ISSUE 6 AUTUMN 2014

Breaking Taboos...raises controversy

...sy

AscendantExclusive interview

Jim Beam rockedand made history

EPICA Live at byblosan unforgettable Metal night

Voice Of The SoulFirst Show In Lebanon - Album out

International festivalsreviews

HELLFESTWACKEN

BLOODSTOCKMOTOCULTOR

Mayathustra:Managing Editor

DoubleU (The Wizard):

Design Editor/Art Director

ELLE (El-Comandante):

Environmental Editor

Maggie Varbedian:Administrator

Poker Face (The Geek):

web development

Davina:Copy Editor

Nathalie Jeha (The Protecting Eye):

PR

TP (A Senior Pillar):

Editor in chief

Carmina Khairallah: Senior EditorDahlia Noir: International News Editor

Nahla Sindbad: International Ambassador

Writers/Reviewers: Bashar Hassanieh, Chady Khairallah, Cookie Shemaly, Eddy Hanna, Hussein Shehady, Karim Merhej, Majd Ibrahim, Maurice Semaan, Rany

Battikh.

Photographers for this issue:

Eliane Radi, Karl Sfeir, Nahla Sindbad,Nancy M. Jdid, Petro Chidiac, Zyad Zayat,

Design Team for this Issue: Johnny M. & T.P.

madethishappen

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Public Relations

+961 3 412 524

joinus

the snowball effect

Last February was a turning point for Metal Bell; we were contacted by Flash Entertainment (and not the other way around) to handle a competition in which we would be giving away 2 concert tickets to promote Black Sabbath’s concert. Since then, things have started to roll fast like a snowball, and today, we have sponsored, partnered with and covered a considerable amount of local and inter-national events, the last being The Meet & Greet of Circle II Circle fronted by the legendary Zak Stevens from Savatage. And now, we offer the whole Metal Scene the chance to participate in

Wacken Metal Battle! Isn’t that cool?

Other big news in our small scene: Blaakyum announced to support Epica at Byblos Festival (review page 46). As a maga-zine, we did what we usually do to support the

achievements of our local bands. Maybe we got a bit too emo-tional since there was a break in the taboos we have lived with for years in Lebanon. But it was not only us, since the news wasn’t a usual story and got the attention of all the scene. After all that, we received a considerable amount of comments, espe-cially criticizing us for calling Blaakyum a “legendary band”, while we were not the first nor the last to do so. Then it occurred to me that Blaakyum have been breaking records in the past few years, and the controversial stories that go around their success were enough reason for me to contact the band and ask them to be our cover story for this Issue. A lot of never-before-heard stories can be found on pages 35-36.

Also In this Issue: Covering the Biggest Metal Festivals, Ascendant, Aramaic and many more.

T.P.

Editor-In-Chief

he 'Tao Zhong' was one of the earliest bells casted in Primi-tive China 4,000

years ago. It’s an instru-ment that was used to call laborers for recess after work. It was also used afterwards by the Benedic-

tine monks to call people for prayer, as well as for social and religious gatherings in AD 500. Later, this idiophone instru-ment strongly became success-ful and was used for many other purposes.

We chose “Metal Bell” as the name for our magazine to symbolize what the BELL represented throughout history till our present days: an instrument that is a “Call for Gathering” - to gather our Rock and Metal scenes, to unite under the same Bell Call; to gather and follow artists and create a society that supports, shares and spreads the news, and to keep you updated all the time.

The “Metal” part of the name represents the material that is mostly used to manufac-ture bells, and as it turns out, it fits in perfectly with the fact that the main founders of this magazine are metal heads! \\m//

Metal Bell will be the number one online magazine to support the “Lebanese and Middle Eastern Metal/Rock Scenes” alongside all kinds of underground forms of art. This will be the first and most impor-tant aim of this magazine.

randometalhistoria metallum

musicians onlylocal news

local releases

international news international releases

p. 6p. 8

p. 10p. 12

p. 18international festivals p. 28

blaakyum: breacking taboos p. 38local events reviews p. 46

jim beam rocks p. 56p. 70

p. 72

TAO

ZHONG

metal-bell.com

Congratulations

M&Maggie aurice [...] One day, Maggie and I were having a chat about Metal Bell, and she asked me: "We have a Maurice Semaan where I work. Is he the same Metal Bell’s Maurice?" I checked and it turned out to be true. So when we decided to have our first meet-ing, Maurice sug-gested to pick up maggie since he is coming too so they could have a ride together to the meet-ing. And there it was the first time the spark started.

I am glad that I have been a part in making you both get together. Congratula-tions from the bottom of my heart.

T.P.

Oh, by the way, I do believe the photo below is your first picture together :D

from metalbell

mEtal BEll teammates got engaged

Photo by: Alain Bejjani

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This section is made for random articles that we don’t want to classify into perma-nent sections. The concept is to talk about any subject that might cross our minds, from album reviews to articles about the local scene, which does not have to be a musical article but a social one.

Failure to Thrive

Okay, so what we have in this country is a semi-slow growing metal scene - not very slow, nor very fast. It’s growing slowly, steadily? Not really, so let’s just stick to slowly. But why? I heard and read that the scene was pretty decent in the late 90’s with some pretty good bands bashing their music all around. But let’s not discuss why the scene deterio-rated and how and what and this and that, let’s stick to reasons facing the current scene which are affecting its growth. Let’s start with the ones that are out of our hand to control. The most obvious one is the lack of production companies interested in metal music in the country/region, and the local recording studios setting high prices (yeah, I know, it’s acceptable compared to the quality of recording, and compared to those super pro studios, uf uuf uuuf, the ones we have are cheap). Another would be the few venues that want to host a metal perfor-mance, and when they are present, well, let’s not fool ourselves; they are relatively small and poorly equipped

