Alien Weaponry are all set to kick off their tour with Kerry King tonight (January 15th), but that’s not the only exciting news coming from the New Zealand groove-metal trio today. After teasing “undisclosed tings” being made in the studio last year, the band have formally announced that their next album, Te Rā, will be out March 28th via Napalm Records.
News of the album — their first since 2021’s Tangaroa — arrives alongside a music video for first single “Mau Moko,” a song that continues to find the group exploring heavy-edged grooves while likewise reflecting on, per a press statement, “cultural, societal and environmental resilience.”
As for “Mau Moko,” specifically, bassist and lyricist Tūranga Porowini Morgan-Edmonds wrote the track to celebrate traditional Māori face tattooing, while also “delving into the costs of maintaining customs that are at-odds with dominant cultural norms.”
“Māori have a rich history of marking traditions that were nearly lost during colonization. These traditions are currently in the process of a much-needed cultural revival,” he said in a statement.
“I wanted the lyrics to remind people that moko is, and always will be, a part of who we are. With the song’s video, we wanted to show the darker side of the history of moko and how the head trade played a part in the near extinction of the tradition. We fought through it and continue to fight for its revival still today!”
As for the rest of Te Rā, the album was produced and mixed by Josh Wilbur (Lamb Of God, Gojira, Megadeth), and once again finds the act singing in both both English and te reo Māori, the indigenous language of New Zealand.
The album will apparentlt feature lyrics based on history and mysticism (“Tama-nui-te-rā,” “Ponaturi”), while also hitting at the threat of World War III and the effects of social media. The record’s “Taniwha” is teased as a death-metal-leaning banger, and it features guest howls from Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe.
“This time I delved into difficult emotional places and mental states,” guitarist-vocalist Lewis de Jeong added. “There’s a lot of existential dread running through the album, and I tried to find the right words to describe the indescribable.”
Pre-orders for Te Rā are already up over here, while you can check out the album art and tracklisting over here.
As previously reported, Alien Weaponry will spend the next month out on the road with Kerry King and thrashers Municipal Waste. You’ll find the tour route down below.
Te Rā tracklisting:
Crown
Mau Moko
1000 Friends
Hanging by a Thread
Tama-nui-te-rā
Myself to Blame
Taniwha (feat. Randy Blythe)
Blackened Sky
Te Riri o Tāwhirimātea
Ponaturi
Te Kore
Kerry King, Municipal Waste and Alien Weaponry 2025 tour dates:
1/15 San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom
1/17 Spokane, WA – Spokane Live Casino
1/18 Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo
1/19 Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
1/20 Vancouver, BC -Commodore Ballroom
1/22 Calgary, AB – The Palace Theatre
1/23 Edmonton, AB – Midway Music Hall
1/25 Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings Theatre
1/26 Minneapolis, MN – The Fillmore
1/28 Milwaukee, WI – The Rave
1/30 Detroit, MI – The Majestic Theater
1/31 Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
2/1 Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall
2/2 Montreal, QC – L’Olympia
2/4 Boston, MA -Royale
2/5 Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of the Living Arts
2/7 New York, NY – Irving Plaza
2/8 Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
2/10 Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theatre
2/11 St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
2/13 Houston, TX – House of Blues
2/14 Austin, TX – Emo’s
2/15 Dallas, TX – The Studio at the Factory
2/17 Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
2/18 Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater
2/19 Phoenix, AZ – The Nile Theater
2/21 Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
2/22 Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre