THE BEAST

Zimbawe's Dividing the Element have released their highly anticipated new single "Pakaipa" via all streaming services. 

The band commented "This song had been in production for quite a long period so there was a great deal of anticipation and excitement to release it. "Pakaipa" is Shona and literally means "It's bad". The theme of the song is about both being underestimated and misunderstood by society."

Listen to the song here:

About Dividing the Element

Dividing The Element is a Zimbabwean metal band from the city capital, Harare. Chris Van and Sherlic White founded the band in 2012. After a few line-up changes over the years, the band settled on 4 members: Chris Van - guitar and vocals, Archie Chikoti - guitar, Nick Newbery - drums and Mat Sanderson- bass.

There was once a thriving rock scene in Zimbabwe pre-1980, but after Zimbabwean independence, things changed. Rock music died a slow, silent death in Zimbabwe and there was little hope for a modern day metal scene to be born much less grow. Chris had been a fervent supporter of heavy metal and had been writing his own songs for over a decade at the time. Fueled by passion, frustration and determination, Chris set out to form Dividing The Element with an initiative to instigate a metal scene within the country. Metal from Zimbabwe for Zimbabwe was the idea. To help bolster national influence, Chris made a decision to sing in Shona, the country's mother tongue. Over much time, persistence and patience, the flame began to catch fire and there is now a developing metal community in Zimbabwe.

Dividing The Element’s self-titled debut album was released on the 5th of May 2018 while participating in the Zimbabwean leg of one of the biggest underground metal movements to happen- Metal United World Wide. The album was recorded in Harare in a garage converted into a studio and was produced by Chris Van, mixed, and mastered by Gary Stautmeister.

Listen to more Dividing the Element on Bandcamp: https://dividingtheelement263.bandcamp.com/album/dividing-the-element