Northland metallers Alien Weaponry sign with one of the world's largest management groups

Northland's internationally acclaimed heavy metal band Alien Weaponry have a new management company - and it's also home to some of the genre's biggest stars.

Just weeks after getting a new member, Northland's internationally acclaimed heavy metal band Alien Weaponry have a new management company - and it's one of the biggest there is in the genre.

Alien Weaponry have joined Los Angeles based management company The RSE Group, home to high profile artists including Slayer, Gojira, Mastodon and Ghost.

"We couldn't be more excited to work with Rick Sales and be a part of the company that manages some of our favourite artists," said Henry de Jong, drummer of the powerhouse trio from Waipū.

Lewis de Jong, singer/guitarist added: "Rick Sales is a legend, and an influential figure in the metal scene worldwide. We're pretty humbled to be welcomed into this exclusive family of artists."

The band has been making headlines across the world with its unique fusion of thrash metal and te reo Māori. They occupied the No 1 slot for 13 weeks on the Devil's Dozen countdown on US radio station Sirius XM; their debut album Tū was voted album of the decade by Finish metal magazine Tounela; in Denmark they were welcomed to the Copenhell festival by a crowd of 10,000 doing a haka in their honour; and opened up for Slayer in Stuttgart Germany on their final European show last year.

While the world has been in lockdown due to Covid-19, the band has been back at home in New Zealand, writing and recording their second album. The album was due for release in 2020, but this has been delayed until 2021 because of the pandemic.

Alien Weaponry should have been playing some of the biggest music festivals in Europe this Northern summer, but the Covid-19 global pandemic put paid to those plans.

While the band has had to cancel all overseas touring in 2020, they will soon be announcing dates and locations for a New Zealand tour later this year.

Last month, after more than eight years with Alien Weaponry bassist Ethan Trembath left the band and was replaced by new bassist Turanga Porowini Morgan-Edmonds, a long-time friend of the band members and former classmate of Henry de Jong.