Saudi deathcore band Breeze Of The Dying were recently featured on an episode of MTV's reality show, "True Life" where the guys go in depth about the local scene in KSA, and the struggles musicians have to face when they choose to distort their guitars and let some extreme energy out.

It's great to see the guys are getting some mainstream exposure, they have certainly been through a lot, and have still pushed forth, let's hope to see an All Shall Perish/Breeze Of The Dying international tour down the line ... (Nuclear Blast get on that!)

Breeze Of The Dying's feature begins at the second part of the documentary (which comes after 13 minutes : 45 seconds).

Saudi Death Metal band Breeze of The Dying posted a new teaser clip for their upcoming as yet untitled album on the band's Myspace.

Judging by the teaser, the band really stepped up their game, and are expanding their sound.

Doom/Death metallers Grieving Age will be the first metal band from Saudi Arabia to perform in Europe at the upcoming "Doom Shall Rise Festival" taking place on April 10th, 2010 in Göppingen, Germany. The band will be tearing up the stage along side Doom Metal bands from around Europe and the U.S.

Grieving Age released their debut full length album earlier this year on July 16th, titled "In Aloof Lantern, Thy Bequeathed A Wailer Quietus". The album was mixed and mastered by Dan Swano (Edge Of Sanity, and Bloodbath) and cover art for the album was created by Aaron Stainthorpe (My Dying Bride) you can read my review for the album here.

For more information about tickets and the line-up visit the event's official website.

Grieving Age on Myspace

Saudi "all-girl" rock band The Accolade released a new song titled "Destiny" currently streaming on their Myspace and Facebook.

Saudi Doom/Death Metal band Grieving Age released their debut full length album "In Aloof Lantern, Thy Bequeathed A Wailer Quietus" on July 16th. The album was Mixed and Mastered by Dan Swano (Edge Of Sanity, and Bloodbath) and cover art was made by Doom metal's favorite eye lined dark master Aaron Stainthorpe.

"In Aloof Lantern, Thy Bequeathed A Wailer Quietus" is a fresh approach and a tremendous step for the Saudi Local scene, the band showcases great musicianship, and powerful song structures, while Front man Ahmed Shawli has some of the best guttural growls in the region!

Check back Thursday morning for a full review of the album. Also head over to the band's Official Myspace to get a taste of "In Aloof Lantern, Thy Bequeathed A Wailer Quietus"

Grieving Age On Myspace

HED2GROUND are a Hard Rock band with Metal influences based in Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

The band was formed in 2007, by 4 Western Expatriate workers who currently live in Saudi Arabia. They are known around the local scene as one of the most professional and entertaining live acts. The band aims to work together with local and mid-eastern hard rock and heavy metal bands to help expand the scene.

HED2GROUND, performs a wide variety of originals and also covers for bands like Stone Sour, Tool, Slipknot, Chevelle and the list goes on.

The band donates all profit from gig payments, to charities of their choice, the charities are chosen on a gig by gig basis.

I got the chance to ask the group's drummer James about HED2GROUND's sound and upcoming material, who would he like to work with, the local scene, which band's is he currently listening to and alot more.

Here's how it went:


TMR: First of all, how’s it going?

James: Very well thanks. We are enjoying a break from our usually hectic band schedule and duties over the Christmas and New Year’s period. We have all recently been (or are currently on) holidays visiting our families etc.

It’s kind of nice to have a social life that isn’t directly involved with our H2G schedule for a change.



TMR: Can you describe HED2Ground's sound?

James: I would describe our sound as Hard Rock with tendencies towards Metal. We have a very artistic sound that you can hear is based upon our earlier musical influences and training. Overall though, we are loud, in your face and enjoy experimenting with all of our musical tonal qualities.



TMR: You guys have built a rep for yourselves around the GCC region, what do you think of the scene nowadays, do you think it’s a constantly growing one?

James: Hell yes!! It is an awesome scene with so much talent here in this part of the world.

When I first accepted my job in Saudi Arabia I thought my music would have to go on hold for awhile but I was so incredibly wrong. I have been completely blown away with the level of professionalism and quality of rock and metal music in this part of the world.



TMR: When can we expect more material from HED2Ground?

James: We have just about got enough original material to record our first album and hope to have this completed within the next few months by having it all professionally recorded so we can then get it out to the masses.

As the new stuff gets tweaked to the way we want it, and we record it, we will place it on our
page, so you can expect to hear the new stuff starting to appear in the next month or so.



TMR: If you got the chance to work with your favorite musician, who would it be?

James: For myself personally, my first pick would be Danny Carrey from Tool. In my opinion he is a genius at fusing artistic and sometimes incredibly complex percussion beats rhythms and poly-rhythms with that Tool heavy sound.

Also Corey Taylor, the vocalist from Slipknot and Stone Sour. We as a band all have the utmost respect and adoration for his lyric writing and vocal skills with both Slipknot and Stone Sour (he is someone I would love to have help produce one of our albums in the future so Corey, give me a call mate!)



TMR: Which bands are you currently listening to?

James: Slipknot!!! Their new album ‘All Hope Is Gone’ is absolutely amazing and I can’t get enough of it.



TMR: Who are some of the Middle Eastern bands that you enjoy listening to?

James: All of the bands from the SA Metal (www.sametal.org) are awesome, not just to listen to but to perform with and/or watch their live performances as well.



TMR: On your official MySpace, it states that you "decided to donate all profit from gig payments to charities" what made you choose this?

James: We are all Western Expatriate workers working in the Middle East for our ‘day’ jobs so we all earn decent salaries. We thought it would be a nice idea for us as a band to donate any profits we receive from gig appearances to worthwhile charities from around the globe. It is not a lot of money and we don’t need the cash in our current positions, but there are people and organisations out there that can definitely do with a helping hand.

I think it also shows to the general public that we as ‘metal heads’ aren’t all about making noise, wearing black clothing and are not full of anger, but we like to help out the community as well.



TMR: Thank you so much James for this opportunity, would you like to add anything?

James: Yeah firstly, please go out and buy the March issue of ‘Revolver’ magazine (on newsstands late February) as they will be doing a "Meet and Greet" piece on us in that issue. This will contain links to our MySpace page and also a link on the ‘Revolver’ website to download our song ‘Blood In’.

Also visit our
page, www.myspace.com/hed2ground and listen to our music. If you get the chance to come and see us perform live, please do as we love to actually perform and put on a stage show not just stand there and play. Our live performances are definitely H2G’s strong point.

Help to spread our name people as we are on a massive PR push to get our band known throughout the worldwide scene (US, Australia and Europe); hopefully getting us booked for a tour. Make us your friend on MySpace, tell all your friends about us, drop our name casually into conversation at parties and so on. With your assistance we want to get signed to a good label in the near future. You’d be amazed what word of mouth can achieve!

Also do not hesitate to contact us through MySpace or our email address. We try to respond personally to all mail that we receive.

Lastly if you would like to be put onto our mailing list, send us an email hed2ground@windowslive.com so we can send you future gig dates, any new song details and general band information. Your email address will remain private and will not be handed out to anyone for any reason whatsoever.

Thanks


I would like to thank James for taking the time to answer my questions, make sure to check out the band's Myspace to get a taste of their music and also to stay updated with all the band's future work.

The Accolade are a all girl rock band from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, they recently released their first song "Pinocchio" on their official facebook page, a very impressive first release by the band which showcases their abilities and the chemistry between them. Its a dark gothic rock song that has been getting great feedback from the masses, they are the first all girl rock band from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

"Their music is inspired by paintings that tell a story of certain situations in our lives...it's a blend of art & music."

The Accolade consists of Dina (Lead/Rhythm Guitars), Lamia (Vocals), Dareen (Bass), and Amjad (keyboards).

To get to know the band a little better I had "a word" with them about, their musical background, their favorite painters, bands they like listening to from the local scene and more.
Here's how it went:

TMR: Can you tell me a bit about yourselves and about your musical background?

Dina: 21 years old, interested in ice skating & sports – fine art & photography – music and playing guitar- keyboard ,,,, BUT drawing is the most interesting & inspiring thing that I like to do in my life,,, My whole family likes music so I have many musical instruments which makes me so in love with music specially rock and metal so that pushed me to start to learn how to play guitar since I was 16 till now.


Lamia: 21 year's old, I Like Drawing .. I draw since i was 7 Years Old . I started singing at the age of 14 . And I listen To all Kinds Of Rock .. The Same Year ...
I started working on my voice to make it get better and better
now here I am doing my best to let the world hear me sing .. and to make my dream come True.

Dareen: 19 years old..I love ice skating ,drawing , playing guitar and drums, traveling and having pets ..I've been interested in rock & metal music for a long time because it captures something special... and I've been playing guitar for 2 years



TMR: Your music is inspired by "paintings that tell a story of certain situations in our lives" who's your favorite painter(s)?

The Accolade: Actually there is alot, from many different art movements but we can say, Leonardo Da Vnci., Edmund LeightoN, Claude Monet , Salvador Dali, Wassily Kandinsky ,Van Gogh



TMR: Who are some of your all time favorite musicians / bands?

The Accolade: Skillet, Red, Cold play,Lifehouse, Linkin Park, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamen, In Flames, Metallica, Joe Satriani, Incubus, Anathema, Lacuna Coil, Opeth, Muse, All That Remains, Dark Tranquility, Sadows Fall, Dream Theater, Heaven Shall Burn, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow, As I Lay Dying, and Parkway Drive.



