[By: Karim Tarek and IRoar]

Formed in the year 1997, Insomnium is one of the most renowned and reputed bands in the flourishing Finnish Melodic Death Metal scene. They didn’t go through easy times attaining that reputation and renown though; they actually rose up in a competitive local scene that bears some of the world’s top Melodic Death Metal bands like Mors Pricipium Est, Swallow The Sun, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow, Wintersun, Omnium Gatherum, and Amorphis, to mention a few. They have succeeded to prove themselves as a competent unit and consequently gain the world’s attention being one of those few Melodic Death Metal bands who are not just gods with the instrumentation, but also deliver deep and meaningful music that is not anywhere near the mainstream shallow Melodic Death Metal.

They already released four solid full-length gems, the latest being 2009’s “Across the Dark,” released via Candlelight Records. However, they are planning on releasing their fifth full-length next month, particularly on the 17th, to mark their first collaboration with Century Media records. Tentatively titled “One For Sorrow.” The band recently released the official video for the second track on the album, “Through The Shadows,” on Youtube, which kind of quenches, even a tad bit, of the high anticipation for that album.

As longtime fans of theirs, we got a chance to catch up with them and ask them a couple of questions about their new album and what they expect from it. Here's how it went:


First of all, how are you guys doing? It’s very nice to have you on Metality as all the crew here are fans of yours.

Thanks for having us. We’re doing great. Doing loads of promotion all the time which is always a good sign! Journalist seem to really like the album as well.

Genre: Black/Avant-garde Metal
Label: Candlelight Records
Release date: March 12th, 2012
Reviewer: Karim Tarek

If you’re not familiar with the name Sigh, then you’re totally missing out on some out-of-the-ordinary Black Metal. The Japanese quintet delivers a highly peculiar and exotic blend of Black, Power, and Avant-Garde Metal. They have been around since 1990, and have managed to build up a strong discography since then. Courtesy from Candlelight Records, we recently got a grip on their upcoming album, entitled In Somniphobia, which is expected to be released on March, 12th.

“In Somniphobia” sounded so powerful, complex, unique, and melodic. Most of the openings of the tracks sounded Power Metal-ish, especially the first track, “Purgatotium.” Riffs too came very energetic and lively, which helped add a whole theme of vigorousness to the album. You could sense a great job done by the guitarist, Shinichi Ishikawa, from the very first moments on the album; riffing on “In Somniphobia” came all pretty diverse, swinging between speed, melodiousness, down-tempo breaks, and power shredding.

“In Somniphobia” greatly showed the experimental side of Sigh. I mean, Sigh are known for their eccentric and experimental tunes, however, it felt like “In Somniphobia” came to lay an emphasis on that aspect of the band. A song like “Somniphobia” is precisely what I would use as an example of proving my point; it starts off with an electronic drone line, moves on with a vast mixture of tunes, with xylophone, keyboards, soundbites, and saxophone all around, and ends up in a typical way of how a pure experimental song does. It really grew on me anyway and gave me a small picture of the whole record.

What Sigh really deserve kudos for is their musical cohesiveness; they managed to perfectly stay in accord and maintain the harmony throughout the whole one hour and four minutes of the album, which is not a very easy job taking in consideration the amount of instruments used and the very complexity of the music. I can safely say that their performance was flawless, which is natural for a veteran band, I guess. Guitars, drumming, bass, saxophone, vocals, electronics, and everything else was just tight.

All in all, “In Somniphobia” is a journey through the unknown; it’s dark, weird, exotic, unpredictable, and most importantly musically rich, and as expected from an experimental album, it never started to grow on me until a few listens later… Or in other words, I never felt I could grasp it before at least three listens and a lot of pauses and repeats. I believe that we all need such an album for a change; it’s a good refreshment for avid Metalheads. It’s something uncommon that lies in its own league in the Black Metal scene. I would recommend it for anyone who’s bored from typical music and who’s seeking something experimental and limitless to enjoy.

