Metal from unexpected countries is a subject as played out as photo series of Juggalos. It’s fun to look at people who don’t know better when you do, or something like that, and that’s really gross. Then again, the liberal middle class celebrating foreigners/the oppressed masses (as long as they don’t move next door) is something that’s gone on for centuries, so it’s worth not getting too stressed about that sort of thing and accept it as part of a bigger problem: everyone in the world is a dick. The oppressed masses are capable of some pretty unpleasant behaviour themselves, you know, so don’t worry about it, Che, it all evens out in the end.
Whatever your feelings on that sort of thing, I’m sure you’re all aware (I’m assuming you’re all regular readers of the Red And Anarchist Black Metal blog, right?) that they’ve got black metal in the Caribbean now, and despite what we said about this being a played out subject, how weird is it that they’ve got black metal in the Caribbean!?
It’s actually just two guys. One 17 year old in Barbados called Conrad who mixes and a Jamaican guy called Orisha Shakpana.
Of course, this is thrilling because the Caribbean is a long way away from Norway and the frosty climate that we associate with BM, and it’s also a bit second world, which adds a bit of wildness and danger into the mix, it sounds pretty patronising when you write that stuff down, doesn’t it? Fuck it, here are some mediafire downloads of their demos, they’re pretty fascinating. It’d be sad for these guys to be seen exclusively as curios, though.
Conrad – Oceaan Kroniek here.
From Conrad’s Myspace: August 5th 2009 E.V. Conrad was summoned in the Eastern Grasslands of St. Philip by 17 yr old Kadeem Ward (Veldt Soldaat/Emdeka). The project rebels against that which is “accepted” in the Anti-Metal community of Barbados. With the goal to preserve and teach historical tales and ancestral myths, Conrad fuses the elements of Afro-Caribbean rhythms & sounds with epic orchestral ambience and highly distorted riffs influenced by the groundbreaking bands of the early Norwegian Black Metal scene. The project’s themes are highly focused on Barbadian folklore which either tells dark or mesmerizing tales about the island’s early inhabitants, nature, paranormal events and various mythical creatures (Conrad is said to be an irritable ghost who possessed women and live in their stomachs). Other lyrical themes reflect on early African Tribes and Orishas.
Orisha Shakpana – Spectral Duppymaan Black Metal here.
And here are some pictures of Orisha, in case you were worried you weren’t going to see West Indians wearing corpsepaint:
