● First, I salute you for your iconic career indeed. You were shining in the ‘80s and suddenly went on a hiatus for almost 20 years! What was the reason behind that?

Yes correct, we were “alive” from 82 until 87/88 and the reason for putting MARTYR on hold was mainly due to the fact that after we released our 2nd album “Darkness At Times Edge” we were on track to be signed by a major label. However due to the fact that more melodic (hard) rock as more and more popular we were , as young as we were, sort of asked to write songs in that direction which did not work for us. We are a metal band, so that led to some musical changes and band changes. And when the major company decided not to sign MARTYR but Yngwie Malmsteen instead for the European market we decided take a deep breath and relax with the band so to say. And went separate ways, but always kept the friendship and respect for each others musical careers.
Until 2001 for a 1st reunion show with the Heavy Metal Maniacs Fanclub and around 2005 when we asked for more reunion shows. And now the train is still rolling.

● ‘Live in Japan’ is one of the greatest heavy records that I have listened to this year, still, the album title is similar to many metal releases. Where did the idea of naming the album come from?

Thanks, yes we are extremely proud of this album. We know it is a simple title, but it is just the title that really tells you what it is: MARTYR Live In Japan. So we decided to keep it simple and it is exactly what our dream was like when we started the band, to be able to perform in Japan one day.

● I believe that the metal world is the most collaborative and we can see that in many compilation albums worldwide. In your opinion, should bands keep doing this or focus on their own CDs only?

No please keep on doing this , I personally enjoy it very much to listen to and sometimes do collaborations myself as well (I have sometimes joined Jaguar on stage , or collaborated on samplers for good causes f.e.). However I tend to keep my main focus on MARTYR to just give it my 200%

● If I am right, ‘For The Universe’ is a cassette re-release this year. Isn’t it a risk in such a digital world to release an analog record?

No it is not a risk for us, in fact for this release of course all material was already there, the record company made all investments, and sold out the 1st bundle in just a few weeks or maybe even a week. For us it is getting the name more spread around the globe, fans are still asking for the old school stuff from MARTYR as well an as long as they still want physical copies on vinyl, CD and cassette we will deliver.

● ‘Live in Japan’ included several metal influences from heavy, speed, thrash, and more. Is it one of the main factors you focus on while songwriting to keep such style diversity?

For MARTYR this is a natural thing. We know of course where we come from , from the 80’s classic era of metal. But along the way and throughout the years we played and toured with so many bands, listened to so many bands also in different styles and are open to that that it will influence us one wat or another. And we are open for that. Also techniques improved, our way of playing and writing and of course recording. All those influences make our style diverse but still it is MARTYR. We believe that we always need to search and keep a unique own style to stand out. So we do what we want to do , but we need to believe it in ourselves not 100% but 200%

● I felt like Fire of Rebellions, No Time For Goodbyes, Raise Your Horns Unite! are different from your previous work and they have a special signature. Am I right?

Yes I think so. That is also that development as I mentioned earlier. And we have nor released an epic metal ballad like No Time For Goodbyes before. Also we had a line up change before we went to Japan for the 2nd time in 2019 where we recorded the live album. This new line up is so strong and more metal orientated , I think that is what you will hear too.

● Tell me, are they part of an upcoming album? Also, what lyrical themes does the album discuss?

Yes they will be part of our new album which will be out early 2022. We are on the final phase of recording it and are preparing a lot of behind the scenes work for a special extraordinary release and some great artwork etc.
It will be a pure HEAVY METAL album, all songs are so loud and heavy , and pure metal that it just breathes pure happiness for all metalheads that are into it. That’s why lyrics this time are more metal orientated as well, about having a good time, living in the word of rock and roll , being part of a metal community , loyalty, metalheads, powerful people and so on. No politics, religion , we never are into that and also no deep thoughts or serial killers this time haha

● Dutch metal is one of the most influential scenes since the ’80s. Tell me, how has the music scene evolved in the Netherlands in the past four decades?

