Vagelis Karzis (Greece) 

One of the Greek Metal gods, Vageliss Karzis is a figurative and legendary name in Europe. He contributed with different legendary Metal names as Rotting Christ. Currently, he is rocking the Metal scene in Europe with his Full House B.C. in addition to Wolfheart.

We started with Vagelis about which albums he is listening to nowadays. ” The last Black Label Society album called Grimmest hits and Slipknot’s We are not Your Kind. Next, he gave us a hint about his activity in the quarantine, “We are pretty busy cause we are in the making of our new album,” Karzis added. Moreover, he expressed that the most track he performs at home is “Hollow God from our previous (FullHouse B.C.) album Me Against You. “We are in contact via Skype calls. As we are finishing the pre-production of the album,” he replied regarding our question about Full House B.C.’s future plans. Then he told us the band he is exploring during the quarantine, “I start listening to Alice in Chains again these days,” he answered.

We were curious to know if he tried to perform from balcony or home, “I posted several videos of me playing and singing but not in the balcony. Don’t wanna risk my health. (laughs),” he described. The final question we asked him was about his favorite performances that he watched home, “I would go with Parkway Drive live from Wacken Open Air festival,” he expressed. He finalized with us by saying “Stay SAFE!”

Samadie (Egypt)

Classified as one of the greatest musicians and most skilled Sound Engineers in Egypt, Samadie is one of the earliest and most experienced Metal musicians in Egypt. His name is related to a number of the finest Metal acts in Egypt like Worm, Amattamen Bas (The first Egyptian band that got a deal with a foreign label), and RRROOOAAARRR. Now, he is the Bassist of the legendary Scarab.

We started our talk with Samadie after exchanging greetings by asking him about the albums he is listening to most in the quatrain. He mentioned: Scarab’s Martyrs of the Storm, Krosis’ A Memoir of Free Will, Lorn’s The Maze to Nowhere, Infant Annihilator’s The Battle of Yaldabaoth, Rammstein’s Rammstein, A-ha’s Hunting High & Low, and Death’s Leprosy. Next, he revealed, “the outro section of Bolt Thrower’s 7th Offensive” is the most part captivated his mind currently. Regarding the track he performed home most is Scarab’s Martyrs of the Storm and he added, “on Bass.” Our upcoming question was about his contact with the band during the quarantine. “Of course, we’re on contact since we’re a family, as for future plans, yeah, sure, but we’re keeping them disclosed at the moment,” Samadie explained. Then, we moved to the musical genres he is exploring now. “Minimal Electro/Martial Industrial.” Regarding our favorite question to the musicians, the idea of live streaming and performing in their places, “I don’t post videos so far but I’m launching a channel for my studio soon. And, yeah I always play live in my place,” Samadie expressed. Finally, he told us his favorite quarantine live streaming, “The quarantine live & new single by my brothers in Masar Egbary,” he finalized.

Matt Hawk (France)

Matt Hawk, a figurative French guitarist. Egyptian Metalheads still remember Hawk’s performance on the stage with Nightmare in Cairo two years ago. He is not only a talented guitarist but also his ability to spread a mood of musical excitement and solidarity. Moreover, he is a member of different French and Belgian Metal bands such as Nightmare, Fireforece, Sangdragon, and A.C.O.D.

Matt started his talk by telling us about his musical activity in the quatrain, “During this quarantine time, I made a special Playlist on Spotify called “ClasiX.” it is made of all the classic songs I grew up with, and those which shaped my music world,” Matt expressed. “It goes from Creedence to Children of Bodom and goes back to Lynyrd Skynyrd, its all about my ROCK / METAL music culture since my childhood,” he continued. Next, he told us his favorite quote currently, “Don’t live for pleasure, Make life your treasure.” Then, Matt told us more about the songs he performed at home.

“It all began when I was 10, I took the old classical guitar which was laying in the living room and start playing some songs here and there, the sound of the classical instrument and the acoustic really echoes something deep inside of me. So I play some notes here and there, just letting the heart speaks and still do nowadays,” he explained. Regarding his contact with his bands, “Nightmare is currently recording and writing new songs, before the quarantine we were about to enter the studio, so we are working together from afar and keep growing the songs, it will be a nice album and we can’t wait to deliver it to the world of metal maniacs!!,”

Matt revealed. “I also recorded the voices on the Next Fireforce album with Lia (singer of Mystic Prophecy as vocal coach) just before the quarantine, we were in Germany and everything went good! I’m really excited to make people listen to that record ! Heads are gonna bang!” he continued. “Hopefully, with the internet everybody can stay in touch, working from afar has become quite easy and normal,” Matt added.

