Listen HERE
New Album, Te Rā,
Out This Friday March 28, 2025
via Napalm Records
"Alien Weaponry are back with a vengeance..." - Revolver Magazine
"...Alien Weaponry’s fusion of rage, culture and melody meshes so effectively you could catch sharks in its net." - Kerrang!
“...New Zealand's hottest property is still getting hotter, and "Te Rā" is the perfect blend of neck-wrecking heaviness and atmospheric magic.” - Blabbermouth
This Friday, March 28, Aotearoa’s modern groove metal trio ALIEN WEAPONRY will release their heaviest, most powerful and mature offering to date, Te Rā, via Napalm Records!
In celebration of this week's release, the band has unleashed one of the album's most aggressive, death-metal leaning offerings, 'Taniwha', featuring a raw, heavy-hitting contribution from longtime supporter and metal icon Randy Blythe of Lamb Of God.
ALIEN WEAPONRY says about 'Taniwha':
“Lamb of God played a significant role in making Alien Weaponry what it is today and this collaboration with Randy Blythe feels like one of those ‘pinch yourself’ moments that our teenage selves would never believe possible. Randy’s lyricism and vocal expertise was an amazing addition to this song and we are beyond stoked to share this song/milestone with the world.”
Take a listen to the new track now – a special bonus listen in advance of the album's drop tomorrow, Friday 28th March 2025! The new anthem follows acclaimed latest singles “Mau Moko” ("...top-notch technical thrash metal..." - Heavy Consequence) and "1000 Friends" ("a driving, riff forward affair that makes it super easy to bang your head to" - MetalSucks).
ALIEN WEAPONRY have solidified themselves as one of the greatest young metal bands of their generation with renewed musical tenacity and crucial messaging. Since releasing their acclaimed debut Tū (2018), the band have been lauded for their kinetic presence and sound, as well as their vital blend of culturally profound lyricism in both English and te reo Māori, the indigenous language of New Zealand.
With this third full-length album, Te Rā, ALIEN WEAPONRY expand on their hallmark messages of cultural, societal and environmental resilience while delivering their most massive-sounding, focused musical output ever. In the hands of veteran producer/mixer Josh Wilbur (Lamb Of God, Gojira, Megadeth), Te Rā’s gnashing blend of groove, nu, math and thrash metal shines with anthemic choruses and refreshed technical skill.
On Te Rā, listeners can hear the band doubling-down on the aggression in the verses before applying temperance, especially in the case of “Taniwha”, a death metal-leaning banger featuring the particularly raw aforementioned guest vocal from Randy Blythe. Lyrically, there’s a noticeable tilt towards despondency, hopelessness, and frustration on Te Rā. While bassist Tūranga Porowini Morgan-Edmonds' lyrics in Māori on songs like 'Tama-nui-te-rā' and 'Ponaturi' draw from the themes of history, battle lore and mysticism that made the first two albums so rich, frontman/guitarist Lewis Raharuhi de Jong's English-language lyrics illustrate the impact when culture collides with disenfranchisement day to day. 'Crown' and 'Hanging by a Thread' take us into the headspace where struggle pushes people to the brink of desperation, while on 'Blackened Sky' and '1000 Friends', Lewis addresses universal woes like the looming threat of World War III and the damaging effects of social media. On album closer 'Te Kore', Tūranga dives into primordial nothingness at the root of the Māori origin story, while on 'Mau Moko', he finds the middle ground between these perspectives. As the lyrics honour the traditional Māori practice of moko (face tattooing), they also delve into the social costs of maintaining customs that are at-odds with dominant cultural norms.