“WE’VE GOT A question for you, Metal Hammer: where the fuck have you been, man?!” laughs Duma vocalist Martin Khanja (AKA Lord Spikeheart), passionate about the depth and diversity of the Kenyan metal scene and frustrated that it’s all too often overlooked. “The scene in Kenya is fucking serious, all kinds of genres - metalcore, death metal, grindcore, but no one knows about it, bro!” Martin spits, his words a machine-gun hail of enthusiasm, as fast as the hellacious breakcore of Duma’s self-titled debut, over which his screams herald a new era of evolution for Kenyan metal. It sees the band combining traditional percussive influences with black/death/grind/industrial/you-name-it to create one of the most uniquely intense records you’ll hear this year.
WARGASM: PRESS/HARIS NUKEM. DUMA: CHRISMAN/PRESS.
Producer Sam Karugu, a much more laidback counterpoint to his effusive frontman, is quick to agree that evolution is what this genre-bending two-piece are all about. “I want to show the world that metal is here, that we love it and that we want to change it - we want to make future music out of metal.”