Jahr contains 6 tracks. The first one is ‘Mirrors’, – that was released around a 2 months ago – it’s a great start for the album. It carries the positive impression to make you excited to listen to the whole release, you can check our review for ‘Mirror’ here.

The following track is ‘Jahr’, it begins with heavy symphonic way, accompanied with harsh vocals. I will be more honest with this one, when the second track started I thought, “Yeah, it’s good with impressing tones,” until 3:10, for me it was a great turning point. The interlude of the guitar and the clean vocals then how the solo connected both with the usage of guitars. It was excellent. I feel that thepart from 3:10 till 4:55 carries a different taste, though. Another point concerning the second track is how it somehow carries the essence of progressive music.

Moving to the third track ‘Curtains Of Conformity’ starting with a heavy start, I thought the track reflects a kind of a war with the whole parts of its plot. The performance of the vocals was more of a narrative one, the solo is always the climax and reflects that greatly, the drums are the signs of disturbing the universe. ‘Sin’ the fourth track began with an oriental taste. It carries a darkened heavy riffs, as well as addressing the dark chapters of the human.

I really enjoyed listening to ‘The Line’, their fifth track. It might be the best track in this album. ‘The Line’ talks to human. Emotional attractive impressive guitar tunes with catchy effective vocals; once the music began, you were bombarded with feeling all over. The final track, ‘Shell Shock’ was like a mirror for circus or life is as a circus or maybe as a stage like how Shakespeare mentioned in his masterpiece ‘As You Like It’. The track was an angry, rebellious, and sarcastic. I liked when they mixed the traditional music or theme of Circus within the track in exactly the minute 3:12. The high pitched-vocals expressed the hatred and anger through the music. I liked the way Enraged decided to end the album, with some emotional guitar tunes in 5:51.

Jahr is a unique release of our 2015 releases list. It carried the anger, the hatred, the strength and the madness. The riffs carried a meaning of creativity and harmony. The tunes of guitars, the sounds of keys, the beats of drums and the vocals were on fleek, every riff wrote a chapter. The Rate is 9 and I highly recommend it.

Written by: Rana Atef
Edited by: NJ Bakr

Check more features for Enraged here.

I liked the guitar tunes in the part from 00:50 to 1:00 and how it appeared and was introduced. At 1:57 the mixture between both vocals were great. The speed of the riffs changed more than once, it changed from 4:02 to 4:30 and from 5:20 till the end of the track. When the riffs became faster, you will listen to some whispers and evil laughter. It might reflect what human face in their lives, war between himself and the world or maybe it an inner war between the ID, Ego and Superego.

From 4:30 till 4:37, it was a nice interlude with keys and from 4:47 till 5:20 we meet a wonderful solo. Finally, the lines of the track were accurately organized and every line had its chance to be clear throughout the track. The quality of the recording was also great. There is no doubt that Enraged is one of the most successful bands in Egypt in addition of having their own style and their creative music so my rating is 9 out of 10.

Written by: Rana Atef
Edited by: Ahmed S. Khalil

Check more features for Enraged here.

A quick introduction about the band is a must. Ambrotypeis a solo project based in Syria by Mr. Adel Saflou; he writes all of the music. The band is a “Progressive metal/rock, jazz” as per their Facebook page. So let’s get this party started, shall we?

The intro track of the album ‘Wretch’ introduced a gloomy and mysterious atmosphere with just the acoustics and synths in motion. Add the distorted radio like vocals and you have a really good vibe coming out of the song. It reminded me of Antimatter‘s work a lot. Then ‘Crown Of Thorns’ started and it pretty much never looked back. Those were some real progressive metal riffs! The variation of the notes was undeniably genius. The moods changed throughout the song a lot. As I was listening to this song and pretty much every other song in the entire album, I couldn’t help but to feel like the music is highly influenced by Opeth and Steven Wilson. The acoustic passages, the solos, the growls. It all fits.

“Name the quest and I shall rise again…. beside my grave. Name the quest and see me fall down again…. In your hell”

That part of the song was so catchy I couldn’t shake it off. It haunted my mind for days after.

The guitar work in the entire album is great, I personally loved all of it. There wasn’t a single note that felt out of tune or out of place. I didn’t quite hear the bass playing in the album, and I don’t know why actually. The drumming is progressive but if compared to other progressive releases it’s a slight meh. It did the job perfectly though. As for the vocals, I admired the clean vocals a lot. They were unique and outstanding in their own way. You rarely ever listen to clean vocals like these. The growling was surprisingly strong. A slightly narrow range, but holding the lines pretty well.