(sorry guys, the sound system sucks). But still, the bands can still pull off a good show. The prices are somehow accept-able to those small venues, knowing that drinks and sometimes the bands’ record are included in the entrance fee. Now we have other reasons that we can control, for example, why do they have to do 3 or more events in the same week? Can’t you keep a two-week interval between each gig? Please, bands and “producers”, take this into consideration, not everybody can attend two events for local bands at the same time, nor several events in the same

month (yes, I am complaining about the lousy economic situation, lack of security…etc.). Why do you insist on cramming them all at once? Save them for later so we can keep fueling up from one month to another. Think about it, more time between events, more time for us to set our schedules, give the events some time, and save

Words: Bashar Hassanieh

Just before we go on, let me make this clear: I am not attacking/criticizing/offending any band/musician/recording company/venue/whoever/whatever.

metal-bell.com

money. This means more metal heads attending your events, more money for you, we support the local scene, and everybody is happy. Is it that hard? Harder than not throw-ing very few events at all? Another thing I must say please, enough cover bands. Where’s your original-ity? We can hear whatever you want to cover over and over again on the all mighty inter-net. Okay, we get it, you are a big fan of someone, and you want to show it. NOBODY CARES. Trust me; no one wants to support a band that throws the same show, with the same playlist more than once or twice. Instead of having a 45-60 minute tribute show to let’s say Pink Floyd or Death or whoever, have one track by your favorite band, and then blast us with your ideas, something you think of and keeps you up at night, your own creations, make music and promote yourselves… that’s how they do it all over the world. So here's the plan, how about you record an album, then throw gigs to support it, and by those gigs, you will raise money for a new album, and everybody is a winner, because

as I said previously, people will get bored of you repeating the same playlists with no new ORIGINAL content. And there’s even a greater problem with covers, it’s that they all choose the same tracks by the same bands to cover. I lost count of how many times "Freezing Moon" by Mayhem has been played. Why don’t we ever hear of a band covering Behemoth, Morbid Angel, Emperor, or Testament or Exodus, to name a few? (I don’t keep track of every show, but I am pretty sure that no Lebanese band has ever covered anything by bands such as Behemoth and Morbid Angel). Which brings us to a third point, and it’s that we don’t have a wide variety of styles in bands (calm down, doing covers doesn’t count). How many power metal bands can you sum up in one minute? How about extreme metal? Or blackened death metal? What about industrial metal? See where we are going here? Exactly, nowhere! Probably because most of these bands start and die shortly (if they ever start), due to let’s say, few practice rooms, egos,

social stigma… etc. Now, if we had a wider variety of bands, perhaps it would attract more fans and give a little push to the scene. So what’s stopping all of you metal enthusiasts from forming a band? Ah yeah, lack of musicians who have the guts to do it… probably the biggest problem. And let’s say guts were found, they probably have so much ego to compromise for the sake of the band/scene, or they lack originality and want to be a copy of some imitation and bam! We are back to doing covers and cramming all the events in the same week because we are in a competi-tion with the other bands and we don’t want anyone to go and watch anybody except us. Another huge problem is related somehow to the venues, and it’s that most events take place only in the big city… Ever heard of Beqaa? Mount Lebanon? Tyr? North Lebanon? Yes, there are metal heads in those places, too. No, they can’t go to the city, attend the event, then go back home. It’s a long trip, and transporta-tion is not always available in the late hours of night.

And no, we can’t all afford hotel accommodations. So, how about we compromise a bit, put our egos aside for a while, take our chances and help this scene grow. Think about it in this way: the coming generations will think of you as the ones who paved the way for them, you will be idols for them.

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The Big 5 of Thrash! Who's Number 5? (Part 1)

Words: Rany Battikh

The 80s brought us some of the most prominent Thrash Metal acts and the bands back then were formed on very solid ground, so solid that most of them are still active today and towering above many other Metal sub-genres. Throughout the 80s and early 90s, 5 bands were dominating the genre across America: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax and Exodus. Releasing one quality album after another and compet-ing in innovating Thrash, those bands succeeded in gathering a very loyal fan base that kept supporting them up 'til now.

The American Thrash scene seemed bigger in the 2000s upon its glorious return and some consider the culminat-ing point of that comeback to be incarnated in "The Big 4 Tour" in 2010. Excluding Exodus, the Big 4 toured Europe and did 2 shows in the U.S and met extremely positive reviews. Hundreds of thousands of fans attended the shows and the bands performed songs from their 25-year-plus catalogs. An all-star line-up would go on stage during Metal-lica's set to play Diamond Head's "Am I Evil"; this actually didn't

happen when I watched the Big 4 in Istanbul. I wished Exodus took part in that tour, but on the other hand, I wasn't so sure about their current relation with their authentic 80s image without having Steve "Zetro" Souza on board.

But what if the Big 4 expanded their ranks into the Big 5 again, just like it was perceived until recent years, what band would be worthy enough to join the mighty line-up?

Overkill, a band hailing from New Jersey, is a raging unstoppa-ble Thrash Metal phenomenon that started in the early 80s and still going strong as we speak. With 16 studio albums in their pocket, none of the current Big 4 bands came close to that number, and Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax had albums

before the release of "Feel the Fire" (Overkill's first album). But who cares about numbers, right? Quality over quantity, they say, well I haven't listened to any band in my life that is more consistent than Overkill. They might have had some "hiccups" in the mid-90s but that never

bothered me since I knew that whatever direction they took, a taste of perfection would be always present. Overkill never gave up to mainstream trends,

metal-bell.com

Dedicated in loving memory of the great Jeff Hanneman

Read more from Rany Battikh :http://ranymusic.blogspot.com

instead they kept on dwelling into Thrash territory, exploring its many resources; whether it's fast blazing riffs or slow groovy chunky parts, they always sound tight and well locked in.

