46Hx2E

5. WARTHANE - "Era Black Divine"
Warthane played Blackened Thrash on their first album but with last year's "Black Divine" album have kind of drifted into a much more melodic pseudo Gothic sound that I feel although isn't as awesome as their previous style, they manage to pull it off comfortably.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLAS_G7NBVg

6. CONTRAST THE WATER - "Death Mirrors Mine Eyes"
Powerful! Mighty! Insane!
Those words best describe a CTW show! These guys take no fucking prisoners! They annihilate and dominate on stage. "Perseverance" was such a banger when I first heard it and I'm happy to report it has lost none of its bite. CTW have been in the United States since last year and have played lots of shows in the Bay Area opening for Scared Reich and playing on the same bill with Absu, Vektor, Death Angel and others. Their album is also available for free download. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5uFyKABtMM

7. MEGALODON - "Umbilical Embroidery"
Our very own Meshuggah but Megalodon manage to maintain a semblance of originality. I am not yet convinced but I have to admit I was blown away after seeing them live recently. I'm eagerly awaiting this year's full length!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncads6mOcew

8. AZRAIL - "Stepping Through The Nether Portal"
In Hausa myths, Azrail is the one who brought death into the world.
And if Azrail (the band) didn't bring death to S.A, they probably refined it. These guys played with such precision and delicacy yet the music still maintained its bite. The band is currently inactive but boy was "Primordial" such a wow when I first heard it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYU8oZPiUVk

9. MESADOTH - "We Came To Conquer"
Mesadoth from Jo burg are also currently inactive and were the most thoroughly underground band I knew of from S.A. They played thrash in the traditional sense and were huge trad metal fans always playing a selection of classic metal covers at shows. WE NEED THEM BACK!
http://www.myspace.com/mesadoth/music/s ... r-40354760

10. A WALK WITH THE WICKED - "The Smouldering Remains"
Great death metal band and a well produced first EP. Really looking forward to hearing more from these guys in the future!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylK0kQzmxB0

11. BILE OF MAN - "Descendant Desecration"
Brutal fucking death metal from S.A! Heavily influenced by Morbid Angel, Slayer and Deicide, BoM are thorough when on stage and together with Bleeding Spawn (another great S.A brutal death band) will open for Fleshgod Apocalypse in March! FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE IN AFRICA!!! - CAN'T FUCKING WAIT! :hyper:
great review by SuiderbeeS;
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/B ... us/301454/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiXywxq2ls8

12. MARCHING DEAD - "March Of The Dead (live)"
Mraching Dead haven't released anything yet but they were great at R.O.A.R in Cape Town when I saw them that I just had to include them;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_gSJ6NA ... 8CC4rUKVyi


Last edited by Victor_Of_The_Void on Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Paka01
Metalhead

Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 12:34 pm
Posts: 573
Location: Croatia
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:54 pm 
 

Nice, I'm always glad to hear some good music from different parts of the world :)
Thanks!
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absurder21
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:51 pm
Posts: 692
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 9:35 pm 
 

How in the hell do you skip Mind Assault and Wildernessking bru!

Mind Assault - Melodic Death Metal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYLeBI_nvYk

Wildernessking - Black Metal
http://www.lurkerspath.com/2012/01/06/w ... -the-sand/

Sacrifist - Melodic Death/Thrash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vncCPVSrsRw

Also Symphonic Schizophrenia and Theatre Runs Red are pretty good, but are yet to release physical material. I love Haggis and Bong, but I still think they should add a guitarist for just general riffing.

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waiguoren
Veteran

Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:23 am
Posts: 2741
Location: UmeƄ, Sweden
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 1:13 am 
 

Retribution Denied was the first metal band I saw play live back in 1993, thought they were utter shit and dickheads at the time (they had hot goth girlfriends though if that counts for anything). Can't remember who else played with them, this was in Joburg at that Alice D club. Went to a metal fest a year or so later that had a ton of local bands playing, honestly can't tell you the name of a single one of them, in those days it seemed all the bands played death metal, except for Urban Assault which was more crossover I believe, and my friends and I were starting to get into black metal then so we just went mainly to drink. This was around the time Machine Head released their first album, back then if you liked Machine Head you were considered a poser, still remember this twat with dreadlocks at the fest wearing a Machine Head shirt, and that's like the main memory I have of the entire thing, so it tells you a lot about the quality of the bands that were playing at the time.

My sister was dating one of the guitarists from Sacrifist, so I sat in on one of their practice sessions in 2003, my god that was horrid, only good thing that band can do is that Hypocrisy cover song.

I thought metal was dead in SA compared to the early 90's, where we had metal stores with a bunch of great stuff, you'd see people wearing metal shirts on the streets, in shopping malls etc.

Anyway, I'm pretty clueless about South African metal in general, as I have no interest in it going by what I have heard, haven't heard anything original that's for sure, so I don't have much to add to this discussion really. I feel I've been pretty negative throughout this post, sorry about that, not in the best of moods these days.

