Recent Metal/Rock Bands to Keep an Eye Out For

The music taste of the whole YAM Magazine team varies enormously, and we do tend to be a lot more enthusiastic towards pop music— we’re looking at you, Kpop. But it comes naturally with the fan culture. However, some of us got together to talk about what Metal or Rock bands we were into lately. Besides agreeing that we’ve been listening to quite a bit K-rock, and gushing over Jambinai’s performance at the most recent edition of the Winter Olympics held at PyeongChang, we also came to the conclusion that Mongolian Metal is on the rise.

So here’s a brief list of all the bands we’ve been listening to for the past couple of years.

Jambinai (잠비나이)

Of course, we gotta start the list with our favorite Korean band. As an experimental band that combines rock with Korean traditional classical music; Jambinai creates a blend of a very distinct East meets West that hits all the right spots for an incredible listening experience.

Formed by Kim Bomi, Lee Il-woo and Sim Eun-yong; who play the haegum, taepyeongso and geomungo, respectively; the band hasn’t released a full-length album since Hermitage, which came out in 2016 under English label Bella Union. The band’s just been busy touring ;)

Original VLive link. [Sound is clearer]

You can follow their activities on Facebook, and also listen to their albums on Bandcamp.

You can also check out the interviews done by both Jenna and Camiele.

Mashrou’ Leila (مشروع ليلى)

Lebanese band Mashrou Leila has been the talk of Muslim circles for their controversial themes and satirical lyrics— love, sexuality, politics; the whole thing. They came up in a conversation with a friend who suggested them, and we’ve never looked back.

The band is currently formed by Hamed Sinno, Haig Papazian, Carl Gerges, Firas Abou Fakher and Ibrahim Badr; with their last album, Ibn El Leil, released back in 2015. The band’s also been busy touring, doing several shows in North America recently; and have just announced their upcoming 2019 European tour with dates in the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

But gotta admit, we have a weakness for their 2011 EP, El Hal Romancy.

You can follow the band’s activities on Facebook and Twitter. All their discography is available on iTunes and Spotify.

Hyukoh (혁오)

If you listen to rock music and you don’t listen to Korean rock music, you have no idea what you’re missing out [*wink wink* Rock ‘N Seoul]. Formed by vocalist Oh Hyuk, bassist Im Dong-geon, lead guitarist Lim Hyun-jae and drummer Lee In-woo; the band’s most recent feature length album, 24, was just released this year and includes -unlikely- possible MGA Song of the Year, Love Ya! [MV][Live].

Also check out their Arirang TV performance.

You can follow the band’s activities on Facebook and Twitter.