[PRESS RELEASE]

UAE-based metallers Benevolent are in the recording process for their upcoming debut full length album, the band is adding drum-icon Andols Herrick (ex-Chimaira) as a featured musician on the album to record one track on the record. Hadi Sarieddine, the band co-founder and lead guitarist states "It is pretty crazy thinking that Andols Herrick is going to be drumming on one of our songs; if I go back in time and tell past-me that this was happening I'd probably get a pretty sarcastic reaction." He added "The last couple of years since we started the band have been absolutely insanely great for us; getting such great reviews for the debut record, getting signed to Spellbind Records, and now this? I can't think that things could be any better for the band, I'm really proud of how things are coming together"

Andols Herrick commented on his work with Benevolent and how this all came together and stated "I was approached by Hadi Sarieddine awhile back about the possibility of tracking drums for Benevolent. I was quite impressed with the quality of the music and vocals."

"I love having the opportunity to work with a great band, who happens to represent the Middle East metal scene very well. I do know it is very vibrant having had the pleasure of performing with Chimaira at the Desert Rock Festival in Dubai back in 2009."

The band hit the Middle East scene with strong waves with the release of their debut EP titled DIVIDED in the year 2010, placing the band as the top names in the metal scene on regional levels garnering fans across the world as well in Europe, USA, Japan and Asia, and Oceania. Benevolent was signed to Spellbind Records in September of 2011 (alongside label mates and Middle East metal icons Nervecell).

The band has provided previous information to the press about the direction of the next album as being a technical, dark, and progressive album that picks up where Divided left off whilst expanding the band's sound identity. Hadi commented on the material further saying "It's definitely a lot more technical than Divided; the songs have a lot going on and while it preserves that sound that we've created in our debut EP this is a step forward on many levels and it tells a story about lots of dark themes with the lyrical and instrumental direction on the album."

As for the specific song that Andols Herrick is recording, Andols commented stating "This song presented numerous rhythmic challenges as I was learning it. If you were a drummer with limited music theory experience, I'd just say "Good luck trying to learn it!" The song is loaded with "over the bar line" guitar riffs, and I found myself, on occasion, discovering some of my transcriptions would be a sixteenth note off here or there!"

The band is set out to release the debut full length through Spellbind Records in the spring of 2012, and will be performing across the Middle East and beyond to promote the new release.

On a final note, the band's frontman and co-founder, Fadi Sarieddine, stated "We all can't wait to share this album with the world; I believe we have a very strong set of new songs and it's going to be great to share the new stuff with the world. Once the album is done, it will be the beginning of the next phase of this observation's life cycle, and that is to get it all out there to as many listeners as possible worldwide; we're excited and we absolutely cannot wait!"

To keep up with the band's news and updates be sure to check out their official pages on the links below: (ALSO, BE SURE TO DOWNLOAD THE BAND'S DEBUT EP WHICH IS AVAILABLE ON FREE DOWNLOAD HERE http://benevolent.bandcamp.com)



http://www.facebook.com/benevolent.band
http://www.twitter.com/benevolent_twitter
http://benevolent.bandcamp.com

[PRESS RELEASE]
Benevolent’s co-founder (guitarist/co-vocalist) Hadi Sarieddine has confirmed that the band is nearing the end of the writing and preproduction process for the debut full length album, which is the follow up to the highly touted Divided EP (2010) which saw the band take the Middle East metal scene by storm, leading the Lebanese-founded metal band into the signing with Spellbind Records alongside Middle East metal icons Nervecell.

Hadi describes the material as “dramatic, technical, uneasy, and progressive” stating that the album is a step up from the bands’ previous work and pushes the band’s limits and boundaries ahead.

“This album’s definitely a fine blend of lots of dramatic moments, the songs are heavier than before and I think it’s an honest attempt at pushing our artistic limits further”

In talk about the songs in the album, Hadi had this to say

“The songs are longer, the soundscapes and textural backgrounds are there and there’s a whole new tuning on the album…I think there’s only one or two songs that share the tunings used on Divided EP and I’ve taken that as a conscious decision, I wanted to explore writing riffs in different tunings…it felt like uncharted territory for me and that definitely got the creative juices flowing!”