Recommended tracks: The Transfiguration Fear, Somniphobia

Pre-order "In Somniphobia" via Amazon

Genre: Industrial/Middle Eastern Folk Metal
Label: Domestic Genocide Records
Release date: January 29th (Digital release available now via Amazon)
Reviewer: Karim Tarek


After personally not being so active on Metality recently, I received the press kit of Hate Field’s debut album, “Scary Fairy Tale”, and I was pretty excited about writing a new album review after a period of idleness.

Hailing from Alexandria, Egypt, Hate Field is Alfi Hayati’s solo project, where he delivers all his inspirations through Industrial Metal tunes. If you are relatively into the Egyptian Metal scene, then I reckon you might have heard of Alfi’s name here or there as he has been the bassist of one of Egypt’s oldest and most high-profile bands, and one of my personal influences as a teenager, Odious, since 1999, which, I believe, plays a role as a crucial musical influence on Alfi despite the actual musical dissimilarity, with Odious playing Melodic Black Metal with oriental influences.

Hate Field certainly is not one of those side projects that would come out of the blue and go back to limbo fast; I could sense consistency and seriousness throughout the whole album, and I expect Alfi to come up with a new release every now and then while still having Odious as his main band, much in the same way as a lot of musicians do. The fact that Alfi wrote, played, and recorded a whole full-length album on his own in a not-too-long period of time, in a country where it takes most of the bands out there ages to come up with releases, is a point on which Alfi deserves kudos.

“Scary Fairy Tale” came well-put and musically mature; riffing, time signatures, transitions, and the fair touch of electronics came all well-organized and coherent, which sustained and consolidated the album’s musical structure. Riffs on “Scary Fairy Tale” are mostly groovy and mid-tempo, whereas there are some moments on the album that came melodic and others that displayed mastery that is not too common between musicians who play bass guitar as their main instrument.

Electronics too are an add-up to “Scary Fairy Tale” as they were used precisely to create a typical Industrial atmosphere around the groovy music; they are well-played and well-distributed over the album and are one of the elements that particularly helped shape Hate Field’s music.

Alfi’s vocal efforts did not actually add up much to the album as they were rather mediocre; however, they were still far from the kind of vocals that would bore you off, as Alfi smartly managed to diversify his vocal styles and present them disparately. Production too was not very impressive to me, but still that is not a very significant point considering the band’s resources. Moreover, I believe production quality is going to be enhanced on further releases from Hate Field.

Overall, “Scary Fairy Tale” is a record worth listening, coming out from a devoted musician who had put a lot of effort into it to come that way. He also mentions that the whole album was mainly influenced by, and is a vent for, his feelings and emotions that are derived from his personal life experience which adds up to the value of the album and makes it not just an album to listen to, but also to feel.

Highlights: Sweet Nightmare, Hope Overdose, Deadly Supafly.


[Ed note: Click here to order "Scary Fairy Tale" via Domestic Genocide Records (and receive the album's booklet along with your purchase).]

Genre: Death Metal/Grindcore

Label: Relapse Records

Release-date: July 5th, 2011

Reviewer: Karim Tarik

Hailing from San Jose, California, Exhumed are acclaimed as one of the pioneer Grindcore/Death Metal bands around. They have been unleashing their gory brutality upon us since 1990. Having released such gems as 1992’s “Goregasm” and 2000’s “Slaughtercult,” they went on a 5-year hiatus right after releasing their 2005 “Garbage Daze Re-Regurgitated,” and here comes 2011 to mark their continuation of releasing pure hardcore, blood-drunk Death Metal under the album title “All Guts, No Glory.”

As much as its name sounds creepy and its album art looks average, “All Guts, No Glory” came incredibly brutal and mind-grinding. It follows the very basic principles of Grindcore/Death Metal; it’s fast, violent, chaotic, and insanely vociferous. It also features vintage Grindcore drumming by the blast-beat grandmaster, Donny Walker.

The album retains the old-school Grindcore sound, yet it doesn’t sound downright “old-school”; it features a lot of enhancements and evolution to the usual sound of Exhumed which pretty much makes it much of a punch in the face to a lot of nowadays’ Death Metal/Grindcore bands.

