Astute Last Riters may have noticed that New Zealand correspondent Craig Hayes has been relatively quiet of late, at least on these pages. Elsewhere, however, he’s been getting loud. Recently, he produced and presented an exhaustive documentary for Radio New Zealand entitled South of Heaven: A History of New Zealand Extreme Metal.
Previously, he’s utilzed his unique insight to share NZ’s extreme gems with the greater metallic public, introducing our underground to the likes of Mountaineater, Beastwars, and Two Wolves. With South of Heaven, he’s peeling back layers of extremity and exposing them to a public unaware of its machinations, introducing an entire country to a thriving scene that’s boiling and rumbling under its very surface.
Below, you can stream the two-part series (and its extended intro), as well as an interview with Craig about his motivations for shining a spotlight on a scene that’s largely content to be cloaked in shadows.
Dive in:
