Ahhh...pity I found this topic too late. Actually I never check the forum
For some personal reason, I travel the world for 10 years now and I'm used to stay in atypical countries for months and months. So I found a lot of cool releases from unknown countries and - same as you - I have a particular interest in "minor scenes"
Let's start from Europe:
ALBANIA: I suggest you to read my post here, first:
http://www.thecorroseum.com/phpbb2/view ... 43a753c161About the origin and development of metal scene in Albania, including also a view on Kosovo and Macedonia.
Recent bands can be Diadema and Djem E Detit.
They both cover a song called "Jakup Ferri" that is one of the earliest rock/metal songs ever written in Albania, still a great success.
My favourite band from Albania is Thunder Way (coming from the ashes of Megaherz, which recorded 3 demo songs in the late 80's) with their album "The order executors". Good thrash-speed that I wish to re-release on CD one day
GEORGIA: I know "Heavy Cross/მძიმე ჯვარი" and I found their album on some georgian blog, but I lost the link. I am planning a visit to caucasian republics quite soon, anyway.
Contrary to Armenia - which was the first soviet republic to organize rock/metal shows in the early 80's (could you guess it?) and it always had a quite active scene - Georgia is still a very scarce place for metal though I heard from some friends living there that there are more and more bands and gigs.
I had a few bands from Azerbaijan while I was living in Turkey during 2012/13 (azeri language is similar to turkish) but they were quite lame hard rock with Deep Purple influences. YUHu was one of these bands.
And now, ASIA:
I lived for quite long times in Turkey, Iran, Nepal, China, Mongolia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia as well as I went to Vietnam, Laos and Burma...
MONGOLIA:
HURD and Аясын Салхи (Ayasyin Salki) are the only metal bands available on the market. There are few record shop in the whole country, all located in Ulaan Bataar.
HURD are thrash/speed in some album, traditional metal in others and even rock ballads in ever more albums. They're local idol, appearing on TV and they play 2-3 times per year in the capital.
I managed to have in distro their last 2 albums, a couple of DVDs and one collection tape (I still have the tape) but their early albums are not available anymore and are out of print. I tried to get in touch with them during my 3-months stay in Mongolia but I didn't get reply.
Ayasyin Salki have one album only, easily available on CD in mongolian record shops. It's a recent reprint as it seems the first CD version (made in Russia) had more songs. Never seen the first version, nobody has it, and I guess the information on MA are wrong. Nobody has ever heard of it and most of the additional tracks were single tracks only, video clips or promotional songs recorded in various years.
Early demos were pure heavy metal similar to Accept or Judas Priest.
I tried to get in touch with tehm for a possible re-release of their demos but once again I didn't get any reply from the band
But their CD is quite good, similar to early Carcass: Necrotisicm, Heartwork and a touch of floridian death/brutal of the early 90's......I sold a lot of copies in Europe while I was in Mongolia
Then there was a band called PARAPHERNALIA whose only known recording is a long rehearsal track recorded in 1991. Some collectors have it. I don't
No other bands are currently playing death metal in Mongolia. I know there are a few bands playing black metal but I've never been to their concerts
In any case you can see the only CDs available from Mongolia here on my blogspot:
http://jnfernalworld.blogspot.it/2011/1 ... -2011.htmlSIBERIA:
well, I lived in Ulan Ude for a couple of months and there are TONS of bands (and gigs, of course!) in Siberia, from Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Magadan, Ulan Ude....but I don't think it's too difficult to find their releases on some good russian websites or specialized shops. In any case I'm planning a new 2-months stay next winter in Ulan Ude, so I can find something if you need. I have a lot of friends into metal overthere and even the owner of the only guesthouse in Ulan Ude is a cool guy who plays guitar in a death/brutal band and in a math-metal band too
Cheers to Dennis and his "Ulan Ude Travellers House"
BANGLADESH: read my article here.
Nothing to add. Orator are the most famous band nowadays while the scene starts even back in 1984 with In Dhaka, Warfaze, Rockstrata and Aces.
I was able to find their albums on original CDs (except for Aces who never recorded anything) and I truly recommend ROCKSTRATA whose album is a mix of Iron Maiden with some grim and strange touch here and there. A total pity that they released one album only as they were really great, IMHO!
In any case Bangladesh is nowadays one of the most active asian scenes for brutal/extreme music and I saw Orator playing live while I lived in Malaysia until a few months ago
Read my article about the origins of metal scene in Bangladesh here:
http://www.thecorroseum.com/phpbb2/view ... f2a093ff36NEPAL and BUTHAN:
I lived 3 months in Nepal during 2010/11 (from Italy to Kathmandu by bus and train just to meet an italian friend. Then I liked the place and I decided to spent a few months there as with 5 US$/day I could sleep and eat!). I made a lot of friends into black, death, hardcore and punk and I knew a lot of bands, organizators, promoters, shops, distros....there are many many new bands coming out and the KTM Death Festival is becoming nbigger and bigger year after year.
