Vietnam isn’t the most liberal of countries to grow up in, what with the Communist Government state run media and traditional values embedded into the country’s culture – 60 percent of the population are under 30 and most living with their parents until marriage. As often is the case, an emotional and visceral output occurs in order to counteract this, for a minority of Vietnamese adolescence this comes in the form of a nascent underground metal scene.

“Vietnamese people are still afraid of this kind of music, black, death, brutal and grindcore is still something that can’t be understood by them,” Trung of grindcore band Wuu and founder of Vietnam’s first and only metal label, Bloody Chunks Records, explains.

Whilst living in Vietnam for the past six years, photographer Neil Massey stumbled across this exhilarating new development and felt its pull. With the aim of cutting through the veneer and showing modern Vietnam in all its ‘raw unadulterated beauty’, this particular scene more than fit the bill.

Here, his black and white images capture the energy and DIY spirit hard-wired to the this passionate community. An outpouring of emotion and frustration often leads to the most undiluted creativity, and escapism at the centre of a moshpit is the epitome.

Neil Massey: Bloody Chunks runs from 3rd March – 31st March at Boxpark, Shoreditch