TMR: How was working with Khaled Abdulmannan on "Pinocchio"?

The Accolade: It was amazing and Fun. He is so talented and he believed in us, and made us have faith in ourselves. We will always be greatfull for him and would like to work with him again n' again.



TMR: Who are some of the local bands that you enjoy listening to?

The Accolade: We are proud to have so many great local bands here in KSA
And maybe we don’t know most of them but we enjoy listening to Rivers Running Red, Wasted Land & we loved the 2 songs by The Saudi United Artists.



TMR: If you where to work with a metal band from the local scene, who would you like it to be?

The Accolade: We don't mind working with any good band... that will be great =) \m/ ( peace)



TMR: Can we expect more material from you girls soon?

The Accolade: Yea sure, and we are doing our best to give the best we have and get the admiration from everybody isa.



TMR: Would you like to add anything?

The Accolade: No thanks, we only would like to thank u 4 giving us the chance 2 talk
more about ourselves, n' let the ppl know more about us.


I'd like to thank the girls from The Accolade for taking the time to answer my questions. Make sure to check out their Official Facebook page (become a fan today !) and listen to their song "Pinnochio".

Myth is a upcoming Melodic Death metal band from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

The band is strongly influenced by Saudi Based Melodeath Folk Veterans Wasted Land, in a very complimenting matter.... they released their first track recently on their official Myspace called "Dawn Of Madness" which proves how riff driven the band is and a perfect example to get a taste of whats to come from these Dhahran based headbangers on their upcoming releases.

Founding members Ahmed (Guitarist) and Farris (Guitarist) started MYTH in 2006, with Bader joining on Bass duties, but later on Bader left to focus on his other project Sandstoned, after a little while Farris left the band too.

They went on hiatus for a while, but recently returned with a new line-up Ahmed (Lead Guitars) Saif (Vocals), Essam (Drums) and Moe (Rythim Guitars) and together they released their first track "Dawn Of Madness" the bass lines on the song where handled by Kamal Khalil from Deathless Anguish and Bader (Ex-Myth, Sandstoned) helped with recording the drum lines and vocals.

To get the know the guys a little better, here's a short interview with Ahmed the band's lead guitarist and founding member, about how they got together, upcoming plans, their sound, their idols and more.
Heres how it went:

TMR: How did you guys get together ?

Ahmed: Well basically each member got the other member ... I found moe the guitarist interisted so he joined me , then mohammed asked essam if he would like to join and he liked the idea and joined us , finally we needed a vocal after our vocal had to leave for personal issues so essam asked his friend saif if he wanna join , and thats how it worked out . we're looking for a bassist till now so hopefully soon.

TMR: Describe your sound ?

Ahmed: We are aiming to be a pure melodic death band , so almost all our influences are from european bands , as a result we gonna sound close from them , but we are trying right now to work on our own culture and include oriental melodies so we can represent somthing new ... hopefully it will go good .

TMR: Who's your metal idol ?

Ahmed: Well its really hard to have one metal idol with all the great musicians out there , but let me give the opinion of every member it would make it easier :

Essam: Mieszko Talarczyk "Nasum" Rip.
Moe: John petrucci , Niclas Sundin .
Saif: Chuck from the great band "Death" Rip.
Ahmed: Zakk Wylde , Kokko's the brothers from Kalmah.

TMR: Which bands got you into heavy metal ?

Ahmed: Black sabbath , Iron Maiden , Megadeth , Death , Nasum , In Flames , Dark tranquillity , At the gates , Opeth.

TMR: Who would you like to share the stage with ?( international or national)

Ahmed: Iron Maiden ,Kalmah , Dark tranquillity , Amon amarth , and any local band or any metal band ,it would be our honor to share the stage with any metal band who are real. if u get my drift

TMR:Whats your upcoming plans ?

Ahmed: We are working on our material recording and trying to finish our demo album, If we were ready enough we might apply for "shammal battle of the bands" .

but our main goal is to work on our music and to represent it in the best way possible.

TMR: Who are some of the local band's that you enjoy listening to ?

Ahmed: Wastedland , Deathless anguish , Octum , Breeze of the dying , Creative Waste , Immortal pain.

TMR: Would you like to add anything ?

Ahmed: We would like to thank u personally for this interview although we are a new band, i hope our answers made the job and we appreciate ur interist on the local scenes up to around the world.... We hope that people would like our work and enjoy it , and stay tuned for more we are releasing a couple of songs soon, we'll see u around bro keep it metal . \m/

I'd like to thank Ahmed for taking the time to answer my questions, make sure to check out the band's Myspace for their debut track "Dawn Of Madness" and for updates on their upcoming material and shows.

ALSO join their group on Facebook and let them know how much headbanging you did to "Dawn Of Madness"