Vietnam’s heavy metal scene developed from a much older rock culture. Western rock had already gained a following in South Vietnam during the 1960s, particularly in Saigon, but the country’s modern rock and metal underground emerged much later. By the early 1990s, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City had become the two main centres for heavier music, with bands beginning to move beyond hard rock into thrash, death metal and other metal styles. The Light, formed in Hanoi in 1993, were among the earliest clearly defined Vietnamese thrash metal bands, while Bức Tường, formed in 1995, became one of the country’s most important hard rock and heavy metal groups and helped bring heavier music to a much larger domestic audience.

The underground became considerably broader during the second half of the 1990s and early 2000s. SagoMetal, formed in Ho Chi Minh City in 1996, represented the emerging death metal scene, while bands such as Thủy Triều Đỏ added progressive and heavier influences to Vietnamese rock. Microwave, formed in 2001, became one of the best-known bands from Ho Chi Minh City with its mixture of alternative rock and nu metal. UnlimiteD followed in the early 2000s and developed a melodic power and speed metal style, releasing the album “Tái sinh” in 2007.

The mid-2000s produced several bands that helped give Vietnamese metal a stronger identity. Black Infinity, formed in 2006, became one of the country’s most prominent extreme metal bands, combining melodic death, gothic and doom metal and receiving some international attention through releases and compilation appearances. Ngũ Cung, formed in Hanoi in 2007, took a different direction, combining progressive and hard rock with musical ideas drawn from the traditions of north-western Vietnam. Their use of Vietnamese cultural themes helped demonstrate how local identity could be incorporated into heavier Western-derived music rather than simply imitating foreign bands.

Large touring events also helped expand the audience for Vietnamese rock and metal. RockStorm travelled through cities across the country during the late 2000s and early 2010s, regularly featuring bands such as Bức Tường, Microwave, Ngũ Cung, UnlimiteD and Black Infinity. Some individual concerts attracted audiences numbering in the tens of thousands, giving Vietnamese heavy music a level of domestic exposure rarely associated with underground metal scenes elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Today, Vietnam has an established but still largely underground metal community encompassing death, black, thrash, power, progressive and modern metal. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City remain its principal centres, with both cities supporting numerous bands and smaller live events. Although comparatively few Vietnamese metal bands have achieved major recognition outside the country, the scene has grown substantially since the 1990s and has developed a character shaped both by international metal and Vietnam’s own language, history and musical traditions.

FAMOUS METAL BANDS FROM VIETNAM

Black Infinity | Bức Tường | Dødssanger | Ngũ Cung

Back to Asia.