Album Review: Alien Weaponry - 'Tangaroa'

 

The time has finally come. Alien Weaponry have released their monstrous sophomore album, Tangaroa, for the world to hear. I would describe this album as not only a continuation of their 2018 debut, Tu, but an evolution. Tangaroa is a brilliant look at how the band has grown and matured over the last few years, both musically and as people, while still staying true to their sound as a band. They have honed in on what did well on Tu, reworked it, and done it again, better than ever before. Tangaroa visits subjects such as global warming and mental health, and also shares some interesting and gripping stories of New Zealand history, along with personal struggles. On the album, the band also explores the limits and boundaries of their sound, making for some surprises.

  

Tangaroa opens with the sedate sound of waves crashing onto the beach. Rowing sounds and chanting fade in, emulating a waka (canoe) coming into shore. This intro perfectly sets up the overall theme of the album, Tangaroa being the Maori deity of the sea. The band enters with guitar harmonics and high-pitched bass notes. Henry builds the suspense on the drums, which is accompanied by more chanting. The band enters in full swing, continuing right from where ‘Tu’ left off. This song is called ‘Titokowaru’, and is a tribute to the Maori chief of the same name. The song is written in first-person, with lyrics such as “ka pirangi au te kikokiko pakeha'' translating to “I crave the flesh of the white man”. Following the first verse, we are launched into a whirlwind of heaviness, with lightning-fast and relentless double kick and tremolo guitar. After a brief return to the intro section, everything drops out, apart from the bass. It was a surprise to hear a solo bass feature a mere couple of minutes into the opening song, which, to me, shows that we can expect some surprises from the album. From here, the feel of the song changes completely, which shows that Alien Weaponry has drawn more of a progressive metal influence on this album. The time signature changes, and we hear the band playing under a Maori voiceover. After this, the band returns to the Gojira-esque chorus. Just when the listener settles, expecting the song to end, the band changes things up again. The song speeds up, and we are introduced to the new, final movement of the song. We can hear taonga puoro (traditional Maori instruments) in the background, and the song finishes with the sound of a pukaea (Maori horn). Following this is a few seconds of dead silence. We then hear the soft sound of bird calls. Lewis begins the next track, ‘Hatupatu’ with short, vicious stabs of tremolo guitar. Henry keeps time on the hi-hat, before launching into a china beat, the double kicks matching the guitar. ‘Hatupatu’ is, without a doubt, one of my personal favorite tracks of Tangaroa. This song is a groove machine, and still has a real progressive element to it. Underneath the music, the band introduces a new form of taonga puoro, a purerehua, which can be heard on their last album. ‘Hatupatu’ uses very clever, traditional-sounding Maori vocal arrangement, utilizing call and response.  The chorus is explosive, with the triplet stabs making the chorus groovy and relentless. Following the second verse, the guitar harmonics used create a more unique atmosphere. The stabs here are absolutely relentless and make the song incredibly groovy. My favorite section of ‘Hatupatu’ is the outro. The outro features a haka that the band wrote, specifically for the song. The energy of the music works alongside the energy of the haka. ‘Hatupatu’ finishes with relentless energy and heaviness, leaving the listener stunned beyond words. The third track is ‘Ahi Ka’. this was the first single released from the album, back in 2019, and is a song that most fans are now familiar with. The track features atmospheric guitar, and yet another form of traditional instrument, a bone flute, or koauau. Title track ‘Tangaroa’ has a suspenseful build-up to a heavy section, which arrives like a bomb going off. The song’s sharp, angry lyrics are about the pollution of the world’s waterways, with the Maori lyrics translating to “we amputate the limbs of Tangaroa”. The heavy nature of the song resembles being thrashed around underwater. My favorite part of ‘Tangaroa’ is the breakdown, where the Maori lyrics are great to yell along to when played live. 