The problem is that many bands do not have physical releases because it's too much expensive to print a CD or even a CDr, so most of them promote their songs through Youtube, facebook or Twitter only...just single songs or short demos downladable.
Slow internet connections, lack of electricity, lack of funds, poverty (Nepal is the 7th poorest country in the world) make the scene struggling hard but there are great people in Kathmandu. The KTM metal festival is mandatory!
I am planning to spend a few months in Nepal again from early 2014 as I love it, expecially non.touristic areas! So if you need something, just let me know
BUTHAN: as far as I know there is nothing out yet and no signs of even the germs of a borning rock scene. Quite a traditional country yet.
LAOS: I know only EXILE with their album "Barn gert hao" released on tape only in Thailand and their 1995 CD also released in Thailand. They moved to Canada but first album was recorded in Lao (don't call it LaoS or native will get really pissed! I don't know why but it seems adding "S" is quite offensive for them...). Nothing special, I had the original tape and I sold it, I lost the files but their are available on internet in their homepage (that is quite hard to find) but it's really nothing special. Boring ballads and soft rock mixed with a few metal/speed songs. But they're popular.
BURMA: surprisingly there was a very active punk (!) scene in the mid 80's up to early 90's (!!!) with a lot of bands (!!!!): Ghost Rider (2 demos in mid 90's), The Ants (14 songs demo in 1998), Query Query (a demo in early 90's)
As for heavy metal/rock/death, I know 2 names only: Emperor and Iron Cross, acitve since the early 80's (!) but expect nothing too "hard"...it's good Deep Purple-ish hard rock. Karthago Records has some CDs in distro.
An italian friend of mine who lives in Yangoon (in a artistic squat!) says there are many rock/metal bands and it's not true that police and goverment make a harsh repression on cultural movements. It depends. And things are going to change quite fast in the last year...expect a lot of bands from MYANMAR soon as there is a (very) underground movement and nice people
CAMBODIA: I spent 2 months in 2013 but I found no physical releases. There is a famous club downtown in Phnom Penh which organizes a lot of metal/punk/hardcore/new metal/crossover/groove metal gigs every weekend but I've been there only 3 times. Most of them are bands with modern sound (groove, nu metal, metalcore) mainly made by local cambodian and western expat/students/volunteers. Nothing special and most of time the attitude is "hey, I'm a foreigner, I look nice and cool, I play in a band, come on cambodian chicks, come and fuck with me"....quite hateful even because most of these nerds are just post-graduated dorks who settle down in SE Asia just for sex and fun. Shit on them, fucking scum.
IRAN: I've been to Tehran 3 times but no signs of metal records in stores. There are many stores of course but metal/rock/black metal is totally banned and forbidden. You can find many people into it but you must be very careful. One day I was brought to the islamic police office just because I was singing a metal song on the street and they caught me screaming "you're singing satanic music".
I was brought to the islamic police office, 3 hours talking with the officer, and finally he said: "you should listen to traditional songs talking about love for Allah"
Seems incredible and a bit racist...but it's true!
3 times/2 months in Iran and I just saw:
-a small "Metallica" logo on the border of a sidewalk in the suburbs
-a guy with a "MD" logo on his t-shirt similar to Megadeth logo winking at me among the crowd (just like: "follow me and I'll show you other metal guys like me"
)
-a guy on the bus who was listening to Anthrax songs...
but I know there are a lot of black metallers but it's really complicated to interact with them because they really risk their lives if they show up in public...I'm not joking. It's a pity as Iran is not as bad as people can imagine and I really like it despite this strict islamic control over society. What a pity...
OMAN and DUBAI: haven't seen anything by local bands but black metal/death metal is allowed in stores, you can find some international titles without any problem. Probably sheiks and their sons are not too much interested in this genere.
Then China, Hong Kong, Macau have a lot of bands...even if most of times they just steal riffs from Slayer, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Metallica (even black metal bands) expecially during live gigs. I don't like this attitude even because they never say "this riff is from this band" and they act like it's their own creation. Shit.
I lived 2 years in China and I go there every year for some months. Seen a lot of gigs, bought a lot of CD's....Areadeath Productions is the best metal shop/record label in China (my brother worked with them for a few years) as well as Mort Productions....I think China/HK/Macau aren't so unknown and exotic anymore even if Macau seems quite uninterested in metal/extreme stuff yet.
Just mentioning Taiwan because the very first grindcore band from the island was made by my brother and they were ven broadcasted on Tv in 2004...we both forgot the name and my brother never recorded it. I shouls ask him if he has a few rehearsal or a live recording made by some friends, somewhere. Just for curiosity.
Same as Indonesia....thousand of brutal bands easily available everywhere on Internet or web shops.
Indonesia seems specialized in brutal/grindcore and Oi! (don't ask me why...) and I've seen a lot of indonesian bands in Malaysia too.
It's not by chance that Obscene Extreme Festival made the SE Asian version in Jakarta...and I went there.
East Timor...never been there as well as Papua/New Guinea. While I doubt there's anything in New Guinea, I heard that East Timor has some bands. I think it's the same as Cambodia: locals mixed with expats as East Timor is becoming a new paradise for tourism and for business....one day Ill go there.
MALDIVES:
I only had Tormenta and Fasy (aka Fasylive). Nothing special. Just to mention that a guy in the Fasy band died during the 2004 tsunami and I got the CD from my ex malaysian girlfriend who produced their "Cruising" CD. I still have it somewhere and I found another CD while I was in Malaysia but it's nothing special.
AFRICA:
Madagascar and Botswana have a very long tradition in metal dating back to early 80's (!) with a lot of bands
Just to name a few ealry bands from Madagascar (all active between 1984 and 1994): Apocalypse, Destruktor, Holy Angels, Kazar, Pharaons, Green, Hemirah, Vuxura, Rasalama, Tselatra, Vaika.
I know Pharaons released a CDr with their cassette album recorded in 1989 and there is a prior demo with 12 songs. I'd like to re-release them properly on CD, one day...
Holy Angels released their first album "Dirty Work" in 1993 and I was in contact with some band members through Facebook a couple of years ago
MAURITIUS:
there was a HELL of bands since the early 80's in Mauritius too.
Just to name a few: Alter Ego, Cobalt Fudge, Craze, Crossroads, Cyborg, Electric, Factor E, Feedback ("Poison or Cure" Tape Lp 1991: I had iut before erasing my mp3 collection: the singer is on Facebook), Inverted Cross (!), Mad, Paranoid (there's a video tape oif their 1993 concert around), Phoenix, Preachers, Rockers, Strangers, Strenght, Xact, Xenolith, Zenith, Zenyatta, Ziza...
if you want more information (and get some of their album) you can get in touch with Feedback:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Feedback/31658876480BOTSWANA:
The most famous bands are Metal Orizon (active since 1991!) and Skinflint: they recentely made a new album for Karthago Records. There are 2 brothers of italian origins in the line up !?!?!?!!!!!!.
Also there is a very famous band called "Nosey Road" (with the same 2 italian guys!) which released around 10 albums (!) since late 80's and some of them seem to be heavy metal and other are hard rock/soft rock....no information at all about their discography on internet.
ZAMBIA:
Even if it's not even listed on MA, there is a famous band called NGONZI FAMILY.
They are THE cult rock band from Zambia (it seems there was a surprisingly rich progr-rock scene in the 70's!) and they have a wide discography. Some of their albums have been re-released on CD but I couldn't find information about other releases.
I let titles speak by themselves....metal or not???!?!?!???
Ngozi Family: Heavy connection
Ngozi Family: Heavy metal
Ngozi Family: Lightning and thunder
Ngozi Family: 99% confusion
all released during early 80's/early 90's.....
As for other countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Somalia, Kenya....there are a lot of black metal bands nowadays. There is a blogspot ran by a moroccan guy which is really good for keeping an eye on the metal scene coming from the saharian countries, but I lost the link.
In any case if you find that blogspot again (I checked it a couple of months ago, it's active since 2-3 years) you can listen to a lot of new bands coming from those countries.
I had some early 80's/90's bands from Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Haiti, Cuba (well, that's not too difficult, there were hundreds!), Dutch Antilles (Warning is one of the oldest and you can find a couple of songs on youtube and there should be a live tape recorded in 1987):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuDzOswn ... er&list=ULhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7B05hXyvvU including many exclusive songs sent by unknown bands but I deleted my mp3 collection last august when my brother came back from China and I gave him my external hard disk as a gift. I had to delete 1 TB of music including rare stuff from all the above mentioned countries...maybe I made a mistake but it's too late to complain now!
You can read about the beginning of the metal scene in caribbean countries here, this was an article I wrote some time ago:
http://www.thecorroseum.com/phpbb2/view ... 7b9f6bf75cand maybe you still can download this compilation I made with rare tracks:
http://strappadometalblog.blogspot.it/2 ... blica.htmlCheck the Empiphis song "En el mundo del metal" that is really funny
Hope I could be helpful. If you need more information just PM me
Francesco