Early Extreme Metal in Asia

by dzorrilla

So after Eastern Europe and South America, it was time to focus the attention on Asia and Underground Friday is a great day to so. Aside from a handful of Japanese bands, the region has remained quite obscure even for most people interested in early black and death metal. While I don’t think this continent has produced strong output as say South America, there are many acts worth listening to.

I applied the usual rules when writing this guide. It’s an exploration of the early scene with a cutoff date of 1994 other than one or two exceptions. If there’s a band you feel I missed her, give me a shout although I likely didn’t include because of dates/don’t like them very much.

Also, bear in mind many of these bands have very raw production. If you think Sarcofago is too noisy, then a lot of what is listed will not appeal to you.

Moving on, we start with Japan.

Japan

Sabbat The seminal black/thrash act that has been around for more than 30 years. Sabbat’s sound is filthy, no-thrills 1st wave black metal heavily inspired by Venom, Bathory and a healthy dose of traditional metal and punk. They have a very wide discography but your best bet is to try out the first two releases (Envenom and Evoke)

Abigail A band whose output is also quite large (although more modern), Abigail began more as a traditional black metal act before incorporating more thrash into their sound and becoming the act we all love. Pure awesome.

Sigh Sigh is more revered nowadays for their wacky avant-garde compositions, but their very early material is as pure as black metal gets.

Unholy Grave Another band that evolved in sound. Unholy Grave’s early output is death metal laden grind which later on incorporated more noisecore. Crucified is still a fine debut, particularly recommended if you’re looking for a faster Carcass.

S.O.B Japan’s answer to Napalm Death, S.O.B are a grind/hardcore punk band that took the early sounds of Discharge, Siege and other hardcore punk pushing it to its absolute limit. Really impressive debut when you consider it was 1987!

Deathpeed Super noisy 80s death metal from the hands of Takaho (current singer of Unholy Grave). Fun fact: Dead mentioned these guys as one of his favourite acts back in the late 80s

Necrophile Fast and furious death/thrash, sort of reminds me of Atheist at times.

Transgressor Rather than playing usual Japanese speeds, Transgressor just said “fuck it” and went a lot more mid-paced compared to their peers. Somewhere in between Autopsy and Celtic Frost. The debut is fantastic.

Maggoty Corpse One of the best demo-only bands from Japan. Maggoty Corpse played a mesh of different death metal styles, generally opting for more NYDM sounds but occasionally splicing it with Dismember-esque leads. Highly recommended.

Hellchild One of the early DM bands that took their sound from the early Florida scene. Not one of favourites, but worth at least giving a spin.

Zadkiel Do you like Motorhead? Venom? Punk? Please listen to this underrated gem that would make the guys from Midnight blush. I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS ENOUGH

Multiplex Another Japanese band with substantial grind influences (this is quite common as you can see). Some great riffs.

White Hell This is here more as curiosity than anything else. Possibly the first extreme act from Japan along with Sabbat, White Hell sounds like a hardcore punk band decided to imitate Venom and this was the result. Not amazing by any means, but alright for an occasional spin.

Voidd Noisy death/thrash with a slightly punk edge. Not the greatest band in the scene, but worth a try.

Eroded For those who can’t get enough of the grind-infused DM Japan loves to produce

Varam A death metal vocalist decides to front a bay area thrash band circa 1988. This is the result.

Singapore

Abhorer All discussion of Singaporean black/death must always begin with Abhorer, a raw black/death outfit that unleashed a couple of releases culminating in their only full length in 1996. Mandatory listening for anyone who wants to get acquainted with this scene. Personally I love their early noisy death/black demos/EP which invoke the best elements of Morbid Angel, Possessed, Necrovore, etc.

Impiety Stalwarts of the scene and an enduring band in the scene. Impiety have a similar approach to Abhorer, just raw black/death that later morphed into some over the top war metal (especially on Kaos Kommand 696). Not a huge favourite of mine, but I’ve always had large respect for them and what they’ve achieved. Definitely worth listening to at least once.

Nuctemeron The Asian progeny of Sarcofago. Absolutely recommended for fans of fast, face-melting black/thrash.

Beheaded Nasrani Signaporeans sure loved their death/black. BN’s output was much more mid-paced than the other bands mentioned here with a CF flair to it, but still delivering that raw sound characteristic of the scene.

Euronymous This is more straight up death metal, not dissimilar to 80s Death and Morbid Angel with some early Sepultura thrown for good measure.

Itnos More early South American influence here. For fans of Morbid Visions era Sepultura

Profancer Not the greatest vocals, but still some nifty death/thrash.

Mutation Mutation was one of the first extreme metal bands from the country. Their demo had an atrocious production, but beyond the loud static is some pretty solid OSDM. Vocals are too loud in the mix, although the sound is unreal.

Malaysia

Suffercation Suffercation were arguably the first Malay band to release a full length and it was quite a decent debut. Their influences are more American in nature, ranging from Morbid Angel to Obituary.

Brain Dead Brain Dead were one of the premiere acts of the early Malay scene and their debut was a thrashy kind of DM – almost sounding like a hybrid between Morbid Angel and early Sepultura. For me, one of the best acts from this neglected country.

Sil Khannaz Sil Khannaz were another pioneer in the scene whose sound was yet again an amalgamation of other scenes (American/South American/Swedish). The pace of the songs alternate between mid-paced tempos, to fast death/thrash with very melodic solos. Their debut sports quite good production considering the origin of this band.

Modar Compared to their countrymen, Modar played a much slower and DOOMIER brand of death metal – almost like a grimier and more twisted version of Autopsy with sections that could easily pass off as songs from the early works of My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost. GET IT. Unfortunately my mp3 copy is no longer working for some reason :(

Senseless Competent death/thrash with some quirky moments. Nothing groundbreaking, but still good to get a sense of the Malay scene and if you can’t get enough of a bunch of Asians writing FLDM worship.

Nebiras Nebiras were the first Norwegian BM inspired act from the country and close pals with Fenriz. This friendship was likely due to musical similarities, as Nebiras play the same stripped-down, almost punkish black metal that Darkthrone pioneered in their first records. I completely recommend the “Our Blood For His Glory” demo if you have a kick for lo-fi black metal.

Rator u/avelucifer was going to kill me if I didn’t mention this band. While most of the Malay scene looked towards the Florida or New York scene for inspiration, Rator is heavily indebted to the sounds of the early black/death scene – Sarcofago, Sepultura, Poison, Bathory, etc. If you’re into that kind of stuff, Rator is a good listen.

Vulga Vulga is pretty frustrating, as they had a lot of potential to write decent Hellenic inspired black metal ala Rotting Christ (they even recorded a cover of Forest of N’gai), but you end up with some pretty sloppy black metal and pukey vocals not suitable for this type of music. Some good riffs though.

Silent Death Groovy death metal not too dissimilar to Deicide. Decent, although not necessarily my favourite.

Thailand

Heretic Angels This is slightly past the cut off date, but I wanted to add them just to have a Thai band. Heretic Angels was the first Thai DM band and featured members from future Thai acts like Surrender of Divinity and Zygoatsis (recommended if you want Asian war metal). HA’s debut can be best described as a mix of every project Max Cavalera has been involved in. One moment it feels like you’re listening to something from Schizophrenia/BTR but it quickly spires into more groove laden territory before finishing with some out of place industrial influences straight out of the Nailbomb playbook. A frustrating mix considering the band can clearly write some decent riffs from time to time.