Next, Matt told us regarding the most music he performed at home, “When I have the time I’m working on my classical guitar, and exploring some Classical music tunes even those which weren’t written for strings. it is hard work, but I really like it, going back to the roots of Heavy Metal beside Mozart, Bach, Wagner, gave birth to Heavy Metal at the time,” Matt highlighted.

Then, we moved to ask him about performing live from home or from the balcony, “I’m living in a house in France, so no balcony, and I don’t really like the vibes of the live streams. It’s like a human being needs to be in danger or in a bad situation to finally understand the meaning of simple things in life, music takes a huge part of our lives, can you imagine a world without any pieces of music ?? NO” he explained. “I don’t really like the fact that people play on the vibes to make their EGO more important than it is…ego kills talent but you know Every cloud has a silver lining,” he stressed.

In fact, Matt gave us more about his thoughts regarding the current situation, “I guess at the end of this corona stuff, the whole industry will be changed somehow, festivals are in a bad shape, and that’s a shame. I’m thinking of all my friends from The Hellfest Crew and all the other festivals I’ve been playing…tough Times for everybody. Music will be alive but in a different way I guess, good things come to those who wait.” Finally, he sent a message to everyone, “Rock on my friends!”

Adnan Mryhji (UAE)

Adnan Mryhji is considered one of the strongest Metal vocalists in the Middle East. Fronting the epic Emeriti band Svengali, Mryhji gained huge successes with his band around the Middle East and they participated in the biggest Metal concerts in the Middle East.

Mryhji initiated his chat with us by the albums he is listening to during the quarantine, “A lot of Middle Eastern Metal! There is a lot to pick from this year,” he expressed. Then, he told us the quotation captivated his mind currently, “Fight back. Attack. This is kombat” from our (Svengali) latest single,” he said. Next, we asked him about the most song he performs at home, “Better Off, from our latest album Sayonara is always fun to play and sing,” he expressed. Regarding his contacts with his band and the band’s future plans, “Yes, we are all in touch and have something planned for this week!,” Mryhji revealed.  He also mentioned that he is listening to different kinds of music, not a specific genre. Nothing specific. He also expressed that the band is posting videos about the band’s new ideas. Finally, we asked him about the band’s activity in the quarantine whether having live performance or home videos and what’s Svengali’s favorite quarantine live or interview, “We don’t have one, in particular, the idea that bands and crew are coming up with ways to keep their fans entertained and sustain themselves in a time like this is inspiring,” Mrhyji finalized.

Spyros Hondroyiannis (Greece)
Regarded as one of the most popular Greek podcasters and Metal reviewers in the Greek Metal Scene, Spyros Hondroyiannis, the presenter of Room302 Radioshow , Rockway and the founder of the first Greek Doom Metal Festival in Greece “The Room Of Doom Festival.” Hondroyiannis gave us a hint about his experience in the quarantine.

He started by giving us his opinions regarding the impact of COVID-19 on music. “COVID-19 has brought life as we knew it, upside down. It has altered psychology, business, economy. Therefore, it has affected the music industry,” he initiated. “Concerts and live shows have been canceled for months; therefore artists cannot expect an income from performances or live merch. This is a blow for them since many of them expect only this income in the age of downloading and not buying records,” Hondroyiannis added.
Then, he continued, “on the other hand, being isolated in homes all the time, can make the fans listen to more and more music online and this has a result of buying more songs and albums online from the official sources of artists, even buy CD and pieces of vinyl again, like the good old times.”
Next, he listed the most albums he listened to during the quarantine. He mentioned: San Ton Ilio by Lefki Symphonia, The Ghost of Orion by My Dying Bride, Threnos by On Thorns I Lay, The God-Shaped Void by Psychotic Waltz, Ghosts V & VI by Nine Inch Nails, and Spirituality And Distortion by Igorrr.
Then, Hondroyiannis told us the most quotation stuck in his mind regarding the situation the world witnesses. “The road to the grave is straight as an arrow, I’m just staying around to sing your song.” (Katatonia -“Lacquer”). Moreover, he continued telling us more about his life in quarantine. Unfortunately, he mentioned that he is “quarantined at a different place” away from his drums so he really cannot practice these days, however, he expressed that he is in contact with all the bandmates and friends. We moved to ask him about which genres he is exploring currently, “I find music “genre-less,” but these quarantine days I am really exploring and adoring the two quarantine albums from Nine Inch Nails: Ghosts V: Together & Ghosts VI: Locusts. Finally, he revealed his favorite live streaming concert or interview he liked most during the quarantine, “Dir En Grey. Such amazing hours I enjoyed there,” he said.

Ehab Sami (Egypt)

Ehab Sami is a bright name in our Metal scene. He is known with his multi-instrumentalist talents and his stunning covers. Moreover, he participated with many Egyptian bands as Devour and Veritatem Solam. He participated with Veritatem Solam at the latest Wacken Open Air Metal Battle in Germany. Regarding Quarantine, Sami teamed up with Miral Nagy for a live streaming concert 2 weeks ago.

