{"id":70477,"date":"2018-06-01T00:00:58","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T00:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=70477"},"modified":"2018-07-03T16:53:07","modified_gmt":"2018-07-03T16:53:07","slug":"album-review-alien-weaponry-tu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-alien-weaponry-tu\/","title":{"rendered":"ALIEN WEAPONRY – T\u016b (2018) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALIEN WEAPONRY
T\u016b<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nNapalm (2018)<\/span>
Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Anyone for M\u0101ori metal? In spite of their title, New Zealand metallers Alien Weaponry are far more than mere extra-terrestrial thrash-heads. Instead, they\u2019ve chosen the same, almost tribal path as, say, mid-90s Sepultura, and boy have they pulled it off. What\u2019s even more frightening though is the potential, when one considers that this is a band, from Waipu, formed by teenagers in 2010. <\/p>\n

To say that this trio \u2013 consisting of brothers Lewis (vocals and guitars) and Henry de Jong (drums), and Ethan Trembath (bass) \u2013 is mature beyond its years is an understatement; just one listen to the track \u2018Kai Tangata\u2019 and you\u2019ve good reason to think you\u2019re dealing with a well-established and certainly very successful outfit. The melodies are staggering, the harmonies wistful and the music just so tight and somehow experienced. <\/p>\n

Again, I\u2019m reminded of Sepultura via Roots<\/em> (1996), but this is also a band that has written songs about land confiscation and the 1864 battle of Gate P\u0101 (Pukehinahina). Whatever story these guys have to tell though, each and every time the yarns come wrapped in delicious energetic riffs, steady percussive assaults and rumbling bass lines, all led by a sonic force of vocalisations that exist way beyond the average realms of thrash metal. <\/p>\n

With \u2018Kai Tangata\u2019, Alien Weaponry deserve to be absolutely huge, clearing a path as the next big thing and exhibiting more experimental physics and physique that the likes of early Metallica and Slayer<\/a> could never have comprehended. This is cultural heavy metal, relevant metal, with some strong and controversial messages that certainly make a nice change from the usual thrash goofiness and beer-swiggin\u2019 trad\u2019 metal we\u2019ve come to know and love\u2026 then get bored with. <\/p>\n

If any of you guys heard the \u2018R\u016b Ana Te Whenua\u2019 juggernaut, well, that was only an inkling of what was to come as giant, swirling grooves abound on T\u016b<\/em>, the trio embracing their heritage to create wildly innovative and yet accessible power grooves caressed by the sweet production of Tom Larkin. <\/p>\n

The bass-led clunk of \u2018Holding My Breath\u2019 brings a galloping menace but a weighty roll that sort of lies just below the levels of thrash, and yet it\u2019s not power metal either. Alien Weaponry somehow find their own soulful sound however massive those grooves get. The vocals are pure, soaring and confident; they ascend above the body of music like flitting doves of peace, but there\u2019s always that underbelly of frustration \u2013 a \u2018cry\u2019 of sorts as the vocals soon become a choppy rap, but bereft of the naivety I would expect from such upstarts. <\/p>\n

\u2018Raupatu\u2019 is a defiant and bombastic track with a booming choral chant as we learn of land stolen from the M\u0101ori people by the government, And then there\u2019s the raging thrash outburst of \u2018Urutaa\u2019 and the reflective \u2018Nobody Here\u2019. Meanwhile, another favourite is \u2018PC Bro\u2019, which again features an effective bass clunk before the combo embarks on a hefty trudge with its message pertaining to the influence of the media on the masses. <\/p>\n

T\u016b<\/em> offers up 13 steadfast tracks to the table from a band that has the world at its feet. Whether you choose to support such a talented group is up to you, but those who don\u2019t will be crushed in the wake of one of the best bands I\u2019ve heard for a very long time.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ALIEN WEAPONRYT\u016b Napalm (2018)Rating: 9\/10 Anyone for M\u0101ori metal? In spite of their title, New Zealand metallers Alien Weaponry are far more than mere extra-terrestrial thrash-heads. Instead, they\u2019ve chosen the same, almost tribal path as, say, mid-90s Sepultura, and boy have they pulled it off. What\u2019s even more frightening though is the potential, when one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4036],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-alien-weaponry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70477"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70481,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70477\/revisions\/70481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}