The band will record the debut untitled full-length with Sajid ‘Sarj’ Masood who worked with the band on Divided EP and has been repeatedly cited as one of the main factors that allowed the band’s sound to be experienced in the manner that it did. Though the band has not set a date as to when the recording of the album will start, the album is expected to be out in stores through the spring of 2012.

Benevolent had previously announced the release of a single in 2011 prior to the end of the year, however, this had been changed and confirmed by Fadi (band’s co-founder and lead vocalist) that the song intended as a single will indeed be featured on the full length instead.

“We had a song planned for release as a single through Q4 of 2011 and though we haven’t released that song yet it will SURELY be featured on the debut full-length, it’s one of our favorite songs!”

On a final note, Hadi has been blogging on the progress with regards to the Benevolent album in addition to other things such as songwriting and production methodologies, do check out the blog at hadibenevolent.blogspot.com to keep up with all the updates!


LINKS:
Benevolent on Facebook – http://facebook.com/benevolent.band
Benevolent on Twitter – http://twitter.com/benevolent_band
Download Divided EP for FREE – http://benevolent.bandcamp.com
Hadi on Twitter – http://twitter.com/hadi_benevolent

---

[PRESS RELEASE]

Extreme metal outfit Benevolent have signed with Spellbind Records as their official booking agent for the Middle East and North Africa region, alongside metal icons Nervecell and Demonic Resurrection. The signing comes after the band had released their debut EP titled Divided almost a year ago, with the latter receiving rave reviews across the region, Europe, the US, Canada, and across Asia dubbing the band as the "Best Metal band of the Middle East for the Year 2010" by Jorzine.

The band's lead vocalist and co-founder, Fadi Sarieddine, states

"This is really big for us, we're really excited about working with Spellbind Records and we feel that this will be our home to fantastic growth across the scene and internationally where we get to perform and share our music with many new fans."

Hadi Sarieddine, the band's lead guitarist and co-founder, added

"When you're in a band, especially one that plays metal, in the Middle East you're really tied down with how much gigging and exposure you get to experience but I feel that this is going to ignite a shift in that stance for us and we seriously cannot wait to get out there, share the stage with other bands from abroad and the region, and just play our songs with audiences across the region and beyond! We're psyched!"

Benevolent will be performing extensively across the Middle East and North Africa with concert dates to be announced in the very near future.

For booking information and inquiries contact Spellbind Records at aar@spellbindrecords.com or directly at +971 43274111.

The band is currently working on a single scheduled for release in 2011, along with working on their full length which is rumored to be released in 2012.

Keep up with Benevolent's updates on their official Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Benevolent.band and if you haven't downloaded Divided EP yet go ahead and grab your free copy at http://benevolent.bandcamp.com

We just posted the second episode of BENEVOLENT's VLOG series for their current recordings at one of the Middle East's "most recognizable studios for recording rock/metal artists" Sarj's Studio for the band's upcoming 2 track summer-single.

Watch the episode below and then make sure to watch the first one here.

Visit BENEVOLENT on: Facebook | Bandcamp | Myspace | Twitter

Our favorite Kuwait based prog metal face rippers, BENEVOLENT, are currently tracking 2 new songs for their upcoming summer single at one of the Middle East's "most recognizable studios for recording rock/metal artists" Sarj's Studio.

We're more than happy to be exclusively premiering the band's current studio updates through our Youtube channel (which you can subscribe to by clicking here).

Watch the first episode below, and weigh-in with your comments about how much that riff f'd you up!

Visit BENEVOLENT on: Facebook | Bandcamp | Myspace | Twitter

[PRESS RELEASE]

May 23rd, 2011: Extreme metallers, Benevolent, have announced on the bands official Facebook page that they will be returning to the studio on the 27th of May to begin tracking two new tracks which will be released as a special "summer" single. The single will be the band's first studio follow up to the debut album titled Divided, which was tremendously received across the Middle East, USA, Europe, Japan, and more…earning the band the designation of “The Best Metal Band of the Middle East for 2010” by Jorzine.

The band will once again work with Sajid "Sarj" Masood, recording the new tracks at Sarj's Studio, which has become one of the Middle East's most recognizable studios for recording rock/metal artists.

Hadi Sarieddine, the band's co-founder, describes the new songs as "heavier, more progressive, and more detailed" than the bands songs on the album Divided, "This time around, I've made a conscious effort to take the music in a more progressive direction; it's always more interesting when the song has more twists and turns, and just feels like it's taking the listener through a journey"

Fadi Sarieddine, the band's co-founder and lead vocalist stated, "The song is definitely the fastest and heaviest tune we've done; it's got a mixture of feelings and also has its melodic bits scattered around. Though I would say that it sets itself as an atonal tune for the most part"

The summer single will include one song, and an instrumental. "The instrumental's been in my mind for the longest time, I've had the title for it and the overall IDEA mapped out from way back but I've only just managed to translate those ideas into a musical piece and I'm really excited about it! It's a bit mathematical but is shaped up very melodically" said Hadi Sarieddine.

The band has not announced a release date for the single yet, however, it is promised to be released during the summer of 2011. Benevolent will be releasing EXCLUSIVE studio updates via METALITY, and will have the songs PREMIERED EXCLUSIVELY through JORZINE.

As a final word, Fadi Sarieddine stated "We're really excited, we're extremely pumped up and we feel great about the new material! We just can't wait to share these new pieces with the world!"

[Ed note: Benevolent were recently featured on our latest digital compilation "Volume 2: Sounds of The Middle East" with their spine wrenching song "The Tyrant" taken from their most recent release, Divided.]

Kuwait's up and coming veterans of modern death metal, Benevolent, have managed to create a fresh wrap of modern brutality on their latest effort. Back in November the band released their debut EP "Divided" to overwhelmingly positive reception. The EP has already been featured on a number of popular blogs, such as: Metalsucks, and Hook in Mouth.

I've been personally a supporter of Benevolent since their early days of being an instrumental band. And they have certainly come a long way since releasing the mellow instrumental "Solace."

The album opens with the crushing! "Clairvoyant Transmission," a song that will impress any modern melodic death metal fan.

Hadi has certainly crafted amazingly technical, yet very accessible and catchy riffs all around the EP. His blues inspired leads, will not cease to amaze the listener and will only keep pushing forth till Fadi takes over the song with words of monstrosity. Fadi's vocals keep improving, and if he pushes harder, he will eventually deliver a monstrous sound for future Benevolent releases.

The Tyrant marks almost 10 minutes, and would certainly satisfy progressive death metal fans; the Mikael Akerfeldt troopers will love this track! The riff leading up to the song's main solo is beyond a haunting sensation. It gives an evil spine wrenching rush, that would make you want to devour an entire herd. Simply, bone chilling!

Haunting Shores was our first taste of Divided (technically The Tyrant is, but the song got a face-lift since it's first release as a single back in 09). The song shows off Benevolent's amazing vocal range, shared between Hadi and Fadi. Where Hadi handles the clean vocals on the chorus, which gives the song a melodic metalcore vibe. While the song's main verse carries out the polyrhythmic magic of Djent godfathers Meshuggah. With a neoclassically driven solo; Benevolent have produced a slab of diverse music, beating all senses into heavy metal oblivion.

The Quantum Paradox clocks over 10 minutes, and starts off with an acoustic passage, that gives way to anvil pounding drums; all adding up to create an intense opening for Fadi to tangle in lyrics of parallel worlds. Hadi executes some solid grooves midway through the song. That would definitely have Fredrik Thordendal nodding in approval.

In conclusion: Benevolent's debut EP "Divided" is a modern melodic death metal neck breaker, and by far one of the best releases this year. Along with Depth's Memonto Mori and Voice of The Soul's Eyes of Deceit; Kuwait's metal scene is stronger than ever, proving it's one of the heaviest contenders in the region for "the next big thing" coming out of the middle east.

My only issue would be that I can clearly hear the drum machine kick in, on Clairvoyant Transmission. But that's not something to complain about. The band managed to be as diverse as an internationally renowned act could be on a full length album.

Visit Benevolent on:
Myspace
Facebook
Bandcamp

[Ed note: Haunting Shores was featured on our digital compilation album "Metality - The Compilation" celebrating the blog's 1000th post. Available here for streaming and download.]

UAE's only hard rock and metal radio show STREAMING CHAOS will be live at 9 pm (GMT) today. Joining Paul and Moose for the show is Kuwait's progressive death metal band Benevolent, who just released their latest EP Divided (Available for free download for a limited time.) Jordan's JorZine are already hailing them as the "Best Middle-Eastern Metal Band Of The Year.”

The show starts at 9 PM [G.M.T.] (5 PM Local UAE Time) and can be streamed through Campus Radio FM.

Click here to Stream into the Chaos!

[PRESS RELEASE]
Kuwait-based Lebanese metal band Benevolent have just released their debut EP titled Divided, which features five tracks exhibiting the bands heavy, technical, ambient, and balls-to-the-wall sound. The album was recorded at one of the Middle East's fastest growing recording studios, Sarj's Studio (www.facebook.com/Sarjs.studio), through 2010, and co-produced by Hadi Sarieddine and Sajid "Sarj" Masoud.

Fadi Sarieddine, band co-founder and lead vocalist, added

"It was such a great experience! Just looking back at how these songs slowly came to life is such a great feeling! I really feel that we got to experience and learn so much about ourselves as musicians and as people through out this process...and it's just great to be on the other side with everything done.

"I hope that listeners enjoy this record as much as we enjoyed putting it together!"

Preproduction took place at the band's home recording studio. Hadi Sarieddine, band co-founder, comments:

"I like to come in to the studio with a game plan. I have to get to know the song before going in to record the final product so that I know what sort of sounds need to go on there, and just generally be able to pay attention to the very little details in my own personal space. I think the process worked out great!"

Divided can be downloaded fully for FREE for a limited period of one month from the following link:

http://benevolent.bandcamp.com

The album's track list is as follows:

1. Clairvoyant Transmission
2. Purgatory
3. The Tyrant
4. Haunting Shores
5. The Quantum Paradox

The band is currently rehearsing in preparation for an upcoming set of shows across the Middle East/North Africa region, and Europe in support of Divided, dates will be announced in the near future.

Visit the band's official pages to keep up with their news and updates:

www.myspace.com/Thisisbenevolent

www.facebook.com/Benevolent.band

www.twitter.com/Benevolent_band

www.twitter.com/Hadi_Benevolent

[Ed note: Haunting Shores was featured on our digital compilation album METALITY - The Compilation, among 24 other bands from around the world. Available here.]

[Press Release]Kuwait-based Lebanese extreme metal band Benevolent have announced “Divided” as the title of their Debut EP, which is scheduled for release on the 5th of November, 2010. Divided will be available for free download through the first month after release!

Divided will feature 5 heart-pounding songs that exemplify the band's experimental, extreme, and progressive influences. The Kuwait-based band have commenced work on the EP in late 2009 and have worked with producer/engineer Sajid "Sarj" Masoud throughout the process.

Band co-founder, Hadi Sarieddine, had this to say about the record:

"I can't believe it's finally done, we started demoing about a year ago and it's been a great experience. We've learnt so much about ourselves as musicians, experimented with different ideas, and just went through a very fun and inspiring process.

"I can't wait for this to get out and to share the record with as many metal listeners as possible"

The Official track list is as follows:

1. Clairvoyant Transmission
2. Purgatory
3. The Tyrant
4. Haunting Shores
5. The Quantum Paradox

Benevolent's "Divided" will be available in stores and online as well for purchase after the grace period for free download has passed.

The death-metal-charged band have released one single off of the EP, titled "Haunting Shores" previously on two compilation albums, Metality - The Compilation and Metal Asia Compilation respectively, and have had airplay for the track on several radio outlets.

You can listen to Benevolent and keep up with their news on the following links:

Myspace.com/thisisbenevolent

Twitter.com/Benevolent_band

Facebook.com/Benevolent.band

And on Hadi's Twitter page:

Twitter.com/aytchster

Kuwait Based progressive death metal band Benevolent have posted the following update concerning the band's upcoming EP, which they are currently putting the final touches on at Kuwait's favorite metal studio Sarj's Studio with Nocturna's Sajid "Sarj" Masood.

"Hey everyone!

We are going to wrap up all the recording of the debut EP by the end of this week at Sarj's Studio. The material is heavy, intense, drop-tuned, and brutal!

We're really looking forward to getting this record out, we've had the time of our lives putting it together! Hopefully the listening experience for all listeners out there will be fun and brutally satisfying!

After wrapping up studio time this week, we will move on to finishing up the artwork (which is already underway), organizing the track listing order, and some other fun shindigs.

We will be announcing the album name, artwork design, and track listing very soon so stay tuned and be sure to visit the links below to keep up with our news on a daily basis!

Best,

Hadi"

Make sure to visit Benevolent on the band's official sites:

Myspace
Twitter
Facebook


[Benevolent are among 25 bands featured on our recently released digital compilation album "METALITY - The Compilation" available now, here]

[Press Release]

Kuwait-based Lebanese extreme metal band Benevolent have just released their new single titled "Haunting Shores," the song is a follow up to the band's January release "Augmented" and it showcases a fast-driven, riff-rich, haunting production with atonal and melodic moments. Hadi Sarieddine, guitarist and co-founder of Benevolent explains the track's preproduction process, "It's a haunting little story, and that was the most fun part of it all! Having that theme set along with a few lyrical lines really inspired me and I guess it all just came together!"

The band resumes the writing/recording process of their untitled debut EP, which is slated for release early in the fall of 2010. The band is working with Sajid "Sarj" Masoud (Nocturna founder and frontman) who is engineering and co-producing the EP.

For more updates visit the bands Myspace page (www.myspace.com/thisisbenevolent) and Hadi's Twitter page (www.twitter.con/aytchster).

For a while now, I've been on the look out for bands and musicians from the scene in Kuwait, and this will be the first installment of many more to come, from the "Spotlight On Kuwait" series.

First up is Benevolent, a progressive rock band founded by brothers Hadi and Fadi Sarieddine who are actually from Lebanon, but are living and studying in Kuwait.

They recently released "Solace" on their official Myspace page, which is a great track to get a taste of what the band is capable of, a very experimental mellow rock song.

Taken from the band's Myspace page:

" Benevolent is a progressive rock band founded by brothers Hadi and Fadi Sarieddine. The band's sound emerges from many genres of music including progressive metal, progressive rock, hard rock, heavy metal, death metal, new age, and other diverse genres within and outside the rock/metal circle.

The band was formed in early 2007, originally being "Eminence", but that just sounded too Evanescence to us! The band is currently seeking a bassist. If you are interested in trying out please contact us.

In october 2008, Khalid Abuwarda and Bader Abdullah joined us to fill ..s and Drums!"

To get to know the band a little better, I had "a word" with one of the band's founding members and lead guitarist/back up vocalist Hadi Sarieddine, about the band's sound, his favorite musicians, the scene in Kuwait, and alot more. Here's how it went:


TMR: Hows it going ?

Hadi: Going great man! Currently getting ready to finish up my Fall semester at the American University of Kuwait so things are a little hectic, but the upcoming break should put some gas back into my tank!



TMR: Can you tell me about your musical background? and about yourself?

