SUPPORT BANDS

Some confirmed bands for the REIGNS IN AFRICA Tour. More to come, including some surprises. Click on band names for links to band profiles.

THE DEAD WILL TELL   |   YES SIR! MISTER MACHINE   |   FACING THE GALLOWS   |   ENMITY   |   DAY TURNS NIGHT   |   SESLING   |   BRINGING A SHARK TO A GUNFIGHT   |   VERONA WALLS   |   ABSCENTIA   |   MERCHANTS OF MENACE   |   DEAR MARTYR   |   KILL THE WITNESS   |   DARKEST PLACE (MOZ)  |   OVNI (MOZ)   |   UNLOCKED MINDS (MOZ)

THE DEAD WILL TELL

“Melodically based guitars are layered with pure perfection over the destructively solid drumming and the result is a fast paced delivery of brutal melody. The listener is taken on a head twisting journey as the songs flow from the melodic to the churning and pounding breakdowns. The band has been playing live for two and a half years and has a stage act that can rival any. Their songs are delivered with ferocious focus and the result is a chaotic dream of both the brutal and the melodic. The bands 2010 debut release Rebuild the Fallen Empire is out now”.

YES SIR! MISTER MACHINE

“…Yes Sir! Mister Machine is a band everyone should experience live. Their sound is hardcore with an experimental line strung throughout, mixed with strokes of hardcore dance music. The music is even better live than on disc which, trust me, says a lot! But what had me speechless, besides for having screamed my lungs out, was the sheer energy on stage. The involvement with their crowd was overwhelming and I felt like a kid in a candy store, utterly confused as to where to look or what my favourite part was. The performance called for a moment of silence afterwards, not only to catch my breath but to take in what I had just witnessed. The bands jointly created a perfect build-up to end the evening at a zenith other shows will struggle to crown.”

FACING THE GALLOWS

“Started in late February 2007, Facing the Gallows is a result of five close friends brought together by the same desire to write powerful, meaningful music, and take it out to show the world. Together they have created a metal-core monster, with heavy breakdowns rivaled by faster more melodic riffs, backed by a scream that explains every emotion of each song.

FTG has been gigging tirelessly, proved by +- 80 gigs in 15 months, around the country and playing many of its major festivals in order to bring their music to as many people as possible. FTG Believes in bringing the biggest and best show to whom ever they play for. The increasing popularity of the band is pure justification that the band does what they do well. Every show no matter what size sits in the heart of each band member and their true love for playing the music can be seen during each and every show.

FTG’s lines are catchy and aggressive and they are more than amped to start a party where ever they are. Dancing is not an option people, its mandatory! If its chaos and brutality that you want, then you’ll get… if its foot tapping rock solid beats and grooves, you’ll get that too.”

ENMITY

“Murderabilia’s sound does not translate well onto page and herein lies its greatest strength. I would safely say that no band has done anything remotely similar to this in South Africa and I would be hard pressed to find an international one that has either. Enmity is pioneering its own sound and in South Africa, where 98% of bands are
cheap rip-offs of international acts, this deserves recognition on its own. Add to that incredible mastery of instruments, melody, brutality and performance and you get, dare I say, one of the best South African albums to date.

DAY TURNS NIGHT

“Day Turns Night – a melodic death metal band situated at the southernmost tip of Africa – are currently finding increased interest and appreciation for their music amongst heavy music listeners across the globe. With Ferdi’s metronomical precision and power at the drums, Karel’s bellowing low- and fear-striking high pitch vocals, the paired guitar onslaught of Roland and Sarge and the melody-enhancing low end courtesy of Tian, they are set to grow into a global representative for South African metal. They have also become one of the most sought after live acts locally, receiving equally good reviews from mainstream press, fellow musicians and critics alike.”

SESLING

Sesling is a new supergroup from Pretoria – South Africa, featuring previous members of MK Award Winners “Andre vd Walt” Andre Pereira & Tjaardt Swanepoel, “Wrestlerish” & “Shu” Werner Olckers, Chaos Theory’s Willem Sohnge and master of ceremonies Dawie Bornman. This project promises to be something special and fresh.

The EP “Vrot Van Vergifnis” is due for release in January 2010. The first Single “Wolwe” reached number 1 on the TuksFM SA Top10 & Metal Melusia Charts!

BRINGING A SHARK TO A GUNFIGHT

This band enjoys being retarded, girls, beer and sharks. Somehow amongst this mess, they’ve managed to earn a name for themselves. And it’s not a bad one at all.

With an untamed live performance, relentless attitude and dedication to the party, Bringing A Shark To A Gunfight is not a name you’ll soon remember, which counts when it’s one you shouldn’t forget.

VERONA WALLS

“There is no world without Verona walls / But purgatory, torture, hell itself.” – Bill Shakespeare.

The band Verona Walls started writing music together in early 2008 when a previous project ended with the departure of a good friend. With Marne on guitar and Evan on drums remaining, Andrew joined on Guitar, Marco as frontman and master lyricist and Dinell (Dee) on bass. After a few months of writing and rehearsing we played our debut show at ROAR for Dual entertainment on the 7th of June 2008 and have had an encouraging response so far.

Now after a year on the growing gigging scene we have played with some of the top bands in SA and abroad.

ABSCENTIA

Abscentia – Combining elements of metal, melody and rock into one explosive cocktail, Abscentia are Cape Towns freshest brand-new band. This exciting talent of 5 young musicians have all the right elements for the long haul, eager to make Abscentia a name to remember. With gigs under the belt in 2009 that have included playing alongside bands such as The City Bowl Mizers, Enmity, Yes Sir! Mister Machine, Verona Walls, Cat String Theroy, Spiralbound and more

MERCHANTS OF MENACE

A five piece band laced with the passion and destruction that comes with being in a Rock Band. A live show that will knock you backwards and leave you falling forward.

There music is an up and down rollercoaster of emotion and power. Crazy vocals and ripping guitars laced with the drum and bass you usually find in a warehouse party in England somewhere. A band here to stay, a band here to make a mark.

DEAR MARTYR

Transitioning your band from a local garage band to a national level act is never going to be easy. Yet after nearly a year of recording and planning Dear Martyr hopes to enter the league of their national music heroes with their self-titled debut album.

The music itself is a blending of punk roots, melodic sensibility and anthemic choruses, from the punk inspired energy of opening track ‘Set the Sky Ablaze’, through introspective and sometimes experimental tracks such as ‘Her Bullet…” and ‘1984’ until the huge final chorus of album closer ‘We Stand in Silence’.

Lyrical themes explore the bands’ own tragedies, the current social climate that South Africa’s youth find themselves in as well as the multi-faceted topic of love.

DARKEST PLACE (Mozambique)

“Darkest place is one of the best band that mozambique has, from the high and aggressive voices to the fast playing guitar and hard beating drums. In late october of 2006 a group of young teenagers decided to form up a band. In the beggining it really had no name. But for some reason people started calling them Darkest Place. Although the name was not official by the time. It started off with only Roger, Papito, Zezinho & Gerson. Gerson was the 1st bass player of Darkest Place. The band started off with a good boost always working hard and with their unique style. They managed to impress many people even before going on stage. Guided by Nightmare – a local friendly band decided that Darkest Place where ready to perform on stage. With only two songs and one month of existance the band already had a concert. The concert was At Franco mocambicano 23 November of 2006. A few minutes before the group went to stage there was a little problem, They didn’t have a name yet. So someone just spilled out Darkest Place. And that was the name they were presented as. The name then became official…”