From Blackbraid to Alien Weaponry, metal is increasingly becoming a space for disaffected Indigenous peoples to rage against colonialism while championing their cultures’ music and values. Mawiza – based in Santiago, Chile – join the scene from the Mapuche Nation: a South American group who spent centuries fighting off oppression from European settlers.
The groove metal band ‘formed’ in 2021, after vocalist Awka Mondaka got more in touch with his heritage and decided their previous, Spanish-language name was no longer appropriate. Since then, they’ve re-recorded their old material in Mapudungun, the Mapuche tongue. Plus, in the last two years alone, they’ve signed to Season Of Mist and supported Slipknot, King Diamond and Gojira.
Ül (‘Chant’) marks the four-piece’s first original music under the ‘Mawiza’ moniker, and it suggests more staggering milestones will come. Sung entirely in Mapudungun, it’s as thematically enlightening as it is musically distinct. Opener and lead single Wingkawnoam, for example, pairs its barrelling guitar chords with the kultrung, a traditional drum, while Awka shouts about the sanctity of Indigenous territory.
The rest of the album is full of lessons on culture and myth, from Ngulutu’s narration of Spanish/Mapuche conflicts to Pinhza Ñi Pewma relaying a dream about the natural world. All the while, the melodies of Mapuche rituals are embedded amid the scraping, stomping metal. Mamüll Reke pairs its discordant opening notes with folkish whistling in seamless fashion.
The most affecting track, though, is finale Ti Inan Paw-Pawkan. With a climax that layers hulking riffs and the screams of Gojira’s Joe Duplantier atop native chanting, it’s brutal, poignant and the strongest statement of Mawiza’s potential to date. Even at this early stage, these up-and-comers feel fully formed and vital to listen to.
Ül is out now via Season Of Mist.
