Takeover consistently impresses me with their strong rock output. Their newest track, “Wait,” showcases their impressive talent and musical diversity, delivering a stream of endless melodies. Let’s delve deeper into their music.

“The Incubator” got me off my seat right from its powerful intro waiting for what’s coming next just to get hit by a heavy-hitting verse. The energetic heavy riffing in the verse with that power-driven vocal delivery will get you headbanging instantly, I believe this is going to sound amazing when played live. The chorus took a dynamic twist by being less heavy while keeping the groove alive giving the vocal melody the space to shine. It has a really interesting structure with hyped-up dynamics that’ll get you hooked once you push play.

“The Incubator” sounds like a well-organized riot! It has an energetic and engaging structure with well-written and arranged dynamics. It’ll keep you off your feet and release a lot of anger without losing its melodic core. I’ll be keeping an eye on Ten Eighty Trees and will definitely be looking forward to more, cheers!

“Finish Line” messes with your head, tangles your thoughts, then lines them into the depth of the right destination and the path that leads to it. The lyrics are full of questions, each of which needs really deep thinking to reach an answer, and for the big question circling them all: “Where’s our finish line?” It’s incredibly touching and highly relevant! One of the things that makes me bond with a song is when I feel like, “Wow, it feels like I’m the one who wrote these lyrics!” And that’s what I felt. 

The passionate, sincere vocals and the way it wonders with a soft, yet powerful tone give the impression that Matt is unsure and has a mind full of questions, but he somehow got the most important answer. The pop/rock style suits the track best. The instrumental is giving the message its space to echo, yet it’s complementing the general atmosphere and aligning well with the vocals. The straightforward drums, acoustic and electric guitars, percussion, and keys are all superb and in the right place. How Matt sings the word “line” differently is notable, and how he and the background music just sing it together is remarkable.

It’s hard to believe that someone has lived on earth long enough and doesn’t overthink some questions that he doesn’t know if there’s an actual answer to them. That’s why “Finish Line” is a song that everyone should listen to.

Follow Matt Bednarsky on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

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