The Singapore metal scene now is a far cry from the scene of old. It used to be just a couple of metal bands who rarely play any gigs. This is simply because there weren't any at that time yet (we're talking about the eighties here). However, demos were the staple in those days and the first few metal bands like Impiety and Abhorrer had demos. Since then, things have come a long way for Impiety and Abhorrer. Both have released full length albums under Shivadarshana, a record label from Holland and Impiety are currently touring Malaysia exclusively with a number of Malaysian bands sponsored by big time label OSMOSE productions and Malaysian NEBIULA productions.
Back then it was heavy metal with the likes of Slayer, Dark Angel, Metallica and many others inspiring many local teenagers to play this sonic feast of machine-gun rhythm infested songs rather than slow "mat rock" tunes. Going to a little bit of history, the name 'Heavy Metal' came from a Steppenwolf song which mentioned the words, "heavy metal thunder" ,and somehow became the name for this type of music till now. Many people regard Black Sabbath as the founder of Heavy Metal due to its early formation in the late sixties. When questioned about their dark, powerful form of rock that used lumbering rhythms, piercing vocals and buzzing guitars, then singer Ozzy Osbourne replied, "In 1968,there was peace, love, hippies and stoned kids playing guitar at the corner. And we thought, this is shit, man. Theoretically it's all beautiful and wonderful but the world ain't like that. Guys were blown to bits in Vietnam and these people were doing peace signs. It was a confused time. And we would go up there and play this dark fucking music and the audience would freak out. They didn't know what the fuck we were doing".
After Black Sabbath, then came TNWBHM(The new wave of British Heavy Metal) with bands like Venom, Motorhead and Diamondhead. Soon after, TNWGHM (The new wave of global Heavy Metal) came with bands like Japan's Loudness, Denmark's Mercyful Fate, Brazil's Sepultura and Switzerland's Celtic Frost. These bands influenced a humongous number of local teens back then. You could see teenagers jamming at BMC studios in Bedok Reservoir every week playing their favorite metal covers. The number of metalheads kept on increasing and bands were formed, thus a small metal scene was created. The earliest known metal band was Impiety ,which was formed in the early eighties according to an ex-member. One of the first metal bands to appear in the early nineties was Blood Angel and they played alongside the early Singaporean bands like Stompin' Ground and the long defunct Rotten Germs. The nineties was the time that metal bands started making their mark on the scene. Bands like Silent Sorrow and Ossuary appeared on made-in-Singapore compilations like New School Rock,MIS and so on. There were more luckier ones like Itnos, who got signed by Holland's Supreme Art records and released their infamous LP, and Eibon(previously known as Debauchery) signed by Singapore's own Into Darkness productions who released their first full length album. There was also the amazing split EP of Singapore's Necreous alongside South Africa's Desecrator. Today's local metal enthusiasts are dancing to an entirely different beast. Bands of yesterday seem tame, even archaic by comparison. The aggression, speed and lyrical intensity of old metal bands are trampled to dust by the increasing grindcore and death metal outfits over the past six years. Also, metal has expanded its wings and new forms of metal has been found.Up to date ,there is of course heavy metal, death metal, black metal, grindcore, thrash , cyber-metal, doom metal and speed metal. There are a lot more and some bizarre ones too. Take this particular band, Diabolos Rising, for example - this band plays black metal trance which is a symbiosis of black metal rhythms and trance beats.
Currently in the local metal scene, the number of black metal bands has increased because many people are getting bored of death metal due to its 'perpetual heavy and evil' theme. So, they turn to black metal to express their restricted ideas. It's something like a 'get it off your chest' affair. Others just like it for what it is. Black metal is very different from death metal. Unlike death ,black metal is very melodic with an ambient subtext which shows in everything from dark symphonic synth to medieval flute pieces together with metal guitars as pioneered by the first few black metal bands like Venom and Bathory. The typical black metal vocalist sounds like the girl in The Exorcist(awesome show!) ,screeching and gurgling lyrics about evil powers, nighttime woods, trolls and pagan gods. Popularity of black metal is due to the very famous Norwegian black metal scene where all the big black metal bands like Mayhem,Burzum and Darkthrone come from. Like their Norwegian counterparts, our local black metallers don the customary all black clothes and spikes. Not forgetting their pentagrams, corpse paint and Pazuzu pendants to make the look complete. One of our local acts, Harvester, strangely enough use corpse paint even though they are a death metal band ( but hey this is the 90's where everything's an influence on something else) . Now in the nineties, metal bands have regular spots in gigs. In almost every gig a metal band will be playing alongside their punk, hardcore, indie and alternative counterparts.
And not all local metalheads have bands. Some of them run record labels like Into Darkness which is owned by two guys by the name of Ghani and Stancer, and Pulverised Records which is owned by Stompin' Ground's Ayong and a guy named Roy. Pulverised Records signed a Swedish viking metal band called Amon Amarth(which means mount doom) for their first EP entitled 'Sorrow throughout the nine worlds' and the sales are excellent because their music kicks ass. Besides that, there are also local metal zines done by metalheads wanting to make a difference in the scene. And talking about bands, our local scene has a large variety of bands playing different kinds of metal and most of these bands have demos. Bands like Harvester, Graycode, Nanoo-Nanoo and Ilemauzer are no strangers to people in the scene and Nanoo-Nanoo being the most significant because they don't have any demos but they became an instant hit with their technical power metal tunes .
Well, I can safely say that the metal scene here will always be there and the flame will keep on burning with the consistent rate of metal bands and record labels appearing. So, no matter what you are, a band, a record label or a metalhead, the metal scene exists because of you.
Nuff said....
- Fauzlee