While all Big 4 acts drastically drifted away from their roots, Overkill grabbed on to theirs and released 2 of the best albums I've heard in the past 20 years: Ironbound (2010) and The Electric Age (2012). They mastered the art of composing old-school music and making it sound modern and aggressive. And what I person-ally admire the most about Overkill is their ability to always sound unique and distinctive; it is almost impossible to confuse Overkill with some other band.On a side note, I couldn't feel more honored to have had the chance to open for Overkill this past summer at Metal Days with my band Blaakyum. I took the time to talk to D.D. Verni (bassist) and express to him how I feel about their latest 2 albums and I was pleased about how down-to-earth he was.

If Overkill doesn't deserve to be in the next Big 5 tour (maybe?), then who else does?

Make sure to check out my next article about some of my other "nominees".

That's it, 'til next article.

Ahmed Emad Eldin is an eighteen-year-old Egyptian digital artist born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He recently got exposed to the public for being the artist behind Pink Floyd’s latest album cover. In other words, he is solely responsible for the idea of a “man rowing a small

boat across a river of clouds” and everything it might signify. He has worked as a digital artist for five years now. “Trying to get better at what I do and be one of the greatest artists of all time”, he tells us, but he did not actually have a real career in this field until Pink Floyd checked his online portfolio and selected him to design their artwork; and he did that without even listening to the album. It is Emad Eldin’s first cover art, and he has not got any offers to design other bands’ covers yet. He is a huge Pink Floyd fan and has never dreamt of work-ing on their cover art for their new record (with The Division Bell being their last studio album in 1994). Ahmed’s work has already been praised worldwide, and he is very proud about his interviews with interna-tional media such as CNN, BBC, The Times, and Washington Post, etc. He advises the readers to pursue their dreams, to be them-selves, to do what they love for themselves, and to never stop learning.

pink floyd’s Endless river artwork by ahmed Emad Eldin from Egypt

Schizophrenia

Oblivion

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We all know Jay Wud. He was featured as the cover of our first issue, and he is one of the most successful rock stars in the Middle East. Lately, Jay announced several endorsements with major international music equipment brands such as Shure, Orange & Wild Customs. His endorsement with the latter led to the birth of THE AXE PRESTIGE – JAY WUD PRO MODEL. What is the story behind the guitar? Let’s find out:

thE aXE PrEstIGE Jay Wud Pro model - Wild Customs

“I was introduced to Wild Customs guitars by my friend Walid who bought a standard explorer from them and I was very impressed by their work, attention to detail and the fact that they were unconventional. Wild Customs got my full attention and that’s how it all started.My guitar took around 8 months to build. The idea

was to build a classy rock machine. As far as design, I wanted a wood finish and my friend Charles Moussa helped with the concept of having a continuation of the fret-board to the body, then Wild Customs

took it even further by extending that line to the headstock. So it was a give and take and the guys at Wild Customs were super to say the least. We went through every part of the guitar till it was just perfect.

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JAY WUD about The Axe Prestige - Jay Wud Pro:

metal-bell.com

I own two Gibson explorers, one is a custom shop from 1985 named (Eleven) and the other (Poison) is a standard 1993. My Wild Customs model is an 80’s body because I was so used to the 85’s cut, weight and edges and the way it balances when you move around on stage. It

just felt comfort-able and I

wanted my custom guitar to have that.

I named her Twelve. Twelve is not just a guitar; she’s a killer tone machine. Still surprised every time I play it, it’s like a Christmas morning on repeat and I don’t want it to end! Twelve will definitely take the lead for the new album.”

maple/rosewood

Inlays Jay Wud Diamond Logo

Scale Length 24'75'"

Gotoh locking tuning gear

Pickups EMG 56 / 77 set

Strings

Frets

6

22

BridgeTone Pro USA / String through bodyBody Wood Mahogany

FinishNatural Mat

top WoodMahogany Neck Wood

Machine heads

Fingerboard WoodRosewood

way it balances when you move around on stage. Itmo

just felt comfortju -able and I

don’t want it to end!Twelve will definitely take the lead for the newalbum.”

Fingerboard WoodFRosewood

Choice of the 80’s Gibson explorer Model:

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• Turbulence started studio work for a debut album

Better known for their Dream Theater covers and events, the progres-sive guys from “Turbulence” have started working on their debut album called “Disequilibrium”. The album will feature guest vocalists such as Rita Hokayem and others to be announced. The band is also preparing for a third Dream Theater Tribute night, so keep an eye on the guys and make sure that you check the talented Lebanese band’s Facebook page regularly:www.facebook.com/turbma

• The Ambassadors of Doom in Dubai

Kimaera was not out of action this summer, as the Lebanese Ambassa-dors of Doom headlined Dubai’s Metal Eastern Night Vol. 2 “Bringing Doom Upon Them”. The event featured “Arrival”, a blackened death metal band from Iran, as well as Tartarus and Maticrust from U.A.E.

Follow all Kimaera’s latest news through their facebook page: www.facebook.com/Kimaeraband or website: www.kimaera.info

• ROSWELL

It has been 9 years since Roswell started back in 2005. With 2 albums out, the Lebanese alternative rockers celebrated their 9th anniversary with re-recorded single “And I”. The song comes from the band’s second album “Out of Reach” released back in 2011 and was re-recorded with Marilyn Kasparian, the vocalist from November. The song can be found on our website: www.metal-bell.com

• Lazzy Lung

Lazzy Lung had quiet a successful year in 2013, with the release of “Sailor’s Delight” earning Rolling Stone Magazine Middle East's top 3 unsigned albums of 2013. Later last month, the band guest starred on the Lebanese talk show “Men El Ekhir” hosted on MTV where they played a brand new single “Come On Now” for the first time. You can check out the band’s performance on MTV’s stream of the episode.Lazzy Lung on facebook: www.facebook.com/LazzyLung

metal-bell.com

• ZiX to release debut album

• Myrath - New Album’s title

At the end of August, Myrath, the Tunisian metal band, announced they finished recording bass for the 4th upcoming album and started with drums work. The band however called the fans for “Morgan Berthet's Drum Skin contest” where everyone can participate by suggesting a name for the new album. With more than 500 entries received, the draw was held on Septem-ber 7th to announce the winner. We now know that the new album will be called “Night Falls on the Sands” as suggested by the winner “Glen Jenness”.

• Michel “Labex” Labaki

Other than the musical news about events and releases, Michel “Labex” Labaki has released a mobile app for everyone to install on their phones. The “Labex” app will feature news and endorsement info along with music streams from both new and past releases. The app is available on both iOS and Android systems.

After a long wait and 1 EP, ZiX have finally made it! They worked in Vegas View Recording Studio in Las Vegas with legendary producer Steve Thompson who mixed their upcoming album "Tides of the Final War". The album will be sent to Maor Appelbaum to be mastered in Los Angeles. The album is almost ready to be released; we are still waiting for a confirmed date from the band. Check out ZiX and follow their news on their official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Zixband

• NocturnaAfter a long wait and many delayed deadlines, Nocturna, the Lebanese

melodic death metal band, finally finished mastering their concept debut album “The Gates of Peirah”. The band now started working on the album art cover so the album will finally be released later this year.

• ORDUMThe Lebanese extreme Metal band is alive again. John and Walid met up in

The Netherlands and discussed ideas for the upcoming album. They also became more active on social media and launched their twitter account. Give them a click and follow ORDUM: https://twitter.com/OrdumProject

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Don’t miss out on Tcheck out their

www.facebook.com/tro

What can you tell us about Trouble Agency? Can you briefly introduce the band? Trouble Agency is a thrash metal band from Brussels. The band started in the ashes of 80's thrash or hardcore acts like Cyclone, Decadence, Brain Cancer and Necrosis. Our founding member Didier Vancoppenolle started gathering fellow band members in 1993. Initially, the band was playing a hardcorish crossover thrash metal, but as you can hear, things have evolved quite a bit, without completely throwing away the bases. We still play the early day songs, which are very popular at our shows.

The lineup has been const- antly changing as I realized; who is the founder, and what is the current lineup? We’re not the kind of band which stays stuck in the past. Through the years, Trouble Agency had some lineup changes for many

reasons. But the man behind the band is still the present-day rhythm guitarist Didier. The last and current line up consists of: Didier on rhythm guitars, Larry on lead guitars, Swakke on drums, Simon on bass and Kevin on vocals.

We noticed that on the last LP, there were only 3 members, does this mean you will have session musicians in the live shows?Not at all. At the start of our recording, we had a full line-up, but during the recording we realized not all band members were as implicated and motivated, which lead to the departure of our previous vocalist and front man, and eventually the bassist. This

was a hard blow, because the line-up had been very stable for a long period. So we decided to go on regardless of the hardship and finish recording as a three-piece.

Wacken is one of the Wacken is one of the biggest metal festivals and biggest metal festivals and it hosts very well-known/talent-it hosts very well-known/talent-ed bands, how did Trouble ed bands, how did Trouble Agency break into Wacken Agency break into Wacken especially that you don’t have a especially that you don’t have a big exposure and only a couple of big exposure and only a couple of hundred copies were printed for hundred copies were printed for each album?each album?We may indeed not have big exposure, but it hasn’t prevented us from sharing stages with major metal acts throughout the band’s existence. The idea for Wacken Open Air came about by mere coincidence. We saw that Wacken organized contest gigs in Belgium and thought it was a great opportunity to play and promote the new band’s line-up, since nothing much was happen-ing at that time and we ended up nailing it.The positive thing about the Wacken Battles is the voting and selection criteria. It has nothing to do with online voting on any social network or other commercial stuff. We knew it was serious.

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Trouble Agence:From left to right: SIMON - LARRY - KEVIN - DIDDIER - FRANCOIS

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TROUBLE AGENCY news on Facebook:oubleagencyofficial

How was last year’s experience in Wacken?

And do you consider stopping your performances in small pubs after such experience?Trouble Agency has been around for a long time. We’ve seen many bands quit and split and the musical landscape change as years went by. Having this experi-ence tells us that playing a big gig or being signed on a big label doesn’t turn you into a star. We truly enjoy playing all gigs; be they in smaller pubs or on huge stages, as long as the gear

is right and the sound is great.

Trouble Agency has been active for more than 2 decades, why haven’t you produced more material? We have a repertoire of over 70 songs. The reason why we haven’t released everything is because we’re not signed on any label and don’t have a productivity quota. We make an album when we’ve got the means to auto-finance it and when we feel the time is right. We’ve been quite picky on what labels have had to offer in the past and we think the band’s longevity testifies that we haven’t made a wrong choice on that.

Your material was record- ed in 1-3 days each, what is the reason behind recording in such fast time, and for producing very few copies each time you release an album?Indeed, we’ve taken a very short time to record the last LP because it was meant as a demo recording first. We eventually decided to release it because some people were enthusiastic about a new release even in lesser quality. This also explains why we haven’t produced a huge amount of copies. Producing 50.000

copies would only be interesting if you had a lot of money to invest in international promo and distribu-tion.

Can you tell us about the lyrics’ ideology and themes? And why haven’t you released the lyrics publically?The lyrics are available on every release. We haven’t published them publically or online because we consider them as a bonus and privilege to those who acquire our releases. We do not condemn sharing music through the internet but people who decide to support the band by buying a record should get a little extra.

Do you have any other occupations, other than the band I mean? And do those occupations consume your time leading to low productivity from the band?As said before the band is very productive, appearances are deceiving. At the moment we’ve got 20 unreleased songs waiting to be produced, recorded and released in the future. The band is continuously writing new songs, at an average of 10 songs per year at present.To answer your first question; we do all have our professional careers, private life and hobbies outside the band which is indeed time-consuming but we have a regular rehearsing schedule and spend something like 10 hours a week playing and hanging out together.

Two decades, one Wacken appearance this year, and 5 releases, and still you haven’t been signed to a label. Why is that?We’ve declined quite a few proposals in the past because we had no guarantee of added value from the labels. As said before we’re not obsessed by being signed, though we realize that it could give the band some more recognition and visibility, but not at any cost or on any condition.

The Belgian scene is very underground and unknown,

is it the reason why you haven’t gained the recognition you deserve?Thanks for the compliment. Yes, maybe the Belgian scene has something to do with it; our country is a very small one and on top of that the scenes are regional-ized which doesn’t make it easy to play around the country, especially in metal, which isn’t the most popular musical style here.

What are your future plans as a band? Our future plans are to continue as we’ve done before; that is: keep on rehearsing and writing things we like, keep on refining our techniques and sound. And most importantly we’re good friends so we like to hang out together: we also love to go and see concerts together or to spend a day at the beach with a couple of beers and some friends (female preferably)! [LAUGHS].

What is special about the blend of hardcore and thrash, and what element did Trouble Agency add to that? Maybe you’ll have to come and figure that out for yourselves. We’ve never had a master plan on how to conquer masses with a new blend of music. We all have our influences and try to make the best of it in something coherent. This blend of hardcore and thrash is the name most people and press gave us in the past and it was the result of what we were and still are; nothing intentional here. The band might evolve into something different in the future, but only time will tell! q

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Simon Mouawad - BassThe Lebanese member of the band

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Tell us about Ascendant. Tell us about Ascendant. What type of band are What type of band are you? And who are your major you? And who are your major influences?influences?Hello. First of all, thank you for this interview. We appreciate it.We are a heavy metal band based out of Dubai. The band is one and a half years old. We focus on original music, and have very varied influences. Each member of the band has unique tastes and that’s reflected in the music we play.

What inspired you to make What inspired you to make music together? And how music together? And how did the band come up with the did the band come up with the name? name? Everyone in the band has had other projects before and right from the first time the 5 of us jammed, we knew we had chemistry. It felt natural and the music flowed easily. It also helps that all 5 of us have become close friends.It took us a very long time to

come up with a band name. Ashish (Lead and Rhythm guitars) has another band – Blood & Iron, and one of the songs he wrote was titled 'Ascendant'. We thought that would be a great name for our band, so we went with that.

Who writes the songs? Who writes the songs? What are the main themes What are the main themes or topics for them?or topics for them?We all come up with ideas for song topics. They range from experiences in our own lives, to human tragedies we are keenly aware of, and even fantasy. Whatever the topic – it has to come from the heart.The main song writers are Puneet (Bass), Youmni (Vocals) and Ashish (Guitars).

How many songs do you How many songs do you have so far? Do you ever have so far? Do you ever play any covers?play any covers? We made a decision when we formed this band that we would not focus on doing covers, because we have a message, and we want that to be heard. So far, we have 7 original compositions.The one cover we have played at shows is 'Funeral Bell' by Black Label Society.

How did it feel to open for How did it feel to open for “Circle II Circle” and sharing “Circle II Circle” and sharing the stage with the legend Zak the stage with the legend Zak Stevens (ex-Savatage lead Stevens (ex-Savatage lead vocal)?vocal)?It is a great honor for us to share the stage with CIIC. Everyone in the band is a fan. We grew up listening to Savatage’s music, as well as Zak’s work in CIIC. We met the band few years back and had a chat with them. They are not only great musicians but also very humble. Opening for them is a dream come true.

How can fans have access How can fans have access to your music? Do you have to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a website with sample songs or a demo CD?a demo CD?You can follow us on the band’s Facebookpage

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Almost two years ago, Ascendant was born in the hot deserts of Emirates. Performing only originals, the band escalated quickly and gained a huge fan base, leading them to open for Europe, Lake of Tears & lately Circle II Circle.Here is our interview with the band:

Don’t miss ocheck out their

www.facebook.cometal-bell.com

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(www.facebook.com/ascendanttheband). There you can find a couple of links and videos of the band. We are working on recording an album, we begin next month and we aim to complete it before the end of the year.

What’s the hardest What’s the hardest thing about being in a thing about being in a band? Are you concerned band? Are you concerned about performing in front of a about performing in front of a multicultural audience in the multicultural audience in the UAE? UAE?

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As a band we’re doing what we love, and playing the music we want to play – without compro-mises. So, the problems we have aren’t in that domain. Things are moving fast, the band is growing – that presents its own set of challenges. To be able to survive and thrive, we need to be able to balance that without losing focus on the music and songwriting.

Performing in front of a multi-cultural audience in the UAE is a positive thing that has given us a chance to befriend people of different nationalities and backgrounds. It is an enriching experience and it only opens us up to different ideas and perspectives. I think we are fortunate to be in such a multicultural environment. It also shows that music transcends all human divisions.

out on ASCENDENTr news on Facebook:om/ascendanttheband 17

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Aramaic, the Oriental Death Metal band, consists of Serge Lutfi on vocals, Fadi Al Shami and Ahmad Rammal on guitars, Rafic JR Abi Saleh on drums, and Michael Al Asmar on bass. The band’s name is derived from the ancient Aramean mythology that had its roots in the Middle East.All of the melodic elements of the Oriental music form the pillars of The Fallen EP.

the fallen(6/10)

track By track:

Words: Maurice Semaan

Track 1 - The FallenTrack 1 - The Fallen This is the track which has the most oriental vibe of all three tracks. It somewhat signifies an aggression with its punishing heavy riffs. The lyrics tell an incom-plete love story and highlight all the atmos-phere, mood, and ever changing melodies that you will hear over the next twenty minutes or so. Intricate clean guitar melodies, layers upon layers of atmosphere that are followed by a sonic wall of guitars.