“All Guts, No Glory” sounded a bit less crude than most of Exhumed’s previous albums; it bore a great deal of musicianship that is clearly manifested in most of the guitar solo parts and breakthroughs. Yet, even after a brief preview listen, you could definitely tell, just by the sound, that this is no band but Exhumed, and that’s why I take my hats off for them; they managed to actually improve their sound and perfect it, while still maintaining their exclusive trademark style .

Although it wasn’t long enough to satisfy an average diehard Death Metal fan’s hunger, the album still holds its great value as one of Exhumed’s top-notch albums and also as one of the best comebacks of our time, as it was definitely worth the wait.

I’d totally recommend that album to whoever is into Death Metal generally, and specifically to nostalgic genuine Grindcore fans who miss the sound of old-school bands like Terrorizer, Napalm Death, Repulsion, Atrocity, and even Exhumed themselves. It’s an enjoyable 36-minute period of skull-squashing brutality that would fairly quench one’s gluttony for Death Metal and Grindcore.

Highlights: As Hammer To Anvil, Die-Assembly Line.

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[By: Karim Tarek and IRoar]

Formed in the year 1997, Insomnium is one of the most renowned and reputed bands in the flourishing Finnish Melodic Death Metal scene. They didn’t go through easy times attaining that reputation and renown though; they actually rose up in a competitive local scene that bears some of the world’s top Melodic Death Metal bands like Mors Pricipium Est, Swallow The Sun, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow, Wintersun, Omnium Gatherum, and Amorphis, to mention a few. They have succeeded to prove themselves as a competent unit and consequently gain the world’s attention being one of those few Melodic Death Metal bands who are not just gods with the instrumentation, but also deliver deep and meaningful music that is not anywhere near the mainstream shallow Melodic Death Metal.

They already released four solid full-length gems, the latest being 2009’s “Across the Dark,” released via Candlelight Records. However, they are planning on releasing their fifth full-length next month, particularly on the 17th, to mark their first collaboration with Century Media records. Tentatively titled “One For Sorrow.” The band recently released the official video for the second track on the album, “Through The Shadows,” on Youtube, which kind of quenches, even a tad bit, of the high anticipation for that album.

As longtime fans of theirs, we got a chance to catch up with them and ask them a couple of questions about their new album and what they expect from it. Here's how it went:


First of all, how are you guys doing? It’s very nice to have you on Metality as all the crew here are fans of yours.

Thanks for having us. We’re doing great. Doing loads of promotion all the time which is always a good sign! Journalist seem to really like the album as well.



INSOMNIUM will be releasing it's latest studio offering titled "One for Sorrow" on October 17th. Can you tell us about the album's lyrical theme? And what subjects the album explores?

The starting point for the lyrics was old English nursery rhyme called One for Sorrow. It has 10 rhymes and is based on old superstition where the number of crows you see sitting on a tree branch determines your luck in future life. Likewise, we have ten songs on this album that forms loose frame or concept for the lyrics. The lyrical themes are pretty much the same as always: the universal topics love, death, sorrow, loneliness, heartbreak, regret, longing, finding your inner strength and so on. Some of the lyrics are based on our personal life, some on things that you see happening around you. While Niilo was inspired this time by Christian Morgenstern and Finnish poet Kaarlo Sarkia among others, I drew inspiration for example books American Gods and Vellum by Neil Gaiman and Duncan Hall, respectively. I even included some thoughts about world’s current political situation to some of the lyrics. However, instead of direct expression we like to dress our ideas in a form of small tales and poems, which also leaves more space for the individual interpretation.



Your last studio offering “Across The Dark,” was released in 2009, less than 2 years ago. How has the writing/recording process been for “One For Sorrow”? and how does it differ from its predecessor?

I think everything was more hectic this time. We had a lot tighter time schedules and we had less time to rehease together as a band. Most of the writing was done during the last and first months of 2010-2011 and we rehearsed only three times befre going to studio. I wrote again approximately 80% of the material and lots of the magic happened in fron of my Macbook and Logic 9. However, we did lot of arranging work together on the basis of demos just by changing e-mails. I’ve been living in the UK for the last 1.5 years, which definitely sets some difficulties but luckily modern technology offers ways to overcome the physical distance. I think One for Sorrow is probably our most diverse effort to date. We have incorporated some new influences but kept the basic backbone of Insomnium sound the same: melodies, harmonies, riffs, acoustic guitars and orchestration are all still there. Biggest difference is probably that I’m doing some clean vocals on the album for the first time.



