They are a band that embody the ideals of community, advocacy, and inclusion through their raising awareness of Maori culture and use of Maori language in a metal landscape that sorely needs more bands making waves from cultures across the world. And that’s exactly what happened with the New Zealand trio, with their first album Tu garnering praise and spreads from publications both within and outside of metal.
It was something heavy music had never seen before, especially from a band so young, but the cocktail of the tribalistic and fierce Maori language and the band’s pummeling brand of groove metal made for a very promising first offering. With the band’s anticipated second record, Tangaroa, the band makes admirable strides to cover a broader range of topics and delve deeper into their emotional life, as well as make even bigger strides covering issues facing the globe. However, the album does suffer a bit from its lack of punchiness production wise and its length, as the record does ultimately overstay its welcome.
The band is at their absolute best when they keep things short and raging, with early track ‘Ahi Ka’ being a prime example. The main riff is one of the catchiest of the record, and the band keeps it tight and right throughout, with the trademark Maori coming through with extra bite. Follow up and title track ‘Tangaroa’ is a longer, but still great melodic counterpart, with its subject matter dealing with the plastic waste floating by the metric tons in the world’s oceans. It showcases the band’s increased use of melody, which definitely is much more prominent on this record and certainly showcases a real sense of growing maturity.
But the main flaws of the album are twofold, as mentioned earlier. The production on this record gets the job done, but it doesn’t carry the oomph of their previous record. There are a number of songs, especially ‘Hatupatu’, ‘Blinded’, ‘Kai Whatu’ that would have absolutely benefitted from a crisper, clearer and more forceful sound. There are a lot of great grooves and riffs on this album, and lead vocalist Lewis de Jong has a raw, youthful anger to his voice that speaks volumes, but the production holds the record back from sounding up to its full potential. That, and the track length of many of the songs.
Most, if not all of the songs have really great ideas and catchy melodies and instrumentation, but with nearly all tracks crossing the five minute mark, some of those ideas repeat themselves to the point of being a bit tiresome, with tracks like the aforementioned ‘Blinded’, opener ‘Titokowaru’, and ‘Ihenga’ being the most frustrating offenders. Many songs have extended intros and outros, which if removed could have really tightened up the record and added a greater stickiness to the tracks. There are a few experiments that don’t end up being very strong as well, with ‘Unforgiving’ being a vulnerable, grunge-esque track that, while certainly earnest, doesn’t have too much to offer musically compared to the rest of the record.
But that doesn’t stop the band from still bringing the heat. ‘Kai Whatu’ is an absolute monster track with a massive groove that begs for the repeat button, and closer ‘Down The Rabbit Hole’ features some dark and screaming guitar work and bass work that really pops. Hatupatu is a fast and furious track that actually explores the legend of an ancestor of the de Jong brothers, and it feels suitably epic as it chugs and speeds down the track with its staccato riffing and whiplash vocals. Blinded has an excellent melodic hook and some of the best vocals on the record. It’s a soaring, emotional lashing out, and the throbbing bassline and quickfire chugging feed the boiling blood of the lyrical eye.
Tangaroa is a record of really great ideas. It has a solid bone structure and a great understanding of riffs and instrumentation that make people move, and its lyrical subject matter and Maori vocals continue to enchant and delight. However, the fine tuning and muscle on top of the bone leaves a bit to be desired, with slightly anemic production and songs that would land a heavier blow with a shorter runtime. But when Alien Weaponry are on, they’re on, and hopefully they take what worked over the past two records and make their third a stunning follow up. The potential is all there, and as the band continue to grow as individuals and as musicians, the great ideas found on Tangaroa should coalesce into an even better whole in the near future.