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Heavy Metal Thunder Botswana Heavy Metal

Genres Heavy Metal Botswana Heavy Metal

Botswana Heavy Metal

Traditional heavy metal in southern Africa, with a leather-and-studs culture so complete it became the most photographed thing about the scene.

Active years
1995 – present
Origin
Botswana (Gaborone)
Family
Heavy Metal Origins
Bands here
8

Start here

Three records in order of how easy they are to get into — which is not the same as best first.

  1. Nyemba Skinflint, 2013 The landmark

    The record that got the world to look at Botswana, though the leather-and-cattle-horn photographs did more of that than the music. Setswana lyrics and Tswana mythology over classic heavy metal, played completely without irony.

    Listen to Nyemba

  2. Soulless Machine Wrust, 2007

    Heavier and more modern than Skinflint — death metal rather than trad — and the record that showed the scene had more than one register. Recorded in Gaborone on almost nothing.

    Listen to Soulless Machine

  3. Dented Reality Crackdust, 2007

    The extreme end of a tiny scene. Straight death metal with no local instrumentation at all, which is its own kind of statement about what Botswana metal is allowed to be.

    Listen to Dented Reality

What it sounds like

Traditional heavy metal, played in Setswana and Sotho as often as English. Musically it is the eighties template — mid-paced riffs, clean sung vocals, twin guitars — with Southern African rhythmic phrasing underneath and local languages and folklore in the lyrics. Skinflint build songs around Tswana mythology rather than Norse. Production is modest, reflecting the resources available. Compared with the British metal it descends from, the difference is not in the riffs but in what the songs are about. It is a small scene — under ten recording bands — and it is worth saying that most of its international fame has rested on photographs of the audience rather than on the records.

  • Heaviness 3 out of 5
  • Speed 3 out of 5
  • Aggression 3 out of 5
  • Technicality 2 out of 5
  • Darkness 2 out of 5
  • Melody 3 out of 5

Where the name came from

A geographic label for one of the most visually distinctive metal scenes anywhere. Centred on Gaborone from the mid-1990s, its 'MaRock' following became internationally known through Frank Marshall's photographic series Renegades (2010) and subsequent documentaries.

The bands

Hear these first

  • Skinflint Botswana
  • Wrust Botswana
  • Crackdust Botswana
  • Overthrust Botswana

And 4 more

  • Metal Orizon Botswana
  • Remuda Botswana
  • Dust N Fire Botswana
  • STANE Botswana

Where it happened

Counting this genre and everything descended from it.

If you liked this

Closest in sound outside this family, leaning towards the similar or the gentler rather than straight into the deep end.