It appears parts of Africa, namely, West Africa, has a bit of a burgeoning metal scene over the last several years.  One such stand-out is Arka’n Asrafokor.  Back in 2019 they dropped their debut album Zã Keli and now the band has followed it up with Dzikkuh.  Picture their debut album, but more extreme and a helluva lot more beef added to the music and production.  For those unfamiliar with the band take Sepultura’s Chaos A.D. and Roots albums, sprinkle in a lot of Soulfly, Meshuggah, smatterings of death metal and a lot of tribal/cultural beats and there you have it.  This band is fascinating and unreal.

10 songs in 46 minutes “The Truth” erupts in those Sepultura/ Soulfly beats, mentioned above.  Gruff vocals, mixed with melodic spoken word moments, and immediately the catchiness is on high display.  The polyrhythms are exceptional as are the use of bongos, alongside the drum moments.  This mid-paced groove heavy song is scorching.  The atmospheric moments towards the end, are excellent before the song kicks back into that groove heavy beat.

“Not Getting in Line” starts with a fast thrash beat, before slowing into a groove moment, then quick little blast beats, then slow down and back and forth until the thrash beat comes back in.  Some excellent guitar work and the isolated vocal lines at the 1.15 part before the harsher vocals come in with the song title yelled out, is a thing of beauty.  This song has pinch harmonics and a super cool guitar solo, towards the end.  The band has a variety of tempo changes, however they return to the main riffs/vocal lines multiple times during the song and throughout the album making this a very memorable album.

“Walk With Us” has a very old-school Fear Factory sound to it, think the Obsolete album.  Extraordinary catchy vocal tones and choruses run throughout this song, from the gruff to the actual singing and spoken word moments erupting in a 360 degree experience.  The 2.40 moment with the excellent spoken vocal moments, then right into the heavy groove with the multitude of sounds and tribal instrumentation is breathtaking, as it is heavy.

“Home” really brings in the West African influence, and this has a strong Sepultura Roots flair to it.  Heavy groove with beatdown riffs and pinch harmonics.  About halfway through the song, the tribal moments take center stage with the beautiful vocals.  This moment is excellent and of course the band gets back into the heavy moments with all the band chipping in with the vocals.

“Asrafo” is a relentless display of Meshuggah djent style polyrhythms and thrash moments ready to split your head open.  This song is chaotic and never loses its catchiness.  The song even takes pauses to bring in those tribal musical and vocal moments.  Excellent drum work and nods to early Soulfly are highly evident in this song, with a ton of originality to boot.

Dzikkuh is a highly ambitious and forward-thinking metal album from Arka’n Asrafokor.  I am mesmerized by how catchy this album is, as it is brutal and beautiful at the same time.  The variety of vocals, tones, instruments, tribal sounds/beats, and atmospheric moments all gel perfectly together.  This will definitely make my year-end list.  If you are looking for something pretty darn original, heavy and tribal, that is beyond catchy, you must check out Arka’n Asrafokor immediately.  Brilliant album!!

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