Your first four albums were released via Candlelight records. “One For Sorrow” marks your first collaboration with your new label Century Media records. While both are widely respected. What made you switch labels at this point in your career?

Well, basically we just came to an end with the 4 album deal with Candlelight Records and wanted to explore also other potential options. We did negotiate with many labels but Century Media made us clearly the biggest influence as a persons and with the mere size and reputation they possess in the metal scene. They are hard workers like we, which makes the collaboration perfect fit.



Finland has always been known for its top-notch Melodic Death Metal bands in particular as we all know. Whats your opinion on the current local Finnish Metal scene in general? Are there any newcomers you support and would like to recommend?

I think the Finnish metal scene is one of the best in the world. If you like Insomnium, I would definitely recommend you to check out following bands: Ghost Brigade, Swallow the Sun, Omnium Gatherum, MyGrain, Before the Dawn and Black Sun Aeon. We’re good friends with all of these bands. From the bit never bands I really like Medeia and their music videos are absolutely brilliant!



We're a Middle Eastern heavy metal site. Our main mission is to bridge the gap between the international and middle eastern metal scenes. Are you familiar with any metal bands from the Middle East?

I think that’s great job. I’ve heard few names but haven’t really listened any metal bands from your area, which is really a shame. I definitely need to explore more on this area.



More and more international acts are being confirmed for shows in cities like Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Beirut, and Cairo (Such as Metallica performing at Yas Arena in Abu Dhabi and Megadethperforming at The Mutt Rock Festival in Dubai). Would you guys be interested in performing at any of these cities, since you have quite a big following over here?

Definitely, that would be really awesome! One thing I love with playing in a band is that you get the opportunity to travel to all new exiting places where you would never go otherwise.




We'd like to thank you for this pleasant opportunity and for your time. It has been a pleasure to have you here on Metality, and would be great to do again. Best of luck with your upcoming album, that I’m sure is gonna be groundbreaking for you, and best of luck with your upcoming efforts. Feel free to share any words with Metality’s readers.

Thanks a lot for your interview, it was really a pleasure! I must say that I’m positively surprised that we have fans in middle eastern metal scene. Please check us out www.insomnium.net and hopefully we’re able to come there for a live show in the future. Horns up!

Pre-order "One For Sorrow" through Amazon: CD | Mp3
(Out October 17th via Century Media Records)

Genre: Death Metal

Label: Self-released

Released: 2011

Reviewer: Karim Tarek

Formed in 2008, Your Pain Is Endearing is a newcomer Death Metal quintet hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The quintet comprises Jason Eick – Guitar, Matt Phillippo Vocals, Chris Ramusiewicz – Guitar, Cihan Aydin – Bass, and Justin Brink - Drums. They chiefly deliver face-pummeling tunes with a slick touch of groove. We got our hands on their 6-track debut EP, “Fall Of An Empire,” which was independently released in 2009. They’re now working with Darren Cesca (Goratory, Burn In Silence, Arsis) on their upcoming full-length, to be entitled “The Human Condition.”

“Fall Of An Empire” came unexpectedly intense, violent, and well-done. It basically exemplifies how a Death Metal EP should sound like; it came pretty much concentrated and compact, thus its remarkable brutality and vigor energy is what most distinguishes it, and that’s why it really grew on me after a couple of listens to eventually realize how awesome of a record it is.

Vocals on “Fall Of An Empire” came almost flawless, with Matt Phillippo retaining his strong tones all the way and perfectly keeping with all the rampage ensued from the instrumentations. Riffs came pretty tight but never managed to overshadow the vintage drumming and blast beats that aided them; it’s the one thing that fascinated me the most about the record; drums!

Drummer Justin Brink managed to carefully pick his lines and follow up with the time signatures to eventually end up creating a drumming masterpiece out of the EP. He managed to sustain the brutality on the EP, adorn it, and actually perfect it with his skull-squashing blasts and aggressive percussion that pretty much defined the EP!

