SOWETO BLACK METAL BAND DEMOGOROTH SATANUM DEFIES CULTURAL STEREOTYPES IN SOUTH AFRICA

Demogoroth Satanum is a Soweto, South Africa metal band that’s breaking down barriers in the South African music scene with their bombastic, but controversial sound. In Soweto, hardcore and metal are still seen as negative, black locals associate the harshness of the sound and visceral imagery with Satanism, while white folks in the musician scene are less than enthusiastic about welcoming a Black metal band. Apartheid had so many devastating effects on the disenfranchised black populations of South Africa. The physical isolation and confinement to townships like Soweto often narrowed black folks exposure to arts and culture considered to be or that was appropriated by white people, like hardcore rock music.

However, Demogoroth Satanum are not only rising above such obstacles, they are also using their music as a tool to bring people together from both sides, integrating more white people into their black community as well as introducing more black people to the extreme-metal scene.

“We’re trying to get more black people involved by playing here in Soweto,” explains Kunene. “Fuck it, we’re tired of going out there. We’re trying to get white people to come to Soweto more. In Soweto, that’s a very, very weird thing to see. Which is cool, it’s working out. They fucking love it. We host some of the best gigs. Apartheid was only, like what, just over 20 years ago. So there’s a shitload of tension. We’re trying to break that fucking tension. And once our country breaks that racial tension, then we can fucking move on and they won’t call us ‘white people’ for playing ‘white people music.'”

For more on Demogoroth Satanum, follow the band on Facebook.