Māori metallers set to release new album after busy start to year

Te reo Māori thrash metallers Alien Weaponry are set to release their third studio album, Te Rā, after its two already-released singles, Mau Moko and 1000 Friends.

Since their formation in 2010, Alien Weaponry have become one of New Zealand's most successful metal bands, winning two New Zealand music awards and performing all over the world with the likes of Gojira, Anthrax and Slayer.

The album will be released at a busy time for the Northland natives, who have just wrapped up a nationwide headline tour, following a six-week run of shows in the United States as support for former Slayer guitarist Kerry King.

Drummer Henry De Jong says the band “absolutely cannot wait for people to hear” the new album, which was recorded in California last year with “veteran” metal producer Josh Wilbur.

LISTEN: Interview with Alien Weaponry.

Wilbur, who has worked with other significant metal bands, such as Lamb Of God, Korn, and Megadeth, is “crazy at his job”, says bassist Tūranga Morgan-Edmonds.

“He took songs that we already thought were pretty good, and he made them great.”

Te Rā is Alien Weaponry’s first album to feature Morgan-Edmonds as a songwriter.

Morgan-Edmonds joined after the completion of the band’s two previous albums, 2018’s Tū, and 2021’s Tangaroa.

This changed the way the band wrote the tracks for the new album, says Morgan-Edmonds.

“The boys used to sit in the band room and jam, and then go and find possible song ideas, but I found that wasn’t working for me.”

Music for Te Rā was predominantly written on Henry’s laptop, which Morgan-Edmonds says “created a much more efficient workflow, so that when we hit the studio we had a massive excess of about 30 songs that became the final 11 on the album.”

Before the album release, Alien Weaponry will release a final single, Taniwha, which features a guest appearance from Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe. (Listen to the  single below.)

“I was sitting in my car listening to the song's demo well over a year ago, and I thought the song needed something, and I thought that was maybe a guest vocal,” says Morgan-Edmonds.

“Randy had already messaged me about a book I had recommended on my socials, so I thought, ‘Why don’t I just ask Randy?’”

Guitarist Lewis De Jong, Henry’s younger brother, says he was excited to work with Randy, who he calls his biggest inspiration.

“Lamb Of God is a band that shaped me, and helped me through a lot of difficult times as a teenager.”

Te Rā will be released this Friday, March 28 and is available for pre-order.