New Zealand groove metallers Alien Weaponry have introduced particulars of their third album, Te Rā. It is preceded by the discharge of a video for Mau Moko, a music that celebrates the observe of Māori tattooing.
“Māori have a wealthy historical past of marking traditions that have been almost misplaced throughout colonization,” says lyricist/bassist Tūranga Porowini Morgan-Edmonds. “These traditions are at present within the strategy of a much-needed cultural revival, and that impressed me. I wished the lyrics to remind folks that moko is, and all the time can be, part of who we’re.
“With the music’s video, we wished to indicate the darker aspect of the historical past of moko and the way the pinnacle commerce [the trading of tattooed Māori skulls, many of which are displayed in European and American museums] performed an element within the close to extinction of the custom. We fought via it and proceed to combat for its revival nonetheless right now!”
Along with his function with Alien Weaponry, Morgan-Edmonds is a well-liked cultural content material creator on social media, with 386,000 followers on TikTok and one other 138,000 on Instagram.
Te Rā is the follow-up to 2021’s Tangaroa and can be launched on March 28 through Napalm Data in a number of codecs, together with restricted version splatter vinyl with a booklet, patch and slipmat, marbled vinyl, black vinyl, and CD. It is accessible to pre-order now.
“We actually stepped it up this time, as we understood that this album needed to go additional,” says frontman Lewis Raharuhi de Jong. “We went via plenty of songs and scrapped complete sections of songs. We saved working them and dealing them till we received them proper.
“Then, with the way in which we have been pushing ourselves musically, I knew it was necessary to problem myself lyrically as effectively. This time I delved into tough emotional locations and psychological states. There’s plenty of existential dread working via the album, and I attempted to search out the appropriate phrases to explain the indescribable.”
Alien Weaponry’s North American tour with Slayer legend Kerry King kicks off right now (January 15) in San Francisco, CA, and ends in Austin, TX, on February 14, earlier than the band return house to Aotearoa New Zealand for a run of headline exhibits. Full dates beneath.
Alien Weaponry: Te Rā tracklist
1. Crown
2. Mau Moko
3. 1000 Associates
4. Hanging by a Thread
5. Tama-nui-te-rā
6. Myself to Blame
7. Taniwha (feat. Randy Blythe)
8. Blackened Sky
9. Te Riri o Tāwhirimātea
10. Ponaturi
11. Te Kore
Alien Weaponry: 2025 tour dates
Jan 15: San Francisco The Regency Ballroom, CA*
Jan 17: Spokane Spokane Stay On line casino, WA*
Jan 18: Seattle Showbox SoDo, WA*
Jan 29: Portland Roseland Theater, OR*
Jan 20: Vancouver Commodore Ballroom, BC*
Jan 22: Calgary The Palace Theatre, AB*
Jan 23: Edmonton Halfway Music Corridor, AB*
Jan 25: Winnipeg Burton Cummings Theatre, MB*
Jan 26: Minneapolis The Fillmore, MN*
Jan 28: Milwaukee The Rave, WI*
Jan 30: Detroit The Majestic Theater, MI*
Jan 31: Cleveland Home of Blues, OH*
Feb 01: Toronto Danforth Music Corridor, ON*
Feb 02: Montreal L’Olympia, QC*
Feb 04: Boston Royale, MA*
Feb 05: Philadelphia Theatre of the Residing Arts, PA*
Feb 07: New York Irving Plaza, NY*
Feb 08: Baltimore Baltimore Soundstage, MD*
Feb 10: Atlanta Buckhead Theatre, GA*
Feb 11: St. Petersburg Jannus Stay, FL*
Feb 13: Houston Home of Blues, TX*
Feb 14: Austin Emo’s, TX*
Mar 14: Kirikiriroa (Hamilton) Manufacturing facility, New Zealand
Mar 15: Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) Jim Beam Homegrown, New Zealand
Mar 20: Ngāmotu (New Plymouth) TSB Showplace, New Zealand
Mar 21: Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) Powerstation, New Zealand
Mar 22: Ōtautahi (Christchurch) James Hay Theatre, New Zealand
Mar 23: Tāhuna (Queenstown) AJ Hackett Kawarau Bungy Centre, New Zealand
* with Kerry King and Municipal Waste