The next three songs follow a similar style but not the same song structure... While the “clean” sound is crystal clear, the heavier parts have this raw quality to them.

Track 2 - The PledgeTrack 2 - The Pledge The following track came downright faster, more vigorous, and less bleak. It is a war-themed track with fast drum lines. I like how the guitars stand out, along with the preci-

sion drumming. The song offers everything, with changing vocal deliveries, progres-sive yet metal tendencies, and a track that bleeds everything from serenity to anger. The song high-lights the band’s ability to write something truly melodic, that really can get your attention, and also not be boring at all.

Track 3 - The SummoningTrack 3 - The Summoning

What is special about this track is that it goes

Album ConceptThis EP represents a combination of all what the band had believed in to display all kinds of social, religious, and cultural aspects, aligned with the History of the Assyro-Babylonian gods such as Hadad (Adad), Sin, Ishtar, Shamash and Nergal, and Canaanite-Phoenician deities such as El, the supreme deity of Canaan, Anat(‘Atta), and others.

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from slow and grim to fast and violent to mid-paced and epic in smooth transitions, while pretty much staying in this rougher groove throughout, and I have to say I did not care much for those moments. Always changing and always in flux. The strong rhythm section forms the backbone of this album. You’ve got to love those bass lines and that precise drum-ming keeping the pace up... though they often work hand-in-hand with guitars when those lay back heavier riffs.

EP summary: The line drawn here is what ARAMAIC are attempting compared to what they actually sound like. The death/doom nature of THE FALLEN definitely implies these guys are going the more respect-able route; attempting something along the lines of Protest the Hero in forward-thinking song writing. It’s certainly not the super predictable, scary sound of death metal, but to a certain extent, they’ve come short of pulling off the same musical contortionism. For better or worse, they’re sitting in a pretty unremarkable middle-ground.

The problem is that everything feels so segmented, cut-and-dry when it comes to mood on THE FALLEN. It’s either pounding anger, or melancholy brooding. It’s like they’ve attached these two settings to your average light switch. There’s no charging optimism, nor is there quiet anger, no gray areas or cross-pollination in tone. So while the actual structure of the songs may be atypical, the lack of depth and dimensions makes THE FALLEN pretty predict-able.

19

Brood of Hatred is a Tunisian (North Africa) death metal band brought together in 2010 by Mohamed Melki. The band started as a one-man project, but after the recording of the debut EP, the band took shape as new members joined in and the final lineup was set.The band now consists of: Muhammed Mêlki – Vocals & Bass, Muhammed Bouchir – Guitar, Melik Melek Khelifa – Guitar, and Hazem Jaziri – Drums.

skinless agony(8.5/10)

track By track:

Words: Maurice Semaan

Track 1- Deconstruction

Brutal and horrific, the pillar of everything considered obscene and repulsive is in this track. It becomes a twisted parody of itself, losing any sense of connection to an essential humanizing element that it once carried. Plowing through a polished collection of speed riffs and ferocious drum beats!

Track 2- The Mind That Emerged

This song here is filled with energy, and focuses around the powerful axework and vocal delivery. While there are still tracks here that revolve

around human suffering in general, what was intensively visible is that it is technically rendered death metal that has gradually aspired more and more toward a uniformed deathcore sound.

Track 3- Technological Genocide

This track is played with ferocity and a love for speed picking. The soloing is epic, with technical fretwork that kicks off with a futuristic piece of atonal shredding, before settling into a more classic metal sounding guitar assault

which in turn gives away a melodic death metal break down.

Track 4- Cacophony In the Creation

The riff here does what it says on the tin. It’s a nuts and bolts thrasher to bang your head to - which isn’t a bad thing of course. Like everything in life, there is no real way to go back to something that you have left behind, but the band’s decision to give a nod to their auspi-cious past has been perversely granted a sheen of modernity by fashion’s fickle finger.

Review Summary: "Skinless Agony" consists solely of dirty, no-nonsense death metal. It happens to have a more relentless momentum and is catchier than most death metal albums of this year, even melodic death outfits. If you want to have a song stuck in your head, don't make it poppy and lame, let 'Brood of Hatred' in instead. Unforgivably technical and progressive and just as unapologetic in terms of its claustrophobic atmos-phere, this album is quite possibly the best the band has released to date, fusing it seamlessly with over-the-top technicality and even more dynamic riffs.

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Track 5- The Singularity Is Near

This opens with an almost daintily lifting riff, slowing proceeding down tempos. Then a section lends the whole thing (purposefully) the unmis-takable air of mellow death and a powered groove.

Track 6- Skinless Agony

I guess, personally, I just wanted an album that would rinse away the painful memo-ries of watching "Some Kind Of Monster" showing Brood of Hatred as a bunch of whining, apron tied clowns with no social skills. This it has, and then some. It ends with this furious thrasher, which contains something intangible that sometimes makes this band great.

Track 7- Predestined Suicide

Another dose of heaviness with a simple but effective main riff! It's punchy, dynamic and showcases another commanding vocal line with a catchy chorus (something about surviving through struggle).

Track 8- Obsession

The guitars dominate in this song. Far better than the dodgy title suggests, you might want to check your pulse if your head isn't bobbing along to the main guitar riff. Back to that thrash/death/ core mix territory, there's some great alternate picking that screams with one of the strongest choruses of the album. Chaotic soloing fits in perfectly and

there's even a false ending for good measure.

Track 9- Disbelief Grows

As we step into the deepest bowels of their record to be one of the first to hear "Skin-less agony", it's with fear and trepidation. Murmurings of thrash riffs are all very well delivered on this 60 min beast.