The first question we asked him is his most favorite albums currently. He mentioned Meshuggah’s “Koloss” and Opeth’s “Blackwater Park.” Sami continued by mentioning a quote from Meshuggah’s “Do not Look Down” “Are you happy now?” Next, we asked him about his activity in the quarantine, “nothing in particular, mostly jamming,” he expressed. Then he added that he is still in contact with his band, Devour, and they will start planning something “once things get better,” Sami described. Regarding the genre he is exploring now, he said that he is currently exploring more Doom Metal music especially Cattle Decapitation. We moved to ask him whether he performed from home or in his balcony, “Yes, from my studio. I thought about performing from the balcony but I realized, it won’t be a good idea regarding my neighborhood,” Sami finalized with us.

Finally, I want to thank all our participants and bands which helped us to continue this series. Stay Tuned for Part 3 m/

In case you missed Part 1, click HERE.

Today Rock Era Magazine decides to send a message to the whole world, a message of love, support and hope. Here are our Stories from the Quarantine series. From Egypt with love!

Hazem Mahani (Egypt)
HazemMahani is an experienced musician from the glorious period of the local Metal scene, but he is currently a well-skilled independent podcaster. He uses to present an interesting online Rock/Metal podcast called “I Wanna Rock”. We asked Mahani to describe the status of the music industry.

“In such times of uncertainty and total fear of the unknown, there’s nothing more soothing than going to the happy place that’ll keep you grounded and for a lot of us, there’s nothing more assuring and relieving than music. I see a lot of people seek their instruments these days, playing music out loud and what’s more beautiful, sharing it with us all through social media. Every day I watch tons of amazing videos of guitarists, drummers, bassists sharing their magic with us all via the blessing of the internet and man, it gives me a lot of strength.” he described.
Then, he continued, “We saw Alex Skolnick ‘’Testament’’ teaming up with Charlie Bennate ‘’Anthrax’’ and Ra Diaz ‘’Suicidal Tendencies’’ to cover Rush’s YYZ. We saw Baroness members jamming in total isolation and tons of live streams of past and online gigs. Regarding the Egyptian scene, it’s surprisingly flourishing. I see videos and live streams every day from people just picking their instruments and sharing their magic with us. Some bands are even releasing new stuff like Riverwood and SayedRagai’s new project Da Silverback.”
“I believe that we will get out of these dark times stronger than ever and from what I see, the metal community is taking this pretty well. Let’s all keep the positive vibes coming and seek the only thing that binds us all and heal us; MUSIC.” Mahani finalized.

Fabio Urietti (Italy)
When the talk comes around the tragic outbreak of COVID-19, Italy is mentioned as the highest nation suffering from the disease. Our Italian friends “Echo” welcomed our request to join our series, starting with the band’s frontman Fabio Urietti. “Echo” is one of the popular Doom Metal bands in the Italian Metal scene, and the band performed around whole Europe supporting the presence of the Italian Metal scene.
First off, he revealed the most musical release he listens to during the quarantine, which is “Ghosteen” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Urietti mentioned apart from one of the band’s lyrics captivated his mind currently;
“Oh the train is coming, and I’m standing there to see And it’s bringing my baby right back to me
Well, there are some things too hard to explain But my baby’s coming home now, on the 5:30 train.”
He added, “during the quarantine often sing “Carnival” by Mark Lanegan. I am obsessed with this song, I love to sing it.” He also expressed that he is diving deeper into nine Inch Nails music. Next, we asked Urietti if he is on regular contact with the band or not, he replied, “Yes. I personally did not see them for a month and a half, but we regularly contact each other by phone and several social media platforms.”
“We’re writing new material, by the time we try to figure out if there will be a chance to play live gigs this Autumn. We had to cancel a lot of them. It would be a shame to stay home as our last album was released only 6 months ago,” he continued. We liked to ask him about the idea of singing in the balcony or having a live streaming performance, “I’m a shy one. I only sing on stages. I’d rather listen to others, but there are a lot of bad performances online. Probably, I will be one of them”.
Finally, he told us his favourite live streaming performance, he answered, “I really enjoined the live-stream concerts by October Tide and Enslaved. They were so great! In addition, they performed for free!”