Approaching the halfway mark is ‘Unforgiving’. It is hard for this track to not stand out on this album and in Alien Weaponry’s entire catalog. ‘Unforgiving’ is a drastic change of pace and mood, and a really unique step for the band. The song is the longest on the album, clocking in at just over the 7-minute mark. The track begins with the sound of a thunderstorm, which, like the intro of ‘Titokowaru’, perfectly sets up the overall mood of the song. Echoed guitars enter, followed by Lewis’ voice, which has a lot of room due to the track not being very musically busy. This is a very personal song, and the emotion heard in Lewis’ voice is palpable. The drums enter with a very basic beat, to not distract from the song's atmosphere. The song begins to change and morph, getting slightly heavier, but the overall melancholy mood remains. The echoing guitar fades out, and the drums lead into the guitar solo, a first for Alien Weaponry. The solo is played by new member, Turanga Morgan-Edmonds, and could be a look into the future as to what Turanga will bring to the table. The song’s outro goes full-on heavy, with an awesome, Gojira-like guitar riff and drum beat. The track fades out into ‘Blinded’, the album’s second single, and a good follow up to the unfamiliar territory of ‘Unforgiving’. The drumming in ’Blinded’ is super creative, with a cool swing time and feel. My highlight of the song is the atmospheric, post-chorus solo guitar part, before the volume increases and swells, and we crash back into the chorus. Up next is another of my favorite tracks on Tangaroa, ‘Kai Whatu’, which has a groove of insane proportions. This song has more of an instrumental focus, with great arrangement and development of each instrument. There’s also a real tribal element to ‘Kai Whatu’, as it has very traditional sounding vocals. ‘Crooked Monsters’ is another of the most melancholy tracks on the album. A massive contrast to its predecessor, this song is also very personal, and the emotion is palatable as ever. The song begins to ramp up after the intro with a drum build-up, before exploding into anger, and all preconceived notions about ‘Crooked Monsters’ not being a heavy song are trampled. Long ringing guitar chords are heard in the outro, which dies down to the same bass riff that opens the song.

The next track, ‘Buried Underground’, was the final single released from the album. I have already reviewed this track as a single, but I think this is a good opportunity to appreciate the overall track placement of this album. With Tangaroa being such an experimental album, every time the listener is taken too far out of their comfort zone, they hear a track they are familiar with to refocus themselves. ‘Dad’ features the band’s old bass player, Ethan Trembath, on main vocals. The song opens with weird industrial sounds before the awesome guitar riff enters. The full band follows, with Lamb Of God vibes. Ethan has a great, emotive voice that we didn’t get to hear much during his time in Alien Weaponry. My highlights of the song are the vocal harmonies in the chorus, as well as the thrash beat section. The guitar riffs in this song are also incredibly well written. Next is another favorite of mine, ‘Ihenga’, a song that works so well, while comprising sections of music that almost shouldn’t fit together. There is constant change of feel between sections, with use of some very creative transitions. Taonga puoro and bird calls are heard in the background of the song. My favorite part of ‘Ihenga’ is the triplet bridge section. Here, the band uses moteatea -  a very traditional Maori vocal style, which closely resembles a chant or a hymn. It is awesome to hear the band blending their sound with these traditional vocal styles, and it makes this a super intense part of the song. Tangaroa closes with ‘Down The Rabbit Hole’, which features more great groove, with echoes of Pantera. Like so many Alien Weaponry songs, ‘Down The Rabbit Hole’ has powerful lyrics that people can easily relate to. My highlights of this track are the harmonized vocals in the bridge, along with the outro, which has a cool guitar riff using harmonics. The album ends with thudding bass that you can feel in your chest (assuming you’re playing it loud enough). 

Much like the first album, Tu, Tangaroa has drawn much of its inspiration from New Zealand history. Tangaroa has taken a slightly different route, however, diving into earlier Maori history, and Maori myths and legends. An example of this is the second track on the album, ‘Hatupatu’, which tells the old folklore tale of the subject's capture, and escape from Kura Ngaituku, a witch in the forest, who is a half-bird/half-human hybrid. Another example is ‘Kai Whatu’, based on a true story about a man called Kereopa Te Rau, who kidnapped and killed a missionary, Carl Völkner, and proceeded to eat Völkner’s eyes and drink his blood. Tangaroa also touches on mental health and drug abuse in ‘Buried Underground’, global warming in ‘Tangaroa’, and the feeling of existential dread in ‘Unforgiving’. 

Tangaroa takes its listeners on a brilliant musical journey of this stage of the band. It gives us insight into the minds of each member and sheds light on what they feel passionate about. Alien Weaponry has shown us that they are indeed not a one-trick pony, and they are not afraid to take risks and take their listeners to unexpected places.