The Seeds of Datura

There are interesting things happening in heavy metal music in Kenya and there is a handful of bands that have come to the attention of the seekers and searchers of the world. Bands like In Oath, Absence of Light, Last Year’s Tragedy, Mortal Soul, Lust of a Dying Breed—some of which have been featured in this publication—have had their names circulated around in blogs, zines and magazines. If you are curious to know what’s happening in metal music in Kenya, there is an even newer band that this publication has never reported about: The Seeds of Datura.

To be completely honest, I had never even heard of this band until very recently. I am unable to present you with tons of information at this point, but let’s get to what we do know right now. First things first, the two links below are a great way to learn more about The Seeds of Datura.

On Bandcamp there are four songs. The oldest one is called “Empty Chasm of Pain” and it is from April 2016. This track is a total mellow/ballad vibe, and it is a trick, a trick because things are about to get heavier with the next one called “Wonderland” from October 2016. Here we begin to hear the crazier, heavier sound.

“Mortalized Eternity” is the next one and it is from March 2017, and now we are in extreme metal territory. The recording is raw, as is the energy, with both low growling and higher growling. The speed is uptempo for headbanging. Of the three songs so far, this one goes more directly for the heavy metal intensity. There is also melodic guitar that runs through the whole song.

That brings us to “Pokea Uponyaji.” Once again, we are dealing with an extreme metal song. At this point, The Seeds of Datura is coming across as a really heavy band with both low growling and the angrier, sinister vocals. The music is midtempo and super heavy. This last track has lyrics in Swahili and the lyrics are posted on Bandcamp. Given that the song is midtempo, you can growl along and learn some Swahili with this band.

Anyway, they describe themselves as “a six-piece progressive metal band.” As you can imagine, we’ll have to see what musical roads this young band will be travelling. Whatever those roads are, we hope they continue on the proud path of heavy metal music in Kenya.

theseedsofdaturametal.bandcamp.com

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