Most of the tracks on “Fall Of An Empire” came amazingly aggressive, but never lost the touch of groove, thus delivering you a couple of catchy riffs on almost each track to keep the part of your brain that savors good music awake while you’re hysterically headbanging due to the EP’s exuberance and fullness of all that a Death Metaller would crave.

I can’t actually complain about a single point regarding “Fall Of An Empire” especially with it being self-released. I would just recommend you to give it its time and a plenty of listens, as it’s one of those records that wouldn’t catch all your senses from the first listen, but instead grows on you after several listens. It’s brutal, aggressive, insane, and out of control, yet it’s groovy, well played, tight, and surprisingly ends up with a piano line!

Highlights: An Infectious Breed, The Final Battle.

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Click here to order "Fall of An Empire"

Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Label: Self-released

Released: August, 2011

Reviewer: Karim Tarek


Voice Of The Soul is a Kuwait-based, young, multicultural Melodic Death Metal quartet that arose back in 2007 as a cover band. Years passed by, and today the members are drastically separated, living on various spots on earth for college, while originating from four different countries from the first place.

The band is made up of Kareem Chehayeb (Guitars/Vocals), Monish Shringi (Guitars), Ahmed Al-Zubaidi (Bass Guitar), and the freshman member, Rana Rassouli (Drums).

They released their debut EP, entitled “Winds Of Apprehension” in 2009, followed up by its peer, “Eyes Of Deceit” in 2010, and then, eventually, this year’s masterwork, “Into Oblivion.” They would have released their debut full-length this year if it wasn’t for their complicated circumstances, mainly living away from each other, but I, myself, think that releasing an EP instead and waiting up for the full-length and giving it good time is a smart decision given their remarkable progression and maturation through each of their releases.

“Into Oblivion” starts off with a brilliant classical piano/guitar solo opening, giving way to one of the grooviest tracks on the album, “Immolation,” which demonstrates Kareem’s vocal versatility, with him using different kinds of vocal styles that perfectly fit the groove. It would appear to you from the very first listen that the band has become more consistent and more determined on delivering sheer Melodic Death Metal tunes rather than having multiple styles, and that they discontinued the experimentation that was clearly present on “Eyes Of Deceit,” although the latter didn’t actually affect the “ordinary” Voice Of The Soul sound.


I really admired all the guitar work on “Into Oblivion;” riffs came groovy and consistent and sounded like a veteran, mid-aged Melodic Death Metal band, which should make you surprised to know that the average age of Voice Of The Soul’s members is 19 or 20! Solos came very well-picked and never overplayed; most of them sounded optimum and well-fitted, although I wish some of them were a little longer. Rest of the instrumentation was nothing out of the average, maintaining the very consistent sound throughout the whole album and giving way to the vintage guitar work to surface and emerge.

Overall, Voice Of The Soul is a young Melodic Death Metal band that is supposed to earn your everlasting support as the simplest way of paying them off for their sincere devotion and steadfastness towards their music, and although the four of them live away from each other most of the time and meet up only on a couple of occasions every year, they released three EPs in three years, which is indicative of the band’s productivity and ability to create. You know we could all name a dozen of bands of which the members live in the same country, yet not having Voice Of The Soul’s serious enthusiasm, willfulness, and eagerness towards their music. They’re one of the most endeavoring and hard-working bands in the Middle East, and I expect them to end up being something “big” in a short period of time.

Highlights: Cast Away In Betrayal, Immolation.

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Visit Voice of The Soul on:
www.facebook.com/votsband
www.twitter.com/votsmetal
www.youtube.com/votsband

[By: Karim Tarek]

Hailing from Manama, Bahrain, Smouldering In Forgotten is one of the most brutal, face- pummeling Arabian bands out there. They started off in 2005 as a Black Metal band, released a demo entitled “The Bonfire of the Apocalypse”, followed by their Black Metal debut full-length, “Legions Into Black Flames”, then in 2007, they drifted towards a rather different musical approach on their 2010 gem “I, Devourer”, chiefly delivering Blackened Death Metal tunes that kind of remind me, personally, of Polish Metal gods, Behemoth.

