READER’S CHOICE: METAL FROM THE PHILIPPINES EDITION
Reader Jaime Abellar, who is presumably either from the Philippines or has spent a lot of time there, sent us a pretty lengthy list of bands from that part of the world that he thinks are worth checking out. I haven’t actually listened to any of these groups yet, but since I don’t know any Filipino metal bands (unless you count Death Angel, but I don’t for what should be obvious reasons), I thought I’d take some time now to go through these recommendations one by one and see if any of them are any good.
The bands and my reactions to said bands after the jump.
Competent but wholly unremarkable deathrash. I don’t know why anyone would listen to this when there’s a gazillion other bands in the world doing the same thing but only better. So we’re not off to a great start here…
Blackened death metal… I definitely dig this more than Sin… but not by much. There’s a section after the guitar solo I really dig, but fifteen cool seconds does not a song make. Also, what’s up with the singer’s teeth? I can’t be friends with people who have vampire teeth. It’s just a rule I have. Sorry.
This band kinda reminds me of Revocation, if Revocation were just okay instead of fucking awesome. I could see this band being way more fun live than they are on record; there’s plenty of sections that make me wanna shake my money maker. But they don’t compel me to shake my money maker, and that’s a problem.
Oh, great. Tired re-thrash has made its way to Southeast Asia. Wonderful. I’m actually really glad someone told me about this band, ’cause I’ve been having trouble sleeping, but now I can just pop this onto toni
Sorry. I dozed off there for a second. What was I typing? Fuck it, let’s just move onto the next band.
Jaime tells me that “Underoath is a big influence.” That makes me not even wanna listen to this. Sigh. Alright, I’ll listen to it.
Yep, it’s crappy eighth generation metalcore alright! Swell. Y’know what this band is really missing? Some choreographed stage moves. That would really just make this, y’know, MWAH! Perfect.
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OH MY FUCKING GOD JAIME, WHY? WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU??? Next time, just send me a bomb in the mail. Really. Put me out of my misery right quick.
Okay, so that sucked. Anyone know of any ACTUALLY good bands from the Philippines? Let us know in the comments section below. ‘Cause I listen to these bands and I’m like, “Oh, that’s why I don’t know any Filipino metal bands.” Oy.
-AR