There were some oriental influences in the mixture as well; in the intro of ‘I Am the Beast’it was undeniably clear. And it showed in other tracks as well. The influence was too mild to be added to the genre though.

My favorites from the album were too many. I honestly couldn’t choose what I liked the most; I changed my mind so many times. Then I finally made up my mind and decided to choose ‘I Am the Beast’ and ‘The Ambrotype’. And they also happen to be the longest tracks in the entire album.

The band is a true gem, and I’m very glad that I had the opportunity to review this album truly. So the true question is “Do you have to get the album?” Absolutely. You are going to enjoy this release.

Edited by: Ahmed S. Khalil

One word will sum up all the talking; they are highly influenced by Amon Amarth. Even the lyrics talked about the traditional topics of Amon Amarth “Wars and fights to conquer more lands.” If you are a fan of Amon Amarth you will distinguish that easily.

The music also was deeply influenced by Amon Amarth. Their music took me to the land of the Vikings with their strength, wars, fights and gods with ‘Nordic March’ powerful and strong tunes, catchy melodies and attractive solo. The vocals were incredible! They were like the actual screams of Viking warriors. All the lines of the track were highly organized and all the lines were put accurately together. The volume of each was excellent, no line louder than the other or faster, all served in one harmony. I loved the way, which the solo was represented; the melodies of the guitar break them all and force them to take a calm direction. The guitar proudly roared, “I am the king here.”

A final note about the vocals, though, Amr Hossam’s performance with Thorvald hundred times better than his performance with Excimer. This track is definitely a 9 out of 10.

Although Thorvald is still considered as a new band in the scene, it has great expectations with positive feedback from the listeners. They are beginners but they are beginning well. Will we have the Egyptian Amon Amarth and Viking Mythology spread more into our scene? Listen to ‘Nordic March’ and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Edited by: NJ Bakr

The lyrics of the track talks about the final moments before death and life after it. The track starts with perfect oriental riffs; it is similar to some songs heard ion the T.V. I loved the intro and orient essence to it. It brought pictures of our Middle East to mind.

Let’s move to the rest of the track; high harmony between the instruments, the lines are highly arranged and well performed. The solo was also really good. Even more, the oriental elements in the rest of the track were perfectly mixed. The process of recording was good, though sometimes I felt that there were some lines in some parts were higher than others. Most of the vocals were clean with some harsh touches. I have a note concerning the vocals: Mike, you are a good musician and good guitarist and you will have a very good career but you are the perfect vocalist, I’m not talking about your performance but I am talking about your voice itself. However, I do think more training would solve this minor problem. The track is an excellent start for a young talented band. I wish best of luck for Absolution and I give this track 6 out of 10.

Edited by: NJ Bakr

The band released their first album entitled, The Order Of The Black Light. It contained 8 original tracks and they are:

• At The Borders Of Infinity
• When Eternity Dwells In Frost
• Mighty Warrior
• The Order Of The Black Light
• Infernal War
• Nazarean
• Signs Of Horns
• Downfall

You may find some confusion about the genre but you will understand what Hecate meant by Atmospheric Extreme Black Metal. They mixed some depressive riffs and Atmospheric touches with the extreme music. For me, the album was something interesting and attractive; it was very rich. The lyrics of the album talk about anti-cosmos, evil and wars. The Title reflected the lyrical theme. The cover of the album explains the themes of the album; the face is the order of the black light’s warrior, and the chaos represents the evil feelings and coldness. The riffs -all of them- were excellent. I found that there was something special in every track, for example ‘When Eternity Dwells In Frost’, ‘Mighty Warrior’ and ‘The Order Of The Black Light’. They contained some depressive riffs and atmospheric touches. ‘Infernal War’ was the hardest and fastest track in whole album. ‘Nazarean’ and ‘Signs Of Horns’ were familiar to Hecate listeners because they were the first 2 tracks that were released by the band. ‘Downfall’ was the outro of the album. I found great variety of riffs. The vocals were the most attractive thing for me. Great vocals with all meanings of word. Adam is clear evidence that Egypt has great vocalists in its scene. In fact, I didn’t like ‘Nazarean’ and I think it is the weakest track in the album. I give this album about 8 out of 10. If you don’t listen to this album, you will lose a wonderful chance to listen to amazing music.

The Order Of The Black Light is one of the strongest albums that was released in the Egyptian Metal Scene. Different mix of music was added to the local scene, part from the future of the Black Metal shines from Egypt.

Reviewed by: Rana Atef
Edited by: NJ Bakr and Nehal A.Ali

How did the idea of forming a band occur to you?
Was a wish since we were kids in high school, Watched bands back in 1993 when we were so young and were fascinated by the intensity of metal music live shows. So in 99 we formed Crescent but it was under a different name back then.