They recently confirmed an appearance in Dubai, UAE; supporting German Technical Death Metal beasts, Obscura, on their highly anticipated gig in Dubai (presented by Spellbind Records) on the 23rd of this month alongside Lunacyst and Billy Bob’s Blood Drenched Brew.

As media partners for the event; we got the chance to catch up with the band amidst their pre-gig hustle and preparations to ask them a few questions about how excited they are about the gig and their future plans.
Here’s how it went:


Before I start, I should thank you all on behalf of Metality for taking the time to do this interview; it’s our pleasure to feature you, hope you’re all doing just fine.

Were doing great! It's our pleasure to do an interview with Metality. We are really proud of you guys promoting the middle eastern scene and doing such a great job! Keep that up!



Let’s start with the very recent stuff, the gig with Obscura, Lunacyst, and Billy Bob’s Blood Drenched Brew; how do you feel about sharing the stage with such a high profile band as Obscura?

Well what do you expect? We are super excited about that and can't wait for the day to come. Not only sharing the stage with such a great band but also enjoying Obscura's show is gonna be a blast!



How did everyone react when you first heard about the prospect of supporting Obscura live? And how are the preparations for the show going?

Hahaha I guess we all got excited and couldn't wait for the official announcement. What makes it even better is playing with our buddies from Lunacyst, which is kinda cool representing Bahrain to the Dubai crowd and showing them what Bahraini metalheads have to offer.
Preparations have been great so far although it was pretty hard during Ramadan and even harder because of work.
Yes, we all have full time jobs and 3 of us are shift workers. Imagine how hard it is to gather up and rehearse.



I’ve been a big fan of SIF for more than a year now and I’ve always had this question in mind; how did you all meet up and form the band, given you’re not in an active country in terms of Metal, a country that has a small scene and only couple of active bands?

That's your answer right there. We live in a small island where everyone knows each other and every metalhead knows every other metalhead. Small gigs and friends of friends I guess that's how we met, all through metal. The interests of certain genres of metal also sort of helped us form the band.


I know Busac and Mardus are the duo that formed the other well-known Bahraini band, Narjahanam; did that ever have an impact on Smouldering In Forgotten?

Narjahanam is actually a solo project by Mardus that he started a year before SIF. The idea in the beginning was to make Narjahanam a full band but not all members agreed with the idea so we decided to just keep Narjahanam and SIF two separate bands. SIF is our main band and Narjahanam is a studio project by members of SIF. Each band has it's own days in the week and this does not have an impact on either bands.



You used to play Black Metal back then in the days of “Legions Into Black Flames”, but you radically digressed to Blackened Death Metal or Black/Death Metal, which is why you remind me of Behemoth by the way; what influenced that change of style?

When we started the band, our aim was to play black metal and we did but later on we decided to ignore the boundaries of black metal and push it further into other genres of metal, adding a wider variety of sounds, which ended up changing our music for the better. We like to call it extreme metal which is in between black, death and thrash metal. Not necessarily blackened death metal. Or you can just simply call it Smouldering In Forgotten.



I hear you’re big fans of Goatwhore, what other bands influence you?

Marduk, Behemoth, Vader, Slayer, Bathory, Meshuggah, Cannibal Corpse, Sepultura, Just to name a few.
Goatwhore on the other hand used to be some sort of an influence on us when we first started. A lot of people think that because of the name "Smouldering in Forgotten" that we consider Goatwhore a big influence on us. We just liked how it sounded on that track "Upon this deathbed of cold fire" on Goatwhore's first album.



Did you start writing for the follow-up to "I, Devourer" yet? When are you planning on releasing a new record?

We did actually but are still in the early steps of writing. Hopefully by next year.



What's your opinion on the current Middle Eastern Metal scene? Do you have any suggestions to help it grow? Also, can you tell us more about the Bahraini scene and whether or not you get enough support there?

