IoMP 173: Metal Around the World: Cambodia
Pack your bags because the Influencers of Metal Podcast is boarding IoMP Airlines once again for another edition of Metal Around the World!
This time, Collin and Tom are finally making good on a promise from an earlier episode and travelling musically to Cambodia, home to one of the smallest metal scenes they’ve encountered during the series.
According to the Metal Archives research discussed during the episode, Cambodia presented the guys with only a handful of bands to choose from — meaning the usual Metal Around the World format had to change. Instead of walking away, they're giving this small but fiercely underground scene its moment in the spotlight.
First up is Nightmare A.D., a thrash/crust band delivering an old-school sound that leaves Collin hearing shades of bands like Moonspell.
Then things get weird… Really weird…
Tom introduces Collin to Atakheat, an ambient black metal project whose extraordinarily raw production leaves both hosts scrambling for increasingly ridiculous ways to describe what they're hearing. Whatever it is, the guys may have accidentally discovered a new standard for measuring underground music: “Are you truly underground if your metal doesn’t sound like a rusted drive-thru speaker?”
From there, Reign in Slumber brings the blast beats with a death/black metal attack that lands much closer to what Collin was hoping to hear, before Doch Chkae closes out the Cambodian journey with raw death metal — and becomes Tom's favourite discovery of the episode.
With much of this music living outside the major streaming platforms, this trip also becomes exactly what Metal Around the World was designed for: digging beyond Spotify and discovering heavy music that might otherwise never cross your path.
So how does Cambodia's tiny metal scene stack up?
Which bands deserve another listen?
And after spending several episodes exploring Asia, where in the world is the wheel sending Collin and Tom next?
Click play and join the Influencers of Metal Podcast as Metal Around the World explores Cambodia!
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