What was the reason for choosing this name “Crescent”?
It signifies where we come from, amongst the Arabic speaking nations. We had it on our old flags and it even goes back to our ancestors where crescent shaped crowns were worn by different ancient Egyptian gods so basically it shows part of our identity.

What was your biggest challenge?
Finding suitable musicians to fit the role. It doesn’t only come down to being a good musician, it has a lot to do with your character, dedication, time management and willing to prioritize things in your life.

Explain to us the lyrical theme of the band?
The theme lately inclined towards ancient Egyptian history obviously from the songs titles and the cover artwork. We tackle different subjects depending on what we feel and how we reflect on what surrounds us. It can be ambiguous and it can be a very direct message. In some songs it can also be metaphorical; we like to leave the reader to interpret what we say in their own way.

What is the hardest memory you have about you first concert?
None. It went perfectly fine as far as we could remember. We blasted 3 of our early songs and covered Mayhem’s ‘Pagan Fears’.
Tell us the story behind “Pyramids Slave” album.
Took us two and half years of work, we were actually taking it easy. The musical and lyrical milestones of the songs started to shape up until we reached a point where we were satisfied with its final form.
We hit the Studio (Hold Fast Recordings) by Alan Hurley and the recording sessions went extremely smooth. It was amazing working with Alan and we were really fortunate recording our album with him. Simultaneously Akram Fadl one of the most prominent Fine Artists in Egypt honored us with painting the art work which is basically a one meter square oil painting.

How do you see the Egyptian scene nowadays?
Growing indeed. There is a big potential in Egypt’s small scene and it can get bigger for sure, also having an annual event like Metal Blast is an important pillar. We really appreciate how those guys are doing their best to take the scene a step higher with their efforts and hard work. As for the bands they actually got to support each other genuinely to be able to grow bigger and stronger.

Have you got any influence from Egyptian bands?
We were inspired in the 90’s by Osiris. The first Egyptian Melodic Black Metal band that had a record in 1997. They are our friends and the generation that was right before us. They definitely inspired us at that time although our music style is vastly different. The inspiration was more in the sense of having a band, creating your own music and of course incorporating Egyptian themed melodies into your music.

Why did you shift from Black Metal to Blackened Death, and what makes Crescent a special band among Death Metal bands in Egypt?
Expecting a band to sound the same in every record isn’t a very healthy sign of the musician’s maturity. If our sound changed in a good direction then that’s what basically matters.

Why do you think fans compare Crescent to Behemoth?
Maybe because of our hyper fast blast beats and probably some similar Black Metal essence in our riffing. The comparison is certainly a big compliment to us but we always seek our own way to have our own sound.

Tell the readers more facts about your tour in Europe. How did you plan this?
You need to be all ready for something like that. We worked with Flaming Arts Agency and they booked us on the Metal Apocalypse Euro tour opening up for Hirax and of course sharing the stage with Bonded by blood and Nuclear. Touring is an essential experience for any band that considers themselves “serious” and I’m not talking about showing up in one or two shows in 2 countries or so. I’m talking about driving 6000KM yourself in 10 consequent days, on being able to give 100 percent on stage every day, to be sleep deprived in some days and being cooperative with everybody on the tour. It adds a lot to you when you experience different crowds from different countries. It was an amazing experience and we were blessed by having the other bands on this tour, we were literally one big family and their support meant a lot to us. Wonderful people and wonderful positive vibe they gave us. We have had the support also from a very dear friend of mine that without her it would have been very challenging.

What was the feedback you guys received from other bands in Wacken, as you were the first Egyptian band to join this battle?
Positive feedback and big support. Some already knew us from all online mediums and we were pleased how they were actually into what we do!! It felt like an accomplishment on its own. All of the bands that we bumped into were very friendly and easy going people. Felt like we were in the right place since day one.

How did you guys feel representing Egypt in Wacken?
Responsible to deliver our uttermost best show and manifest to the international audience coming from all parts of the world what we are and who we are. 

What is the upcoming stop in Crescent’s career? New albums?
More concerts and gigs and yes of course we have been working on our new material already.

What piece of advice you would like to give to the upcoming generation of musicians?
Originality is a must.

Keep the Metal flame burning!
Thank you for the interview

Edited By: Nehal Ali

“Gorynov released their first recorded track two months ago entitled ‘Divide And Conquer’. This track was performed live twice before its recording and it was represented in one of the videos which the band released on their official YouTube channel.

