Melodic Death Metal is something I don’t spend a lot of time listening to, but it is not because I don’t like the genre. It is merely because I don’t have the knowledge base or background, and I’ve relied on a few friends to turn me on to some of the better bands out there. Mongolia’s Aravt is one of them. The band blend metal riffs with some quieter elements of Mongolian traditional music. It’s a natural-sounding blend, and worth exploring further.
Nyege Nyege Tapes out of Kampala, Uganda, is releasing some of the most brutal music in the world these days. A case in point comes from Nairobi, Kenya, where the band Duma call home. Within the first few seconds of this release, you get pummeled by a barrage of drumming and screaming that is so heavy that it would have held its own comparing to any industrial band of the genre’s heyday. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Martin Khanja (aka Lord Spike Heart) and Sam Karugu emerge from Nairobi’s flourishing underground metal scene as former members of the bands Lust…