After releasing their first album, Tū, just last month, te reo Māori thrash metal band Alien Weaponry are now the subject of a new US documentary.
The 18-minute film Māori Metal focuses on the trio, Henry, Ethan and Lewis, and their journey to producing their album, while juggling other life commitments.
The documentary is directed by US director David Freid whose work has recently featured in National Geographic, VICE and the Washington Post.
Music reviewer and journalist Graham Reid, writing for www.elsewhere.co.nz, says "It is a delightfully candid, guile-free portrait of this young band and where they come from (rural Kiwiland with dairy farms and rolling green pastures) as well as weaving through Māori culture which informs them. It is cultural, political, at times angry and yet -- as were Shihad -- cathartic."
Within only the first two weeks of the release of 'Tu', the album had been streamed more than one million times on Spotify.
Maori Metal from MEL Films on Vimeo.