We think the middle eastern metal scene is great and is growing big day by day. The only thing we would like to suggest is for metal heads in this region should start listening and supporting local and regional bands as much as their favorite bands from Europe or the states. Buying their albums, attending their shows, wearing the merch to represent these regional bands.
As for the scene in Bahrain, it's very small but also growing. You see more bands and more shows coming up. Not that much of support from the scene but we don't expect much anyways. We know it's a small scene with a small number of metalheads.



What are your favorite bands from the Middle East?

Nervecell (UAE)
Perversion (UAE)
Creative Waste (KSA)
Al Namrood (KSA)
Kaoteon (Lebanon)
Inner Guilt (Lebanon)
Through Sunken Eyes (Bahrain)
Lunacyst (Bahrain)
Motor Militia (Bahrain)
Extinction Imminent (Bahrain)
Punks Not Patriots (Bahrain)



If you were to choose five bands to tour with, who would they be?

Marduk, Behemoth, Slayer, Immortal, Vader.



Thank you very much for your time; it’s been a pleasant opportunity and a great interview to conduct. Hope to have you here again on Metality, and wishing you a killer gig with Obscura, Lunacyst, and Billy Bob’s Blood Drenched Brew! The words are all yours now, if you want to share anything with Metality readers.

Stay tuned for more from SIF. Keep supporting metal and we will see you all in the pits \m/

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[Catch SMOULDERING IN FORGOTTEN on September 23rd in Dubai, UAE, when they support German progressive death metal heavyweights OBSCURA as part of the band's current "Middle East/South East Asia tour" in support of their latest release "Omnivium;" out now via Relapse Records. For more details, visit the event's official page by clicking here!]

Click here to order "I, Devourer" through AmazonMp3

[Ed note: This review was originally posted by our writer Karim Tarek on Metal-Archives.com back on April 10th, 2010. We're re-posting it now with his blessing to coincide with SMOULDERING IN FORGOTTEN's upcoming performance in Dubai, UAE.]

Genre: Blackened Death Metal

Label: Self-released

Released: March 1st, 2010

Reviewer: Karim Tarek


Not really an Arabic metal enthusiast, I’ve lately bumped into Smouldering In Forgotten’s new album “I, Devourer” by a suggestion from a friend of mine followed by reading an article about the band and their new album on CNN. What I didn’t expect was that the album is really well done with great production and noticeable effort put in.

Smouldering In Forgotten is a three-member band from Manama, Bahrain that was formed in 2005. Featuring Mardus on vocals, Busac on guitars and drum programming and Voidhanger on guitar, bass and backing vocals [Ed note: The band is now a 5 piece band. Including new members Tael - (Guitars/Backing Vocals), and Husam - (Bass)] They have released their debut full-length “Legions Into Black Flames” in 2007 then lately released their stunner “I, Devourer” which does really deserve a stop.

From the first minute of the album it was quite easy to find out that this album is really going to be a thing, unlike many other Arabic bands’ albums. Music is maturely done; riffs are tight, drumming is strong and blasting all along, vocals are fierce enough to keep up with all the mess guitars and percussion are spawning. The album as a whole is fast, violent and strong, yet perfectly tight and rather dark.

"I, Devourer" shows a great Behemoth impact on Smouldering In Forgotten; they blended elements of black metal with their parallels of death metal craftily enough to stay away from any possible criticism regarding how good they played a blackened death metal album. Music on "I, Devourer" is somehow chaotic but still tight, or in other words, tightly chaotic. It converges all the madness, gore, non-groove, anger, chaos, and violence of brutal death metal with all the wisdom, tightness, beauty, darkness, groove, and hopelessness of pure black metal.

To me, choosing to record programmed drums was a perfect decision Smouldering In Forgotten have made; it allowed them to implement their ideas and envisions about percussion on the album perfectly the same as they were on their minds before starting to make any progress and allowed them as well to perfect percussion on the album by the time they started to implement ideas on the drum machine. Therefore, drumming on “I, Devourer” seemed almost perfect to me (except for the disappearance of the China cymbal usage). The all along blasting and chaotic drum lines during “I, Devourer” was remarkable. Frankly, what mostly drew my attention to “I, Devourer” from the first listen was the drumming till I was aware it was programmed drums that is doing all that mess around which was pretty fair.