Hadi: Well I was born here in Kuwait, spent most of my life here too. I started playing guitar 6 years ago, in January 2003; I spent the 1st 9 months creating my own tunings because I didn't understand how the whole tuning system works! I'd tune the strings in a way w here they sounded "musical" enough together to me, fretting was quite the issue at the start! hehe

I guess things got serious for me when I got my 1st electric guitar, 9 - 10 months later. Luckily by then I had learnt about the standard tuning and could play a few chords here and there, nothing fancy! I started doing the exercises for long hours and had some short-term goals that I wanted to achieve as a guitarist and a musician, and I started moving forward with more goals as I went along.



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

Hadi: John Petrucci and Dream Theater top that list, him and the band are my main influence and drive to be a better guitarist and push myself to write better music that's original and challenging, and edge-ie. However, there's more to the list as I listen to many styles of music! Hmmm let's see, I'm currently going through an Alter Bridge-fever stage, they're all I listen to mostly. As for across the years since I started playing it would be Linkin Park, Metallica, Opeth, Pink Floyd, Symphony X, Dream Theater. As for solo artists I'm really into Guthrie Govan, Andy Timmons, and Joe Satriani.

TMR: Can you tell me about Benevolent's sound?

Hadi: The sound that I personally "feel" when I'm composing for Benevolent is a warm, atmospheric, heavy and mellow in the same time. The musical themes are usually sad, dark, and with some hope sprinkled around here and there, if that makes sense! This combin ation could be what the lyrics and the music portray when they work together. I guess our sound is yet to be solidly defined as we create more music!



TMR: When do you guys plan on releasing more material?

Hadi: We currently have one song released, Solace, however we had some written and recorded material here and there that we never took to the next step.

However, Fadi and I have been working on just might be the new Benevolent song (If we end up being impressed by the final result!). I finished recording all the guitars, and programming all the instruments, Fadi finished writing the lyrics and we're almost done piecing together the vocal melodies before recording the vocals. He's working on it until he gets the perfect thing down! I'd rather not give any details about the track but I can say that it's very different from Solace, but they both carry a similar "feel", I guess this is what's going to define our sound as we go along.

Besides that, Fadi and I have spoken about many song ideas that we'd like to put together and we are hoping to release some more material in 2009!



TMR: Hows the rock scene in Kuwait, are there venues availble or places that hold rock gigs?

Hadi: The scene out here fluctuates, some gigs pop out every once and then but there are no consistent live opportunities. Sadly enough for us we haven't had a full-band setup in any of the gigs so we did not get the chance to play full-piece live gig.

As far as the music being released, the scene out here is pretty good and has a good mix of rock and metal genres, there are some death metal bands, some alternative rock ones, thrash, and other genres too! There are some pretty good tracks being released and very good musicians out here!



TMR: Where you involved in other projects before Benevolent?

Hadi: Yes. I've been in and out of a couple of bands and projects I've been part of, these include a band called "Winter". We had written some songs but that was a few years back.

I have also worked with Terminus on part of the production process for their upcoming debut album, Bader and Khaled recorded all their guitar solos at the little studio Fadi and I have setup out here at home. I'm looking forward to hearing the very final version of that one!



TMR: Who would you like to share the stage with?

Hadi: Oh boy, this is a tough one! Well I'd like to play a full-band gig with Benevolent as a start! I'm really looking forward to that opportunity! Hopefully we'll get the chance to put something together and play a local gig soon! It'd be nice to go out there and play for a crowd and share the stage with people you're very good friends with!

I would actually also love to perform along side Alter Bridge, the music is just very energetic and Myles Kennedy is one hell of a singer and I'd love to play guitar live to that!



TMR: Would you like to add anything?

Hadi: I'd like to thank you for giving us this opportunity to promote the material that we're releasing and for appreciating the underground local scenes out here in the Gulf and the Middle East. I'm looking forward to another encounter with The Metal Reporter!

Keep your eyes on our myspace page for the upcoming song! And wish us luck piecing it all together!

Thanks!


I'd like to thank Hadi for taking the time to answer my questions. Make sure to keep an eye out for Benevolent's upcoming releases on their Myspace.



Coming Up: "A Word" With Christian Olde Wolbers from Fear Factory about his new gear from Randall Amplifiers and his new band Arkaea !