It’s time. Break out the wine. Let’s talk about…
cinema
‘Afrique, la dernière du Metal’ (translated to ‘Africa, the Last Frontier of Metal’) is a Une Dose 2 Metal produced documentary. The spotlight on the heavy rumblings from South Africa, Botswana, Angola, and Mozambique starts heady. Amidst the french narration is a political wink of playing Kanye West‘s “Power” as the background music to the bustling and barb-wired cityscape b-roll.
We’re introduced to a couple icons in the community. Heine Van Der Walt is frontman of the masked South African swine-death metal group Boargazm, who recounts encountering a dominatrix on stage a couple of times. And the Sarcotrofia drummer Goro Fast, who naturally created the metal festival titled… Goro Fest.
You want to hear more about Goro Fest? Well okay, if you insist. According to documentary footage, the lineup consisted of:
- Norbordmide, the Mozambique-based noise-makers
- female-fronted Angolan brutal death metal act Last Shout
- Overthrust, the death metal group from Botswana, fronted by vocalist / bassist Vulture
- Dark Necropoly of Mozambique featuring Magunel and Vazko Holmes
It’s hard to cover the a topic like the “African metal scene” without stumbling upon the politics of the matter. Jason Modryc (vocals; Imperial Destruction) discusses the unity amongst races since Apartheid through the metal scene. Drummer Mark Ivey (Adorned in Ash) also admits that “heavy metal has been more of a white subculture in South Africa, but that’s changing.”
Some moments in the Afrique, la dernière du Metal feel too good to be true. As Adorned in Ash are discussing how they’re less accepted as Christians in the metal scene, the lights flicker within their South African Guitar Center. Frontwoman / solo shredder Robyn Ferguson responds with “welcome to Africa.”
The documentary peaks with the interview of Demogoroth Satanum, the black metal project that went viral. From Soweto with corpse paint, this group is as trve and raw as early Mayhem. A member speaks on how he went from listening to Placebo and Papa Roach to finally, black metal. Oh, and of course, the tasteful rant about Satan. Fun fact: Nelson Mandela’s prisoner ID number was 46664