A lot of points attracted me during listening to the track, so let’s cover them one by one. The first point is the title of the track; ‘Divide And Conquer’ and the story behind it. Divide and conquer is a famous method any enemy used for invading any land, dividing its nation and having the upper hand. It was an excellent choice and an excellent subject to cover it in thrash music. The title, the lyrics and the band’s name, even the music are all on the same line, which the band sought around the war theme. It is happening now nationally and internationally.

The second point is the music. It was good. Every instrument player knew its role and its time, high harmony in music and high power. You will love headbanging on this track, powerful solo guitar, and the dark touches. Every riff reflected its owner’s character so I found a great mixture.

Third point is the riffs. The riffs were not fixed; they changed a lot to attract the listeners as much as possible.
Fourth point is the vocals. The vocals kinda made me confused. Like, really confused! Some parts were supposed to have stronger and higher pitch, however after few times of listening to the tracks I thought they were in excellent harmony in music. The band still has a lot of way to go and definitely more training, but in fact they were much better than before.

I think Gorynov did a good job and I give this track 8 out of 10. The track gained a great success; as it was played in some European Radios playlists.

Edited by: NJ Bakr

This was my first concert to review since, forever! Till now I do have the chills of getting dressed in my black t-shirt, setting up my little blue notebook and black pen, and most importantly the well-known and my personal trademark: The grey vest.

First, let me tell you why it deserved the name “The wicked Friday”:

Our one and only Lina El-Gohary was exposed to bad news as her father passed away two weeks before the concert. We had to ask for a substitute: FotoLigia’s help leaded by the well known concert photographer Tootee Faied, to be stunned by the hurtful news of losing her mother just less than a week before the gig along with my own uncle passing away!

Still not convinced?

Prior to that vocalist Sayed Ragai of Sinprophecy is set to have a knee surgery on the background of a really old moshpit injury.

So simply, put it: Concert VS. Fate!

For those who didn’t realize, the only band that was non-melodic death or doom was Devour. Still they packed in a huge punch to the sleepy, yet music hungry crowd of the day. Electricity was in the air as it’s the summer season opener; it started a bit late as usual along with some organizing issues – thanks for the professionalism, Sawy Culturewheel! – Which made many people even more fed up with this atmosphere.

Stepped in to find Metamorphia finishing up ‘Clouds of Agony’ growled by Zander of Destiny in Chains – tell you what? Chit chats around the arena said there wasn’t a fixed vocalist, that’s why the first track was featuring a new star Ahmed Derbawy or as many of you remember him as “The guy from the audience who sang with Sinprophecy last time they did a concert” or simply “Mokka” again with Zander. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to build a complete judgment for the reasons above, but those are my pointers:

– Sayed Ragai of Sinprophecy featured a track called ‘Roads to perdition’ and ‘Maestro of destruction.’ By: Yory Hatem.

– Derbawi was amazing as he was the dark horse for the whole crowd. Kudos, my boy!

– Zander also was the throat behind ‘Purified’ as well.

– The band – excluding the bassist – are former members in other bands at the same gig.

– Youssef ‘Joe’ the drummer was a real blast machine! And he is the first drummer bigger than his drum set as well.

Up next was the joyful and stunning Devour those who are a mixture of good ol’ bands like Wyvern, Karma, and T.H.E – led by Ragi Akram, they played a set of alternative metal tracks some of them are now well known like ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Scars’ and ‘Freak’ which is mainly dedicated to those who stereotype others and in this state: Metalheads VS. Society. You can check “Freak” through here.

Continuing with their music you feel the same anger vibe you get listening to Breaking Benjamin or Three Days Grace; those old tongues of the youth, people fell in love with each and every second of Devour‘s act, powered up by Omar Assem’s progressive bass lines and Omar Damien’s skilful solos throughout the rest of the orgasmic set:

– Worthless.
– Patronize.
– Ablaze.
– Reflections.

And boys…? We think you should record those tracks.

Familiar growls gathered scattered fans to the arena to attend a feast of melodic death/doom delivered by Sinprophecy opened by an intro linked to ‘Tears of a sinner’… and necks started to fire up. By: Yory Hatem.

Doom-ish atmosphere ruled starting with the next track, which was ‘Farewell bird of prey’, personally I call this track the most spectacular track ever played live by the band EVER! The same grief and power over and over translated in brutal breakdowns back-grounded with well-conducted keyboard tunes, sailing in a neck breaking cloud of doom/death song. I just love it!