That is not an easy question to easily answer, but I will try it anyway. There is a healthy scene in the Netherlands for national metal bands but as you may well know international bands just love to perform over here too. When we started MARTYR there was not so much metal yet, it was more Hard Rock, and that’s why we wanted to make speed, riff orientated metal.
More bands followed with less success and more success. Later on I think the Netherlands metal scene was very strongly orientated in Gothic Metal and Death metal and still is. Probably the most well known Dutch bands are from that stream.
Fortunately we also still have plenty of great (obscure) Heavy Metal bands. So all in all it is a good blend within a healthy scene.

● Finally, tell your fans about your 2021 plans, especially that the live scene isn’t active enough recently.

We expect our shows to start up again in September. Many shows were cancelled and/or postponed , cancelled and postponed again of course due to the pandemic. It sort of made a messy agenda but we had so much time on our hands to make the best possible album EVER. We will continue that for the upcoming months to finish it and as said work behind the scene for artwork , release , distribution , promo stuff etc. Lets say the business side of it is also quite some work.
We have a couple of shows , which we will mainly do in the Netherlands, a big one is Das Oktober Metal Fest on October 2nd (with Destruction, Korpiklaani, Tankard and many more).
Maybe , we are not sure yet , will do another in between single release and then continue to work our asses off for the early 2022 release of the new album including MARTYR 40 years anniversary in 2022. That sums up our plans I think for the rest of this year.

1. Richard Wagner

Sorry guys! But Wagner beat them all indeed! Currently, most of the researches and rock historians call him “Father of Metal Music”. Well, we do not have much to say, check this out…

Bands like: Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Manowar, Savatage, Therion, Glenn Danzig, Apocalyptica, Dimmu Borgir and Rammstein.

2. Ludwig van Beethoven

He is awesome of course! And we all have seen many tributes done by many artists and bands, such as: Yngwie Malmsteen,The Great Kat,Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Rahowa, Rainbow, Quartz, Apocalyptica, Accept, Theatres des Vampires, Necrophagist, Tourniquet, Lacuna Coil, Viper, Kevin James LaBrie, Dragonland, Dark Moor, Serenity, Eddie Van Halen, Michał Jelonek, Muse, Iris, and many others.

3. Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach is known with his various compositions for organ, orchestral, chamber music, choral, and many other works. He was a big influential for many rock and metal musicians such as Richie Blackmore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Sebastian Bach,Rahowa, Suspyre, and Randy Rhoads. In addition to that, Bach was one of the inspirations in Symphony X’s third album The Divine Wings of Tragedy. 

 

4. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The influence of all! He has been an influence and a mentor for many great composers like Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. Besides that he has a huge impact over heavy metal and rock artists, bands and artists whom tribute and were influenced by his works are: Accept, Savatage, Therion, Evanescence, Scatterbrain (Thrash band), Simone Simons from Epica, Amy Lee, Extreme, Rahowa, Tarja Turunen, Suspyre, and George Lynch.

5. Antonio Vivaldi

The master of the Four Seasons! He got many rock and metal inspired bands and artists like: Children Of Bodom, Dark Moor, Ritchie Blackmore, Marty Friedman, Jason Becker, Uli Jon Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Douglas R. Docker, Richard Andersson, Extreme and Yngwie Malmsteen.

6. Igor Stravinsky

Stravinsky (also Strawinsky) is a Russian composer, pianist and conductor. His works were influenced bands and artists like: YES, Devin Townsend and Merlin.

7. Pyotr Tchaikovsky

The famous Russian composer had many tributes from many artists around the world. Many rock/metal artists and bands were inspired by his works, such as: Accept, Muse, Emerson Burton from HIM, Jonny Maudling, X Japan, Dark Moor and The Move.

8. Gustavus Theodore von Holst

Holst is a famous English composer, arranger and instructor. He has a big influence on Black Sabbath, Diamond Head, Nile, Symphony X, King Crimson and Led Zeppelin.

9. Niccolò Paganini

This Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer had a big influence on artists like: Timo Tolkki, Richard Andersson, Michael Romeo, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jason Becker, The Great Kat. The influence has also reached bands like: Angra (Brazilian power metal band), Ulytau (Folk metal band from Kazakhstan), Spelled Moon (American Heavy Metal) and Venturia (French progressive metal band)

10. Béla Bartók

Bartók is a Hungarian composer and pianist. Artists and bands who got inspired by him are: Voivod, Roger Miller and Jeff Buckley.