Omar Salem (Egypt)
Considered as one of the funniest stories we came through, the trending Riverwood keyboardist Omar Salem explained to us his experience in the quarantine. Riverwood is now one of the most listened Metal bands in Egypt. The band pushed more blood in the Alexandrian Metal scene and revived its activity among others.
We started our talk with Salem about the most albums he plays currently, “there is no specific album but we can say: Shokran’s “Supreme Truth,” and Opeth’s “Blackwater Park” beside a lot of folk and oriental stuff” he answered. While the most quotation of a song he recalls is “Look at me father as I kill, are you proud of me?” from Dimlight’s “Invoking the Hunter” also he mentioned Riverwood’s “Blood and Wine” as the most song he performs at home.
Regarding his regular contact with the band, he explained, “Of course, we are on contact, we are planning for more than you think *smiles*.” Moreover, he revealed that he is currently exploring the music of the Egyptian/German band Cairo Steps.
Next, we asked if he tried to play in his balcony, he expressed, “I post a lot of videos while playing music on my Instagram profile, but playing in my balcony? This can be a good reason for my neighbours to kill me *laughs*.” Finally, he told us about his favourite live streaming concert, “It was for Jordan Rudess, playing a whole album of Dream Theater by himself!! OMG, this guy is an alien!” he described.

Miral Nagy El-Hussieny (Egypt)
Known as “The Egyptian AleahStanbridge”, Miral Nagy El Hussieny is one of the most angelic female vocalists in the Egyptian Metal scene. She conquered the Egyptian Metalheads’ hearts through her emotional acoustic covers, comes on the top of the list of her covers “Sinking Ships.” The cover was praised by Swallow the Sun/Trees of Eternity guitarist JuhaRauvio in his interview with us 2 years ago. She is an independent artist who collaborates with other Egyptian artists. She also organized an acoustic online show during the quarantine.

“I’m more of a playlist person. I pick a genre that I think suits my mood and I pick one on Spotify or make one myself. It’s mostly acoustic songs or classical music,” she highlighted. Shortly she shared with us this quotation “The wish I whispered when it all began, did it forge a love we might never have found?” (The WolvernStorm, TheWitcher III Video Game theme). Those lines are always recalled by her mind now.
Regarding the most song she performs at home, she answered, “I mostly improvise on my piano, but if I would choose one song it will be Sarah Bareilles’ version of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” And she revealed she is working on a new cover. Then we asked her about the genre she is exploring during quarantine, “I’m always exploring music, aside from the quarantine. I am currently exploring Russian music, specifically their Rock/Metal scene.”
Then, Miral El Hussieny told us a something about the balcony acts, “I’ve always sung in my balcony before it went cool *laughs*, and I do always post videos of my home performances.” Finally, she finalized her talk with us with her favourite online concerts, “I liked Room Art Space’s live streams before they stopped,” she replied.

George Melas (Greece)
From the lands of Hera and Zeus George Melas comes. One of the oldest and most experienced Greek Metal guitarists and composers, Melas is a member of various bands like VoreasFaethon, and Aherusia. We came across Mela’s talents through his plays about re-contextualizing the myth of Prometheus and Aherusia’s album “Prometheus: Seven Principles on How to be Invisible.”

Melas started his talk with us by mentioning the most albums he is listening to during quarantine time. He mentioned many albums like Iron Maiden’s “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son,” Crippled Black Phoenix’s “I, Vigilante,” Tool’s “Fear Inoculum,” and Rainbow’s “Rising.” Next, he told us a part of the most song captivated his mind currently, “I see the dark lands Unfold before me, The rain is thickening down. I see the city aflame with lights, Though all the streets Are beset with shadow.” (Crippled Black Phoenix “Hold on (So Goodbye to all of that)”.
Then, Melas told us that he is currently playing the lines of Aherusia upcoming album at home, “We are preparing our new 5thAherusia album; that will outsell the newly released “Nostos~An Answer (?)”. So pretty much I am playing this stuff,” he explained.
Also, he told us more about Aherusia’s current plans, “Well, We are communicating through the internet and cellphone every day. Everyone in our connection prepares themselves for the new album recordings and for the upcoming shows that Aherusia will take part, right after this dreadful situation with COVID-19 hiatus,” he revealed.
Next, he highlighted the most music genres he is exploring during the quarantine, “the only genre that I am exploring is Hellenic-Byzantine Traditional Music modes & rhythms of my country which will be the basis of our new album,” he said.
In fact, Melas gave us a harsh answer to our question about the balcony singing acts and live streaming acts. He initiated his answer with “Apologies for below answer!”
Then he continued, “I hate this stupid behaviour, Well I am attracted to something original, but right now, every unskilled guy, tries to enter our lives somehow with the excuse of this situation. I strongly support everything well played and imbued with originality, but the rest (which regretfully is the most) is unaccepted.” Finally, he told us that the most online show he enjoyed watching was a theatrical performance of Euripides’ “The Bacchae” directed by ArisBiniaris. And finally, he sent this message,
“I wish good health to everyone, bravery and I hope that people will start to be more self-conscious, and to rely on themselves even more. Please do not be afraid, a life under fear is not a life, for certain.”

Edited by: Amged Mahmoud.