Anatomia PYF: Varua Ino
A place nobody expected to see... French Polynesia! And to be specific, Tahiti, the capitol.
French Polynesia belongs to the so-called Oceania, the collective of islands in Pacific Ocean (some argue whether Australia and Papua / New Guinea should also be considered part of this region). It's the most eastern part of it, which you can see below:
(source: https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polinezja_Francuska)
Since 1843, that part of Polynesia was colonized by frogeaters, instilling their language and customs. Therefore, the discography of this exotic project was released by none other, but a French label, Armée De La Mort. And till the pandemic era, Varua Ino was actually the only band of this "country", but let's not go overboard, as according Metal-Archives there are only 4 (four) bands overall.
The biography of Varua Ino is not unique when compared to any other band. Few high school pals got together and started jamming. The line-up kept changing and in 1996 they released their one and only album "Scum" on tape. It later turned out to be popular enough to warrant a CD pressing. They later recorded 2 more demos and finito, the end of story.
Uff, finally I can be done with the boring backstory and move onto the music itself.
Which is actually unusual, as there is a wide variety of genres, as the album flows fluidly from one song to another, as if they were all recorded in one session. And it seems pretty obvious that the array of styles were the result of the evolving tastes of the musicians over the years. We get some Grindcore in vein of Napalm Death, Thrash / Death like Sepultura, more pure Thrash like Metallica, and Groove Metal like Pantera. But also a Grunge ballad "Anavai", which is actually the key song of the compilation, as it was not only a radio hit, but also due to its lyrical content, dealing with identity, culture, and attachment to the national roots, resonated a lot with Polynesian youth. For the rest of the world, it might feel sappy, but we all have our favorite, generational anthems. "Anavai" fulfills exact this function. It's the only calm song, as the rest of the material decidedly stays within the Metal realm, despite the frequent genre switches.
On their latter demos the band confidently performed Death / Thrash in a more mature way, and it's quite possible, that had they have not split up, their sophomore would have been more acclaimed worldwide, instead of being a local curiosity.
Obviously, it's not some grand masterpiece, and it's naivety and simplicity might bring some smirk on people's faces, but it's not amateurish crap either, unlike majority (and especially modern) Black Metal projects. The fellows don't go below the minimum standards, and they do try to break their technical limits. Personally, I genuinely enjoyed it, but of course, elitist snobs will probably scorn it.
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