To Cross the Oceans

We all know that for a long time now the reach of the music we listen to has extended far beyond the boundaries of the Western/American/UK/European/Australian cultural frames in which it is still stereotypically thought to exist by far too many people. I mean, as Magrudergrind say, "the South East Asian scene is the shit". And I never get bored of reading about the different places where metal and punk take root and are cast in a new light by people unleashing their own experiences through the power of the riff.

I have recently noticed more and more articles looking into metal and punk in different countries, and decided to point to a few of them here. Really, this a pretty lazy post in which I'm not adding anything new, just throwing out a few links some readers may find interesting.

Japan
Japan has been cranking out influential heavy music for years, and here in Australia, we are already lucky enough to have Japanese bands touring pretty frequently. Just a few highlights that spring to my mind from recent years are Boris, Unholy Grave, Numb, Birushanah, Realized and Sete Star Sept...and there have been many others. We've also got Cyberne coming back soon, and the very exciting news that Church of Misery will be headlining this year's Doomsday Festival. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed Craig Hayes' two part feature on Japanese metal at PopMatters, with part one giving a brief historical overview and part two focusing on a handful of standout bands.
Nippon Riffin': Part 1
Nippon Riffin': Part 2

Egypt, Libya and Tunisia
A part of the world whose music I'm much less familiar with is North Africa. So it was interesting to read Alasdair Bulmer's pieces for Invisible Oranges on metal in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. I don't know if there are going to be further installments in this series but if there are, I'll post them further down the road.
African Metal #1: Egypt
African Metal #2: Libya and Tunisia

Mexico
Mexico already has a great reputation for crust and grind. Delving a little deeper into that area, the excellent Aborted Society (through their AbSoc Zine) have just kicked off a series called "Women of Mexican Hardcore". The first, in which Diana Mayoral interviews Mariana Huerta of Guadalajara crust band Antagonisten, was just published a few days ago. So keep checking in for more, in what promises to be a stellar feature that will reveal some fantastic new music.
Women of Mexican Hardcore: Mariana Huerta - Antagonisten

One final note: if you have any interest in magazines that are printed on actual paper, I would also recommend Annick Giroux's "World Downfall" column in Iron Fist magazine, featuring interviews with bands from all around the globe (I've only read the ones from Malaysia and Turkey, but they're well worth checking out).

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