Album summary: These guys showed a lot of muscles and menace

in their music, a lot of crunching guitars and

rough and raucous vocals. But every once in a

while, an unexpected element drifts down into my

staked out piece of streambed. That’s where

things get interesting. As much as I love great

finds, there’s something to be said for the merit of

pure novelty. When something unprecedented

washes into my hands that makes it all worth it.

21

Etat D'âme(French for State of Mind) is the first full-length album by Black Folly a er an EP and various demos, some of which were not released.

Black Folly is a Lebanese one-man band, started by Marwan Antonios in the year 2008. The band embraced the Ambient Metal, Post Black Metal and Post Rock styles. Last September, it released Etat D'âme (French for State of Mind).Etat D’âme is the first full-length album by Black Folly after an EP and various demos, some of which were not released.

Etat D'âme (7.5/10)

Words: Eddy Hanna

Upon listening to the album, Cendres (Ôde Aux Arbres) generates an intro-ductory ambience that adjusts a listener's ear in tune with the particular fusion which will be experi-enced through this album. Then secured by the drums, the song propagates through its progress in both rested and weighty encounters where the slow, distorted rhythm guitar intensifies the "atmospheric" sentiments in the song. Moving forth, it appears as the rhythm guitar conforms to the role

of the bass in some parts, in a similar fashion to the Depressive Suicidal Black Metal band Thy Light's guitar style, but much more sorrow-ful than depressed. This role is predominant in the second track, Splendeur De La Nature, as elements of Shoegaze decorate the atmosphere in a melody. The album verges into the atmosphere of Depres-sive Black Metal without entitling itself to the genre in much the same way as Shoegaze is employed. In lighter instances of the

album, the music is cleansed of distorted instruments and relieved with clean guitars either as an introduc-tion (Sous Le Poids Écrasant De La Réalité) or a conclusion (Splendeur De La Nature), or shifts between light and heavy like Fausse Extase.

There are no vocals except for one instance of shrieking at the end of Forêt, which is no demand or necessity, much like the many effects that astutely fuse these genres together. That said, Etat D'âme is an instrumental album of 7 tracks.

This album allows much more projection than interpretation. Being instru-mental, it is not confined within the contextual inter-pretation of lyrics; the album could express the ambiguity of mysticism, the gloominess of sorrow, the dissonant texture of existence, or any projection of its own musical portrait.

ck Follyy aa er an EP and various

Etat D'âme experiments with Shoegaze, Black Metal oriented Avant-Garde, and Atmospheric/Depressive Black Metal, animating 25 minutes of a consistently hybrid fusion in a versatile innovation of Post-Black metal.

Don’t miss out on BLACK FOLLYand like their Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/blackfollymusicmetal-bell.com

21

Formed in 2011, The FreeRolls is a Lebanese rock band comprising Samuel George on keyboards, Roy George on guitar, Martin Nassif on bass, and Elie Zeidan on guitar and vocals. The band’s genre is a nice melting pot of southern rock, hard rock and post grunge, and many diverse influences can be found in their songs. After all, when a band has, under the ‘Artists We Also Like’ tab, names such as the Allman Brothers Band, Dave Matthews Band and Led Zeppelin, you know that this is definitely a band worth listening to, and pleased I was to listen to The FreeRolls!

after taste(8.4/10)

Words: Karim Merhej

After having played at the top bars and pubs around Beirut (Jackie O, Speakeasy/Blind Pig, Beatz, Mojo to name a few), Broum-mana (Cheers, Outdoor Festival) and Zahle (Captain’s Room) back in 2012 and 2013, The FreeRolls focused on recording their songs, and the results have been definitely worth the arduous effort of recording! The band released their first EP, “After Taste”, in April 2014, and listening to the 5 tracks present has been a pleasure.

Beginning with the band’s first single, ‘Wear Something Nice’, the EP has a very unique bluesy groove that gives the band a distinct sound. The opening track starts with a nice bluesy riff

played on acoustic guitar with some quiet drumming in the background, before Samuel George gives in some cool bluesy licks on the piano with the drums becoming more ambient and present. The song’s riff is very catchy, and Elie Zeidan’s vocals definitely complement the mood very well. After the first verse, George has another short piano break, this time coupled with a slight hint of organ in the background. The second verse kicks in, and after the chorus (the very catchy ‘If I wear something nice, you won’t be worth the show!’), Samuel George has a very distinct short bluesy solo on the organ, before Roy George joins in and solos

along on his guitar, giving the song’s instrumental break a cool dual-guitar/keyboard sound. The band then goes back to the chorus and some instrumental passages, before ending it with the song’s main sentence.

The second song, ‘Maybe It Sounds Crazy’, has a much calmer touch than the first one, and that is definitely not a bad thing! Starting out with some cool catchy chords played on the acous-tic guitars, the band kicks in and gives us a soft rock song definitely worth the listen. After the chorus, the lead guitarist has a nice short little break in which we can clearly see he has chops. The band goes back to another verse, in which vocalist Elie

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Zeidan shines once more. The whole song’s mood is very nice and soothing, and it shows how diverse The FreeRolls’ influences are: whereas the first song was more grounded into the blues, ‘Maybe It Sounds Crazy’ definitely falls more within the realm of post-grunge.

The next three songs of the EP are linked by name: Green Franklin (Part I), Green Franklin (Part II), and Green Franklin (Part III).

