The first track was ‘Aslamto’. From the name, we can guess that the track carries a religios concept, the track has good melodies of guitars and bass. There aren’t a lot of movements in the album, the vocalist’s performace is really good, his performance reflects a great honesty when he asked God. The track also carries some atmospheric touches, to reflect the atmosphere of faith and worship. There’s also great harmony between the instruments.

Moving on to the second track ‘Baina el 3awasef’ – Literally translates to Between the storms – that held acompletely different atmosphere, we moved to something calm and full of faith to land of storms, the riffs carried some feelings of evil, harshness; the sounds of guitars in some parts dominates over the vocals. I liked the solo because it perfectly reflected your feelings in the heart of storm, a lot of noise, a lot of mazez. Everything is unclear, the nature is angery as well as you. I liked the whispering at the beginning of the track, it was like the wind is whispering, something as an alert; the storm is comming .

Then we have ‘Bel Daam’ – With Blood – started with the known style of classic rock, the tunes of guitars had their appearance, the harmony between instruments was high. Something reflected some inner pain and the solo was really good. ‘Ela El Gehad’ – Towards Jihad – is my favorite track on the album, a well-made track. With classic rock, words steal the mind, while the music steals the soul, vocals moving smoothly with the riffs and their movements from0 to 100, the mixture between the screams and the tunes of guitar .

‘Eskafi’, at first moment, you feel that the riff is close to the famous track ‘Hotel California’. It talked about something religious, it was also a very calm track, however, the vocals were catchy, that carried the essence of the tracks well. The following track; ‘Ma3na’ – The meaning of – in fact there was no connectivity between me and this track at all. I didn’t like it, there was a lack of riff, as the same riffs were repeated. Even one sentence was repeated over 10 time with different styles. At the beginning of the track, you will feel that there are some noise, specially the sounds of bass and guitars. They are mixed together even you feel that every line in other land, I think the best part of this track was from 3:04 to the end of the track .

‘Moled’ was funny track, it summarized the problems which every Egyptian see during their time in buses or streets. They referred to the Egyptian mad streets with “Moled” because it is symbol of chaos, jams and crowd. I loved the riffs which were filled with anger and wonder of the Egypt, the whole track expressed one word within every egyptian mind “What’s Going On?” The last track on the album was ‘Nashra’, as the accent reflected. It reflected the misery and fear in which the Palestinian, Lebanese, and Syrians have to live in their countries through the political and security unrest. I liked the riffs and the tunes of the guitars, the vocalist’s performance was really honest and real. I really think that ‘Nashra’ is the best track in the whole album.

Finally, I liked the album, very good music and nice topics to deal with. I liked their usage of standard arabic and their usage of the accent of the country they talk about. Their influences with the classic rock bands highly appeared in their music. I highly recommend it to you. I’d rate the album 7 out of 10, only because of what’s mentioned about ‘Ma3na’ track .

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