BTW, I'm going back to Joburg at the end of this month, where are the places these days where metalheads hang out there? Please don't say 'The Doors' in Edenvale, not interested in hearing one Slayer song then a bunch of garbage for the rest of the night, cheers.
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triggerhappy
Veteran

Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2008 9:56 am
Posts: 2944
Location: Singapore
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:41 am 
 

The only SA band I listen to is Wildernessking. I have a strong feeling their debut will end up in my top 20 of this year.
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Evil_Obsidian
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Oct 29, 2004 2:05 pm
Posts: 418
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:49 am 
 

I formed a Death Metal band in 1995 called Malignant Saviour, based in Durban. We didn't have a full line up so never gigged, but did record an album in Decemer '96. We recorded the album in 5 hours, live in the studio, then spent a weekend at a home studio doing vocals and some overdubs. We took preorders and pressed only enough cd's to cover those, so it disappeared into obscurity. A label offered to release half the album as a split, which we declined. Most of the songs can be downloaded for free from here:
www.last.fm/music/Malignant+Saviour

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TheEerieTomb
Metal newbie

Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:43 am
Posts: 194
Location: Ireland
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:01 am 
 

Just gonna mention my band AGRO - we're the oldest South African Metal band still in existence (alongside Sacrifist), and we're playing regular packed gigs, writing for a new album, and are about to announce our slot at a huge, well-known German Metal festival later this year.

http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Agro/3073

The band went through an extreme line-up overhaul as of 2010, when the original guitarist and keys player left, and myself and another guitarist joined, along with a person on keys that didn't last long. Once she had left, we added my wife on violin which has opened the AGRO sound up on many levels. As I say, we're busy writing for a new album (and possible EP for download on Record Store Day), and the new stuff is sounding intense.

And if I had to mention one SA band that sorts me out, I would say Mind Assault. Fucken tops Melodic Death Metal. They released an EP called "Metal Rites" last year, which is available for download on their site: http://mindassault.com/
Recommended!!

And even though they are somewhat on hiatus at the moment, my fave SA band has been Misericord for a long time now. Kinda rides the rails between Melodic Death Metal and strong traditional Metal. Check 'em out: http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Misericord/711

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truvelocity
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:01 am
Posts: 281
Location: Egypt
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 1:00 pm 
 

South African metal rules!
I love Agro, Contrast The Water, Haggis and Bong, A Walk With The Wicked, Crow Black Sky, The Poverty Of Ideals (prog from Joburg) and I'm very keen on the scene to see what happens with all these new bands.

Everyone is singing Theatre Runs Red's praises but I hope they're not another Warthane.

Megalodon is really good too!

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fishman3226
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:54 pm
Posts: 73
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:22 pm 
 

KOBUS anyone? Love them. Really aggro.

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FateMetal
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:09 am
Posts: 283
Location: Uganda
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:06 pm 
 

Wildernessking is the band! I'm sure a lot of metalheads world over will appreciate that album when they hear it!

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u_sir_r_a_faggot
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:50 am
Posts: 467
Location: Bangladesh
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:57 pm 
 

The only SA band I have ever listened to is Crow Black Sky and they pretty much suck
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BPA
Metal newbie

Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:02 am
Posts: 184
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:03 pm 
 

Any takers for the band Odyssey, who released a self titled album in 1991? Heavy metal with slight power metal influence, decently produced.

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FateMetal
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:09 am
Posts: 283
Location: Uganda
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:25 pm 
 

u_sir_r_a_faggot wrote:
The only SA band I have ever listened to is Crow Black Sky and they pretty much suck

I've listened to CBS as well and failed to find anything sucky. Care to elaborate?

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FateMetal
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:09 am
Posts: 283
Location: Uganda
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:34 pm 
 

BPA wrote:
Any takers for the band Odyssey, who released a self titled album in 1991? Heavy metal with slight power metal influence, decently produced.

Love that album! You should check out Black Rose as well.

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u_sir_r_a_faggot
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:50 am
Posts: 467
Location: Bangladesh
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:45 pm 
 

FateMetal wrote:
u_sir_r_a_faggot wrote:
The only SA band I have ever listened to is Crow Black Sky and they pretty much suck

I've listened to CBS as well and failed to find anything sucky. Care to elaborate?

I listened to that free album once a while ago. I don't remember much of the music except for it being extremely boring. No memorable riffs and annoying vocals. I also thought the band was being progressive for the sake of being progressive. Kinda reminded me of Opeth. Anyways I guess I'll check out Mind Assault and hopefully find something good
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FateMetal
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:09 am
Posts: 283
Location: Uganda
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:51 pm 
 

Mind Assault is good but FUCKING overrated!
The only problem I found with Crow Black Sky was that it was overly long in some places and I guess I can understand the whole "progressive just for the hell of it" point but I felt they managed to nicely craft an epic mood.

