Further to my posts on metal in Africa here and here, Justin Davisson alerted me to the forthcoming release schedule of Legion of Death Records, which includes stuff from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and most intriguingly, Sasamo from Madagascar and Orisa Shakpana from Jamaica. Both of the latter appear to be 'black' (although I loath such crude terms). Check out their listings at Metal Archives. The Jamaican act - a one man black metal outfit - seems particularly intriguing, here's what Legion of Death say about them:
ORISHA SHAKPANA is Jamaica’s premier Black Metal band, which has been compared to bands like ORDER FROM CHAOS, BLASPHEMY, SARCOFAGO, VON and Norse Black Metal. Lyrically, it is about the dark history that Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean has and shares. It is also about Jamaican superstitions of the night and mythology that has traces back to Pre-Columbian Jamaica. The Orisha are types of gods, and Shakpana is the god of diseases and insanity. Olokun is the elder god of the Orisha, lord of the ocean and earth’s depths. Also there is the tradition of misanthropic lyrics as the only warrior behind ORISHA SHAKPANA, Lord Ifrit, is a misanthropist. The themes also deal with Jamaica’s geographic nature.
As far as I can remember, this is the first time I have heard of a band drawing of black African-originated mythologies (although Sepultura did use Afro-Barzilian themes). It's certainly the first I've heard of that draws on Carribean mythology.
What it proves of course is that practically any region has a 'dark side', an occult mythology that can be used to create syncretic black metal.
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