Savage Lands Use Royalties from Their First Single to Preserve Some Costa Rican Rainforest

Months after releasing a single aimed at combating deforestation, nature-focused supergroup Savage Lands announced that they successfully saved a chunk of rainforest in Costa Rica from getting cut down. And they paid for the land by using money generated by their debut single, “The Last Howl.”

More than 90 percent of a 60,000 square foot piece of rainforest located along the Costa Rican coastline was purchased by the band that’s also formed as a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit. The easement they bought was slated to be destroyed.

Savage Lands consists of Megadeth drummer Dirk Verbeueren, Black Bomb A vocalist Poun, Black Bomb A bassist Etienne Treton, and guitarist/activist Sylvain Demercastel. The nonprofit organization plans to release songs, raise funds off those songs, and solicit donations in order to give back to nature.

You can check out their video now for “The Last Howl,” a tribute to howler monkeys, featuring Andreas Kisser of Sepultura and John Tardy of Obituary.

Demercastel said the band’s mission is a personal one, having lived in Costa Rica for a while now.

“Hearing the chainsaw on a daily basis, because of a recent real estate fever destroying Costa Rica’s ecosystem, we thought it was time to start a new type of action. We are reaching out to this great active community of metalheads.

“When Dirk first received the instrumental demo, he immediately had John Tardy in his mind for some vocals. He made the link between the howler monkey’s scream and the more melodic chorus of the song.

“Less than 24 hours after reaching out to John through a common friend, we received a ‘YES’ from Tardy, and knew it was going to be the start of a great adventure.”

In addition to the folks on the single, they have also worked with bands like Heilung, Gojira, Testament, and Lord of the Lost. They also have an active partnership with Season of Mist.

Verbeuren isn’t the only guy in metal looking to save Central and South American rainforests. Last year, Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe explained how he’s been working to purchase land in Ecuador to protect as much rainforest as possible from deforestation.