You might like Theatre Runs Red and Warthane but by all means check out Wildernessking.

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iAmDisturbed
Metalhead

Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 10:31 am
Posts: 493
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:31 pm 
 

The guys of Architecture of Aggression make good Prog death and I also listened to Pledge Defiance who were rather horrible in a fresh kind of way.

Crow Black Sky would make it big if they were on Nuclear Blast or one of those things, the music is well mixed and extreme enough.

Will check out Wildernessking!

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Victor_Of_The_Void
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 9:19 am
Posts: 84
Location: South Africa
PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 2:52 pm 
 

IN FLAMES played RAMfest in Jo'burg yesterday! It was an awesome experience I'll remember forever.

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absurder21
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:51 pm
Posts: 692
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:05 pm 
 

Victor_Of_The_Void wrote:
IN FLAMES played RAMfest in Jo'burg yesterday! It was an awesome experience I'll remember forever.

It was no excuse for getting rid of the Metal stages though. I can't believe how quickly that fest sold out and bastardized itself.

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Victor_Of_The_Void
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 9:19 am
Posts: 84
Location: South Africa
PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:15 pm 
 

On that note I agree!
They're playing Cape Town now.

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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 6:42 pm 
 

i've never heard any south african metal, i'll look the bands in this thread up soon.
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Daniel_2007_Pendulum
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:41 pm
Posts: 70
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:32 pm 
 

Crow Black Sky are good indeed. I'm not into black metal that much, but "Pantheion" was actually nice for me. The others, I have to listen to them

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infinitenexus
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:35 am
Posts: 1895
PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:26 am 
 

I saw contrast the water in late 2011 at Gary Holt's wedding reception concert. They only played 1 or 2 songs, but they kicked tons of ass there and everyone enjoyed them. Good band.
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Ulflesh
Metal newbie

Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2007 7:01 am
Posts: 265
Location: Romania
PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 1:54 pm 
 

Voice of Destruction is what i remember the best from SA. some fine thrash with hints of doom and some death metal.

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absurder21
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:51 pm
Posts: 692
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 4:08 pm 
 

infinitenexus wrote:
I saw contrast the water in late 2011 at Gary Holt's wedding reception concert. They only played 1 or 2 songs, but they kicked tons of ass there and everyone enjoyed them. Good band.

lol, where was this?

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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 5:48 pm 
 

Ulflesh wrote:
Voice of Destruction is what i remember the best from SA. some fine thrash with hints of doom and some death metal.
i tripped over them the other day, really good shit. also wrust [from botswana] are pretty cool too.
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g_k
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 1:35 pm
Posts: 944
Location: Washington
PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:16 pm 
 

only heard blackcrowned and Wildernessking, both good in their own ways. i think i dig wildernessking a bit more.
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ShaolinLambKiller
King Asshole

Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2007 6:10 pm
Posts: 13320
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:30 pm 
 

I liked Bile of Man and AZRAIL... the rest I wasn't really interested in.
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BaloroftheEvilEye
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2009 11:42 am
Posts: 1635
Location: Ireland
PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:52 am 
 

I went to youtube to check out this Strident and... Wow. Power Metal From Space is hilarious.

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Victor_Of_The_Void
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 9:19 am
Posts: 84
Location: South Africa
PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:24 am 
 

Several South African bands were nominated for the first ever AFRICAN METAL AUTHORITY AWARDS, check this out;
http://zalebs.howzit.msn.com/metal-awar ... -sa-bands/

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iAmDisturbed
Metalhead

Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 10:31 am
Posts: 493
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:46 am 
 

hmmm... saw something about those African Awards on Bravewords;
http://www.bravewords.com/news/181741

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Corpsey the Clown
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:38 pm
Posts: 271
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 6:47 pm 
 

Sampled a few of these just now. Architecture of Aggression is definitely not my idea of complex DM; they're pretty simplistic and midpaced, at least on this track. It's nothing mind-blowing, but it's not bad.

For descendants of the Dutch, Warthane have plenty of European influence going for them. The intro to Era Black Divine here is good, builds plenty of anticipation...but then it yields to a rather tame gothic BM tune. It sounds like they duct-taped a bunch of pillows to the sides of the drums, they're so muffled and weak. Vocals are fine, but the song is nothing special.

Giving Sacrifist a listen now. Another great intro, better drum sound, another BM-style screecher. Only thing I don't like is the production on the vocals. Compared to the other instruments, the singer sounds like he's wrapped in cellophane. Sacrifist could take a lesson from these guys (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXkwmi0HIi8) and many others on how to "surround" the vox without diluting their effectiveness.

I'll say this much, none of those three bands I sampled were flat-out bad. Nothing I would sail to SA to hear, though.

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iAmDisturbed
Metalhead

Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 10:31 am
Posts: 493
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 9:54 am 
 

What did you think of CROW BLACK SKY though?
And WILDERNESSKING whose praises everyone seems to sing;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9VObZxgJpY

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