What is also impressive about ‘I, Devourer’ is that not all the tracks do sound the same as I expected when I first listened to the album; there is a good sense of variation Smouldering In Forgotten are putting on the album. Also a slight touch of progression which distinctively appears on “Unspoken Names”, a track that has beautifully and skillfully turned out from a down-tempo slow blackened death metal track into a fast, thrash metal influenced, angry and mind blasting one. Female vocals and keyboards on “An Elegy (For Tomorrow)” also sustain my point adding a big bit of variation to the album and enhancing it as well. “An Elegy (For Tomorrow)” was a really epic end to the album by the way, being of that type of tracks that are best put in the end of the album.

Overall, ‘I, Devourer’ is an impressive black/death metal album from a promising band that come from a territory that was least expected to give us a good extreme metal band. The album is rich with all what a death/black metaller would ask for; aggressive riffs, groove, chaotic blasting, guitar solos, powerful growling, speed, aggression, viciousness…etc. I would strongly recommend this to anyone who’s looking for a new good underground black/death metal band.

Highlights: An End To All Things, Dread Messiah, I, Devourer.

[Catch SMOULDERING IN FORGOTTEN on September 23rd in Dubai, UAE, when they support German progressive death metal heavyweights OBSCURA as part of the band's current "Middle East/South East Asia tour" in support of their latest release "Omnivium;" out now via Relapse Records. For more details, visit the event's official page by clicking here!]

Click here to order "I, Devourer" through AmazonMp3

Genre: Death/Thrash Metal

Label: Rock It Up Records

Released: March 8th, 2011

Reviewer: Karim Tarek

Hemoptysis is a newcomer band to the massive American Thrash Metal scene. Hailing from Arizona, USA, they only started in the year 2007, released a critically acclaimed EP called “Who Needs a Shepherd?” in 2008, and here again, in 2011, they hit with their debut full-length entitled “Misanthropic Slaughter.”

From the first second of the album you know that you’re in for a genuine Thrash Metal effort, and definitely very far away from a nowadays-common wishful trial of a modernized concept of Thrash Metal, mostly done by wannabe newbies.

The open-up track, which is also the album’s eponym, gives you fair impression on the whole album and the band’s class; they play genuine Thrash Metal reminiscent of the too-much-to-mention 80’s Thrash Metal gang, delivering some pretty sharp tunes, subtle riffs, and vintage solos.

They don’t seem like much of a monotone band, although they are not that naughty-sounding either. I mean, they lose me at some parts while they completely keep me hooked up on some other moments. I don’t know if it’s only me, but I actually find numerous parts on most of the tracks boring, while it offsets for it that some solos, riffs, and breakthroughs get me going and sound so much enjoyable to me.

There’s no doubt that, on “Misanthropic Slaughter”, Hemoptysis have demonstrated complete mastery at the music they play with a lot of tunes that won’t come off an amateur band. They actually deserve kudos on a lot moments on the album, but I’d still have several reasons for “Misanthropic Slaughter” not being my cup of tea. Vocals, for instance, display but much of a discord to me; although lyrics are mostly clearly distinguishable, vocals didn’t come out clean enough in a Metallica sense for example, nor high-pitched enough in a Slayer/Megadeth sense, nor harsh enough to sound like a Thrash/Death Metal band. I’m not making comparisons nor setting standards here, but I just find the vocals on “Misanthropic Slaughter” unentertaining and vapid. They somehow remind me of the godfather of Death Metal, Chuck Schuldiner (RIP), but they sound more like they’d fit a cheesy down-tempo Black Metal band.

While vocals are not the best thing about this album, I could safely say that solos on “Misanthropic Slaughter” are highly remarkable and definitely deserve thumbs up for the value of skill they bear, and also for their mature sound and their accord with the music.
Drumming and bass are fairly good, while rhythm guitars are great and deliver some fine riffing.

All in all, Hemoptysis are a promising band and are definitely on the right road to major success and being worthy of holding the Thrash Metal flag after the old-school legends pass up their active statuses. They are talented with the instruments, they are smart enough to create original music, and they’d be even better if they sort up their music a bit and try to sound as good as possible.

Highlights: MOD, Hadephobia.

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