The Singapore Black Metal scene is a fascinating one. There are many bands to check out, but let's start with one of the oldest and coldest. As Sahar are a rather orthodox Black Metal from the region who tumbled from the vagina of the goat sometime around 1993. Their seventeen year commitment to no-fucking-around Black Metal has earned them the respect as one of Southeast Asia's most feral hordes. The band formed out of the smoldering nuclear ash of the legendary Singapura Satanic death/thrash act, Ethos. As Sahar have a staggering discography, and I imagine that most of this stuff isn't exactly available at Best Buy between Arsis and Atreyu, so if you are sitting on anything by As Sahar then you should share it. I will start it off by sharing the Casus Luciferi ep, which is really just a 1997 reissue of their first demo Primitively Eastern Winds from '93. In 1993 Black Metal was still pretty new, and probably even newer to Singapore, as a result As Sahar, at this point, still seem to have some more thrash and even '80s hardcore elements to their proto-Black Metal. Bow before the might of As Sahar!!!
7 comments:
Pretty interesting band
You can find some more on http://metalmalaya.blogspot.com/2009/10/as-sahar.html (one link doesn't work I think) plus their first full length on http://rapidshare.com/#!download|159|346603526|As_Sahar_-_Phenomistik__1998__by_arpeggio.rar|52798
Singapore actually has one of the oldest black metal scenes in the world, with Xasthur (not THAT Xasthur) forming in 1986, although they didn't release a demo until 1992; Abhorer (bestial black/death), Nuctemeron (black thrash) and Cemetery (corpsepainted morbid death metal) dating back to 1987; Infidel to 1988 or 1989; Impiety, Libation Beheaded Nasrani and Belial to 1990; and Istidraj and Prophesy to 1993.
I'd never heard of As Sahar before, and it looks like they share members with a bunch of the aforementioned, so I'll definitely chekc them out! Thanks Aesop.
really surprised there weren't more responses to this one! i'd always associated southeast asia with the sarcofago/blasphemy style, which is not my favorite, so this stuff is refreshing. definitely appreciating the hardcore vibe.
I plainly need to check this out. As-sahar is Arabic for "the dawn" or "the awakening," which is an odd name for a black metal band. It's also a girls' name, which, again, is odd for a black metal band.
This band is plain awesome. Love the thrash elements and the weird 'Edge of Darkness - Start of Light' instrumental that makes me think of my Nana's electric organ.
i cannot swear to it seeing that i haven't spoken to members.
but i'm from singapore too and i've heard from local sources that they're an anti-zionist, malay supremacist band. and judging from their covers i'd have to say that its not improbable.
They are deffo anti-Zionist, but I'm not entirely sure about the pro-Malay bit.
Pro-Islam, though*? Yeah, probably. I don't exactly have a lot of their releases, but I distinctly remember being told that the As-Sahar boys slowly started getting "more Islamic" as time went on.
They released an album entitled "Intifada", for crying out loud! Which, unless I'm mistaken, had a statement on the back to the effect of "We are an Anti-Zionist band" etcetcetc.
* Of course, I realise that, for certain sections of the Muslim world (particularly in that lovely intellectual backwater of South-East Asia known as Malaysia), race and religion are often totally inseparable. But still...
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