{"id":95116,"date":"2019-11-13T13:00:53","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T19:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/?p=95116"},"modified":"2019-11-12T03:46:09","modified_gmt":"2019-11-12T09:46:09","slug":"svart-records-roundup-brutal-africa-death-hawks-wizard-rifle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/svart-records-roundup-brutal-africa-death-hawks-wizard-rifle\/","title":{"rendered":"Svart Records Roundup: Brutal Africa<\/b>, Death Hawks<\/b> & Wizard Rifle<\/b>"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New stuff from everybody’s second fave Svart<\/strong>i-daddies.
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\"\"Brutal Africa – The Heavy Metal Cowboys of Botswana<\/h3>\n

My knowledge of African metal is not exactly enough to fill a veritable wellspring. Last year’s documentary Freedom In The Dark<\/em> made an attempt to rectify this, but alas, it failed, as I’ve yet to see it. Fortunately its director Samuli Pyykk\u00f6nen and Svart Records have joined their forces for Brutal Africa<\/em>, a compilation of Botswanan heavy metal culled from the handful of bands that have been able to record their material to any degree (reportedly the Botswanan\u2014Botswanian?\u2014scene consists of ten or so active bands, and about the same number of defunct ones, many of whom have not been able to record their music, as any such activity is difficult in Botswana, but especially for a rock band).<\/p>\n

I don’t see much of a point in trying to review or criticize the compilation itself, its merit lying rather in bringing availability and attention to a scene that would otherwise get little coverage. But that isn’t to say Brutal Africa would be without musical merit of its own. Crackdust’s<\/strong> modern, thrashy and even at times -core-afflicted<\/a> death metal, and Overthrust’s<\/strong> dirtier, more vile take<\/a> on the genre especially, are pleasing to these ears. Wrust<\/strong> and Stane<\/strong> bring<\/a> a mix of groove and death metal to the table, the former relying heavier on the latter, and even having what sounds like local, African\/Botswanan influence in their music, though on this compilation at least, it seems restricted to “The Day of Sacrifice’s<\/a>” intro. I definitely wouldn’t mind hearing more regional musical influences melded into metal in general, so all the better for me.<\/p>\n

PMMA’s<\/strong> garbled mix of falsetto vocals, growls and vague musicianship<\/a> is not something that I readily enjoy but brings variety to the fold, and it’s importance, I believe, lies rather in its age. As does Metal Orizon’s<\/strong>. Being, perhaps, the first Botswanan metal band, their thrashy heavy metal sounds a whole lot like what it is, creating something into a vacuum where nothing exists, as a colleague put it. In any case, Brutal Africa is an intriguing look into the metal scene from another side of the world, and you should at the very least check out the bits below and some of the links above.<\/p>\n