Here’s the idea: every week I’m picking five tracks from Africa that I couldn’t stop playing. They can be brand new, they can be 15 years old, they can be anything in between. This isn’t a chart, it isn’t a ranking, and it isn’t me pretending to be objective. It’s one person’s taste, quirks included, writing down the five African songs that owned the week.
There’s no fixed order either. I’m writing them the way they came back to me.
JIBREEL “Alhowa”
(Single / Invictus, 2026)
You can’t talk about Africa without talking about the long shadow of colonialism, and “Alhowa” goes straight for that nerve. JIBREEL is led by Tunis-born, Milan-based musician Ouassim Amdouni, working in a blackened death metal frame that still leaves room for Middle Eastern melody and a spiritual haze. The core idea is metamorphosis, but the lyrics keep their eyes on power, domination, and the stories people use to justify violence. It reads as a response to oppression, colonialism, and systemic violence, with zero interest in softening the language. I’m genuinely curious about what comes next. I also wanted more time with this one. It ends fast, and the atmospheric interlude that returns mid-track, plus the closing coda, make it feel like there’s an even longer version hiding inside it.
The Talon “At Pains”
(Single / Independent, 2025)
This is a big entrance, built on a tight, modern stomp and a vocal attack that will click with anyone raised on that Five Finger Death Punch kind of drive. The Talon come out of Cape Town, South Africa, and you can hear the pull of newer metallic hardcore (Knocked Loose, Judiciary, END), but also that dirty rock ’n’ roll snap in the riffing (Every Time I Die, Kvelertak, Cancer Bats). “At Pains” moves like it’s meant for a room, not a playlist, and the self-produced DIY video on YouTube seals it, as it’s a proper invitation into the band’s world.
MoshMallow “Creeper Vines”
(Single / Mosh With The Mallow, 2025)
After their set at Emalyth Fest and what I’ve been catching online, my curiosity only grew. MoshMallow call it “Pinkcore” metalcore, based in Gauteng, and there’s a point here that goes beyond the colour. They’re fronted by Marty du Plessis, which still gets tagged as “female-fronted” in a way that always makes me pause, because we never say “male-fronted” and the label can shrink the band down to one detail. It’s the same itch I get with terms like “oriental metal”, as if a whole sound can be explained by a map. Anyway, MoshMallow lean into themes that stay light on purpose, while keeping the vocals heavy when they want them. Extreme and clean vocals share the same space, without the band pretending it’s deeper than it is. They formed in 2023 around du Plessis, dropped “Pink AF!” in May 2024, and came back in March 2025 with “Creeper Vines” and a sharpened line-up.
DUSK “Fall and Rise”
(The New Land EP / Independent, 2023)
DUSK have been such steady supporters of AFRICA.ROCKS that I couldn’t resist going back to their most recent EP this week, and getting hooked all over again on the first track I ever heard from them. “Fall and Rise” still hits from the opening seconds. That first riff is the kind that makes you stop scrolling and sit with it. It’s simple in the best sense. It sets a tone, then keeps tightening the grip instead of rushing the payoff. There’s also something satisfying about returning to a song after months of noise and new releases, and realising it still works on your nerves the same way. This one does.
Znous “Salih”
(Znousland 4 / Anti-Ta7na Records, 2024)
For the second instance within a three-week span, Tunisia’s Znous secured a place among the Top 5 rankings, an outcome not actively contested. This period saw the release of an extensive, thought-provoking dialogue featuring Hamma of Znous, which effectively reimmersed me in the collective’s artistic mindset. The track “Salih” stands out for its direct, combative quality, firmly anchored in themes of cultural identity. Following Hamma’s candid remarks on linguistic nuances, societal categorizations, and the tendency to reductively classify North African musical projects under a singular, oversimplified “oriental” label, the composition resonates with heightened intensity.