The surprise-fanatic band after that play a brand new single ‘The Midnight Walker’, an atmospheric doom track most people didn’t really like as Sayed Ragai literally “sings” in this track which was a bit weird. ‘Roots of Bleak’ came next to treat doom lovers to the limit, once it ended the crowd screamed asking for ‘The Summoning’ and they have got it with a little surprise; Mishmish of Metamorphia was back-vocaling this time! Like –the band- had an agreement to never do the track without outer cooperation. Giving closure to the gloomy night played ‘Spectrum Illusion’ and last but not least ‘You’re The One Who’ll Smile At My Funeral’. And YES, it was intentional to make the set list doom oriented as per the band themselves after the gig.

Speaking of surprises, do you know what does Segadoras mean?
It actually means “Grim Reapers” in Spanish! That will give you an indicator why they looked that way on-stage.

All dressed up in grim reaper’s hood and cloak, the night’s modern melodic death act ruled the stage, jump starting by ‘My existence’ then ‘The ultimate sacrifice’. To stop here and point out some headlines is necessary, as it was plain to who has eyes that the little guy with long hair holding the bass guitar is where he belongs – regardless of lack of movement caused by really tight cloak he wore – this really young guy will go places for him loving his music that much. To the other side of him we had a fresh face called “Leo”, the very silent new live keyboardist of the band.

And of course behind them and leading the band through the track list was Michael Khater one of the oldest drummers in Egypt playing with Karma, Beyond East, and Varden along the road. And by the way Michael had his share of bad luck as he fell off the back of the stage when he was settling over his throne of drums to hurt his knee and having to spray it with spray anesthetic between tracks.

Female vocals are always valuable gems in any band, so we had the chance to behold Lady Rose with the band in a couple of tracks – she was a bit shaky from stage fright; however, she did okay but not to the point that grabs attention.

Along with their signature track ‘The Rise’ joined Gasser, the new oriental voice in the band, glowing better than last time with Segadoras that was a bit unlucky for him. This time he owned the Arabic lines and made it harmonized inside the song. Well done!

Remember the screamer who came side by side with Gasser? All the vocalists acknowledge this monster in this day as “A designated grinde core vocalist”. The name is Scott Tyler, await him

Will the band take my advised and lose the makeup as it looks like corpse paint? No? A’ight!

The main fault – yet power house – that the band plays really complicated and multi-layered melodies but yet they seize to master it onstage, that’s why the audience agreed that for them to really judge they will need to have this music on CD’s. And it was my lucky day to overhear Bahaa’ the band’s vocalist telling someone that they will enter the studio in one month, so here is the news ladies and gentlemen!

Their track list was as follows:

– Ultimate sacrifice.
– The reaping.
– Undefeated.
– The Rise.

Stay very tuned for other gigs this season as we still have more to come and more to review, until we meet folks.

Reviewed by: Ahmed A. Atteya
Photography brought to you by: Lina El Gohary

Edited by: NJ Bakr

Al Dajjal was recorded all instruments at a time and it’s quite noticeable. It sounds like a live album at most times and you get those live performances vibes.

The first song off the album is the title track. The first thing you notice is the vocals of Sherif El Shazly that you can almost miss the great guitar work. They- the vocals- are remarkable, powerful and don’t lack any energy. Another remarkable instrument is by the talented drummer Adham Nassef. The instrumental part in the song showcases a great talent and chemistry between Adham and Mohamed Samir.

Next couple of tracks are sang in the common slang. Vocally, you can hear the Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley influences. The drums are always catching my ears. The Bass and Guitar work specifically in ‘Molid Sidy El-Autobees’ is great too although the guitar melody is scarily familiar. But putting that aside, the song is pretty good and so energetic you’ll find yourself involuntarily head-banging!

‘Aslamt Wajhy’ is a whole lot different atmosphere; the first time I hear an Arabic religious Rock song. The ambient atmosphere fits perfectly with the song theme while still keeping it as a Rock song. The vocals are breath-taking,

the whole song is beautiful. ‘Ard El-Balabel’ (Land Of Nightingales) sounds like a Classic Rock song more than a Grunge song, another energetic song with a great instrumental part and a great vocal performance. I could easily name it my favorite song on the album.

I loved Al-Dajjal, it’s easy to tell. From the first minute til’ the last you can tell that you’re listening to professional musicians. There’s few to none that I would complain about. I always had a problem with Arabic bands’ vocalists singing in a Western accent or style, would personally prefer if they sing in an Arabic accent as long as they’re already singing in Arabic. That would be my only complaint. It’s not a complaint but I think I prefer the songs sang in standard Arabic than the ones in the common slang both vocally and lyrically. But using both dialects gave the album diversity.

Written by: Noura M.Moussa
Edited by: NJ Bakr