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African heavy metal refers to the heavy metal music scene in Africa, particularly in Eastern African countries such as Kenya and Uganda, Western African, and Southern African countries including Namibia, Madagascar, Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. It also extends into North African nations such as Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia, although bands in the North African region associate themselves more closely with the MENA region in terms of cultural and social consistencies. African heavy metal is characterized by the use of European and American metal genres, often blended with traditional African instruments and musical styles, creating distinct regional differences.

Southern Africa
Metal in Southern Africa has a strong presence. The Botswana heavy metal scene started in the 1970's with the introduction of classic rock and evolved into a distinctive sub-culture with a cowboy inspired aesthetic. Wrust, Overthrust, and Skinflint have achieved some international success and recognition. The 2014 documentary March of the Gods: Botswana Metalheads documents the heavy metal scene in Botswana.

According to author Edward Banchs, author of Heavy Metal Africa: Life Passion, And Heavy Metal in The Forgotten Continent, South Africa has developed a robust metal scene due to existing music industry and the large population that could support the growing metal scene. In South Africa, heavy metal was introduced in the mid-1980's to the mid-1990's in Johannesburg and was met with support with the relative success of bands such as Odyssey, Ragnarok and Urban Assault, and Voice of Destruction in Cape Town. The arrival of metal music in the country was controversial at the time. For example, the government and the N.G Kerk banned certain records from being imported, and fans of the genre faced hostility from the public with accusations of satanism due to the connotation of metal music as satanic. With the rise of the dance music around the turn of the century, the genre experienced a relative decline until its resurgence in the mid-2000's. In South Africa, the fan base and band members are predominantly made up of white South Africans unlike in other African countries, such as Botswana, where the fan base is predominately from the black majority. The first black metal band in South Africa with all black members, Demogorath Satanum, has formed and works to change the perception of metal music as a genre for white people and bring more black fans into the South African metal scene.

Other Southern African countries such as Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Madagascar are developing metal scenes as well. The Mozambique metal scene is the subject of the documentary, Terra Pesada. Namibia held a metal festival in Windhoek intermittently between 2007 and 2014 called the Windhoek Metal Fest. Zimbabwe held its first documented metal concert in Harare in 2015 and the first album recorded in Shona was released in 2018. Madagascar also has a developing metal scene recorded by Edward Banchs. Not much is known about any metal scenes in the other Southern African countries.

Northern Africa
Metal made an appearance in North Africa in the 1980's. North African heavy metal bands in particular are aligned with the political side of metal, and members of metal bands are often activists. The metal scenes in North Africa are marked by political and social repression. In Egypt, fans have faced waves of discrimination from both official institutions and the general public. In January 1997, between 78 and 87 metal fans were forcibly removed from their homes and imprisoned under Egypt's statute against the "contempt of heavenly religions" and for obscene acts, drug possession, and promoting extreme ideas. The media took hold of the information about the arrests and spread stories of drug abuse, Satanic rituals, animal sacrifice, and orgies. Defendants were eventually released due to a lack of evidence, but some were held for as long as three weeks. The metal scene retreated following the crackdown in 1997 but came back slowly and cautiously to avoid suspicion in the 2000's and has now largely recovered from the 1997 arrests. The 2011 revolution in Egypt politicized metal further and caused the genre to gain popularity in mainstream audiences. However, heavy metal is still not fully accepted by society in Egypt. Security forces have prevented 35 metal bands from entering the country, and, in 2012, the media and the Muslim Brotherhood accused fans of the genre of Satanism, although the allegations did not produce the same effects as those made in 1997. Many bands have since left Egypt, however, finding that the end of the revolution has caused the scene to wane.

The metal scene in Morocco faced a similar series of arrests as Egypt. Nine heavy metal band members and five fans were sentenced to serve prison time for being anti-Islamic in 2003. The 14 individuals were released after Moroccans protested. Despite the scrutiny metal fans face in Morocco, festivals like L'Boulevard which host hip hop and metal musicians from around the world have gained popularity and government support in recent years, and an organization called the Moroccan Metal Community organizes metal concerts and promotes Moroccan metal bands.

Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria have smaller metal scenes than their North African counterparts. Tunisian bands note that the scene is struggling due to a lack of access to equipment, record labels, venues, and recording studios. Musicians also cite the revolution in 2011 as a reason for the lack of development of the heavy metal scene. Libya's art scene is also where a heavy metal scene is developing after the Libyan Civil War (2011). Algeria's metal scene is strong, beginning in the 1990's as an underground movement during the Algerian Civil War and has sustained attacks by the media and the public.

Eastern, Western, and Central Africa
Eastern and Western Africa have seen less of a presence. Kenya and Uganda in Eastern Africa have metal scenes. Kenya first was introduced to metal music in the 1990's and grew in popularity in the 2000's. Kenyan musicians use their Christian beliefs and the post-election crisis of 2008 as inspiration for their songs. Central Africa does not have a documented metal scene outside of Angola, which is documented and featured in the film Death Metal Angola. Some countries, however, have no documented history of metal music in their country. Researchers attribute the lack of metal scenes in African countries to multiple factors. First, music scenes require a degree of urbanization. African metal scenes are often centered in capital cities, and music scenes require regular access to power for musicians to be able to produce and play music. Researchers also attribute the lack of metal scenes to a lack of Internet access, which is required for the influx and spread of Western music in African countries, and the lack of a music infrastructure in African countries in general including venues and record labels. Despite these barriers, metal has spread considerably across the continent in recent decades, and nascent scenes that are not documented formally are possible.