Alien WeaponryTangaroa

After establishing their cred with 2018 debut Tū, Maori warriors Alien Weaponry are back with a furious vengeance.

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Drawing on a fabled family heritage and a passion for environmental issues, Tangaroa is a deeply mature and aggressive statement from a band still so young.  

Pounding grooves and a fierce energy drive every track, beginning with Titokowaru’s violent declaration of war and independence. The tribal elements and Maori language add a genuine richness to Alien Weaponry’s thunder and fury, making the likes of Hatupatu and Īhenga, both drawn from the de Jong’s brothers’ deep ancestral history, richly compelling. Indeed, the trio are at their best when singing in their native tongue, an aspect that gives their music another level of aggression, urgency and passion.

With stories to tell about dispossession and environmental degradation, Alien Weaponry isn’t just a band playing heavy metal. It’s three angry young men making a vital and visceral statement about the state of the world and their place in it.

It isn’t until the sprawling, plaintive Unforgiving where they dial back the rage and Lewis de Jong switches to English for the duration for the first time in an appeal to emotions other than anger. Blinded taps into a more commercial side of their sound but maintains the insidious groove and the big chugging single Buried Underground carries the audience with its massive hook and surprising complexity. 

With stories to tell about dispossession and environmental degradation, Alien Weaponry isn’t just a band playing heavy metal. It’s three angry young men making a vital and visceral statement about the state of the world and their place in it. Tangaroa is a powerful album, a call to arms not just to First Nations people, but to the young and downtrodden everywhere to stand for the future.

STANDOUT TRACKS: Īhenga, Hatupatu, Tangaroa
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Sepultura, Gojira, Soulfly