Edited by: Duha Moussa

The first band to go on stage was Anuryzm; a killer band located in the U.A.E. They had a powerful start with tracks of their first album “Worm’s Eye View”. I think there wasn’t a better band to start this concert and set the mood for the audience. However, the only negative thing was the sound system; it wasn’t as good as would normally be expected of a festival of this proportion.

The second band to go on stage was the French Power Metal band Nightmare. Unfortunately, they were pretty unknown to most of the people attending, but oh my! They got everyone singing and screaming their lungs out. Completely energetic despite their age, and their set was insane. Their music was a mix of Thrash, Heavy and even bits of Symphonic. The vocalist for everyone’s surprise was a copy of Dio! He looked and sounded very much like him! They ended fantastically with the masterpiece Heaven and Hell and you could only imagine how the audience reacted.

Myrath was next, a Tunisian band who nailed it on stage! I hadn’t heard them before except for CDs but they mastered it. The awesome guitar riffs mingled with oriental keyboards and Zaher Zorgati’s strong vocals complimented the music very well. He even put on a small belly dance show from our Arabian heritage! They played tracks from their albums “Desert Call” and “Tales of the Sand”. I really enjoyed them and apparently everyone loved their Middle Eastern taste they had in the air. I highly recommend you’d check this band if you didn’t!

The fourth band on the list was the band everyone was waiting for; Dark Tranquility. Okay, forget everything you may have heard about them, it’s nothing compared to hearing them live! They are highly spirited and so much fun to watch. The audience was packed with power, and their enthusiastic vibe went straight to the band. Mikael Stanne the vocalist was shocked with the amount of energy and admitted he was taken by surprise from the audience interaction. I’d have to give a shout out to the light system on that particalur band; he used lots of colors on the screen behind them which gave them a hint of a psychedelic element. Great job!

The epic band, the band that I was personally waiting for Epica! They started with an instrumental but everyone was screaming and jumping till I could literally feel the ground shaking beneath me. When Simone Simones walked the stage, she received a huge amount of applause. She warmed our ears with her soprano vocals and in no time had the whole crowd singing along. Simone and only Simone could sing so good, not to mention head-bang while pregnant!

The band performed their classic “Cry for the Moon” and hands down, best performance in the entire night, from both the band and the audience. Simone even had the crowd sing along and wave their hands. You can easily see the harmony between the band members; they even synchronized their head-banging with their long hair! They made my entire year just seeing them live!

Finally was the main headliner, the reason everyone was waiting till after midnight, the legendary master Yngwie Malmsteen. During the break after Epica they selected a random ticket number to win a Fender guitar signed by Malmsteen! And guess what? The winner wasn’t there to claim his prize! And yes, there were hundreds of other young men who wanted to be in his shoes.

After a very long wait, and long minutes of sound check in the dark, the lights came on revealing tens of amplifiers stacked and Malmsteen’s band started performing. I have to admit they sounded incredibly good. The whole band was on fire; the strong beat of the bass harmonized with the keyboardist, and the vocalist proved his mastery. All until Yngwie came running to the stage, spinning the guitar around his body, and even throwing it a few inches in the air – yes, our hearts skipped a beat – everyone was cheering, clapping, and WOWing his name. But as he went further with his music, an idea hit me; he doesn’t care how plays, he obviously knows he’s the master. He’s so busy shredding, and it really got on my nerves.

You could feel it in the audience, too. Everyone was squeezing themselves to get a better place to watch him, 20 minutes later all the hype fell and many people left the arena! Midway through, the place was half empty and those who remained were the die-hard fans.

Why I didn’t like Malmsteen’s set was how he abused improvised shredding. The guitars were too loud and it almost killed everyone’s ears listening to high pitched shredding for over an hour. On the other hand, many guitarists were on cloud 9 seeing their idol playing and throwing handful of guitar picks between every other track.

Before I left, I met with DJ Storm and asked him how felt about the day, to which he shared: “I expected full support and dedication from those who used to join the Rock Festival every year. The crowd was great this year and I hope to have them back again in Dubai Rock Festival 2014 with their friends and friends of friends! I would like to thank everyone for showing up and making it a night to remember, this show was for you and you made it big.”

The whole show was terrific, although I expected more people to show up but we’re only hoping more success and attendees for DRF 2014!