Part I is a short 45-second instrumental in which the band goes back to their southern blues influences, mostly through the rhythm of the song and the guitar’s riff.By name, Part II is clearly a continuation of the first part, although the songs do not seem to have much in common. Part II has a very catchy chorus, and the band does a great job throughout the song. Again, here we can see how diverse the band’s music is. Whereas bluesy influences can be found

throughout the song, we also find other influences which the band manages to bring all in a melting pot, giving The FreeRolls a unique sound which they so masterfully control. Part III is a short instrumental in which the band’s keyboardist plays what sounds to be a classical melody, coupled with synthe-sized strings, before playing a calm melody on the piano that abruptly ends. It sure sounds beautiful, but I could not understand how Part III is related to Part I or even Part II…

Perhaps these notes Samuel George plays towards the end are a small snippet as to what awaits us! After all, ‘After Taste’ is the band’s first EP, and for a first work, it sure sounds great and is very promising! I had once seen The FreeRolls perform an acoustic set at the Speakeasy/Blind Pig back in 2012, and I distinctly remember having enjoyed their set. It was a great pleasure finding out that these same guys have kept working hard and have produced such a great EP, an EP definitely worth listening to! Looking forward to seeing what The FreeRolls are working on next!

Don’t miss out on THE FREEROLLS and like their Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/thefreerolls

Listen to the funny single “Ya Mazen” here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=in0OMC7GFQA

If you want to listen to the EP, it isstreaming on YouTube:

www.youtube.com/user/thefreerollstv

25

Voice of The Soul is a Progressive Death Metal band founded in 2007 by vocalist and guitarist Kareem Chehayeb in Kuwait. The band relocated to Dubai in 2011, and today, Voice of The Soul is located between Lebanon and the Emirates. Current members other than Kareem are Monish Shringi on rhythm guitars and clean vocals, and live session musicians Rudy Fares on drums and Bam Farra on bass.

CataComBs(8/10)

Words: T.P.

Track 1 - Desolation: Track 1 - Desolation:

The opening track of the album starts with strings accompanied by acoustic guitar arpeggios. Soon, the bass steps in with more strings and some minor effects. Desolation is the perfect intro for the album and serves as a perfect intro for “Perpetual Deception”.

Track 2 - Perpetual DeceptionTrack 2 - Perpetual Deception

The song starts with aggres-sive machine gun bass drums and a riff with “Head Bang” written all over it, and then comes Kareem’s dark deep growling voice. I tell you this guy has one of the best growls I’ve heard in the Middle East, and seriously, you will not expect it from that skinny guy in the picture on the right ;). Oh wait, there are some clean psychedelic vocals in the second half of the song! An amazing mix and amazing input by Monish on the vocals. Even though the

structure of the song is mostly based on the main riff, it is still one of my favorite tracks on the album.

Track 3 - Pendulum: Track 3 - Pendulum:

The single of the album. This is one of the most technical songs on the album. The drums open the song just for one second and then the

guitar, bass and vocals quickly step in. The riffs are heavy, fast and somehow oriental at some places. And the song becomes EPIC after minute two; a lot of progres-sive there, just pure epic-ness. And then comes that part we heard in the teaser; I always wondered how this part will fit in a death metal song. Just amazing, I have repeated this song hundreds of times just to hear that part again and again and again. Many might not have liked it since it is weird and not expected with lots of effects, but I’m all for evolv-ing and adding new elements to music.

Track 4 - Quarantine: Track 4 - Quarantine:

A Symphonic Doomy intro, followed by an old school thrash metal riff that sudd-enly transforms into a Death metal riff. The song has several mood swings and different riffs making it as progressive as it can be. Kareem’s voice is excellent

Voice of The Soul has already released three EPs: “Winds of Apprehension” in 2009, “Eyes of Deceit” in 2010 and “Into Oblivion” in 2011, and finally the full-length debut album “CATA-COMBS” released last September. The album is a set of 9 songs and covers several styles while always focusing on the Death tones, though it tends to lean more toward Doom and Ambient Black metal. Here is our Track by Track review of Catacombs:

track By track:

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The album is well produced by Hadi Sarieddine who also participated in the keyboard composition. And I really like the diversity of the album, and the innovation of the guys trying to blend unfamiliar elements with Metal in a very classy way.

Well I wished there was a faster beat and some fast Death metal riffs here and there. I am not a huge fan of an album completely based on blasts, but it would have broken the pace of the album and given it more life. One fast track like the ones on “Into Oblivion” Ep would have done the trick.

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as usual; I really love that growl. Can’t much describe it; man you have to listen to it yourself, and even if you don’t like the style, you will like the song. And what’s better after those heavy riffs than ending the song with smooth guitar arpeggios? Life changing.

Track 5 - Cold Rupture: Track 5 - Cold Rupture:

A slow-paced ambient, sad, deep, dark and definitely COLD track. It starts with piano and strings until the drums and guitar kick in with a slow and distorted riff. And no, we are not welcomed by Kareem’s awesome growl, but by Monish’s exceptional psychedelic renditions. Cold Rupture is similar to the songs of Kevin Moore’s OSI project. From the middle of the song onwards, the growling voice takes charge to spice things up and give it more of a Doom Metal feel. Not one of my favorite tracks on the album, but a great track for Psychedelic metal fans.

Track 6 - The Mist:Track 6 - The Mist:

An Ambient instrumental soft and trippy track that starts with the sound of the sea and the wrecking of an old wooden boat. A new

age-ish melody of pure strings and piano that is 3 minutes and 2 seconds long. I feel that this track is misplaced in the album and would have worked better as a closing track.

Track 7 - Perdition: Track 7 - Perdition:

My favorite track on the album \m/. Sorry I can’t review this song, too busy head banging to it.

Track 8 - Defiled: Track 8 - Defiled:

There is something about those riffs that I can’t figure out. They feel familiar and new at the same time, but what I am sure about is that they are good to the ears. The song is full of heaviness and the “Head Banging” factor is all over the place. I guess this song can make the second single on the album; I highly recommend that. And the solo, full of feelings and agony, just amazed me. The song brings a conflicting set of feelings all together; maybe that’s the main reason behind it being a great song. Heavy, angry, sad and drowned in Agony… Defiled.

Track 9 - Images Subside:Track 9 - Images Subside: My least favorite song on the album. Hey, come on, don’t get mad at me… I am not a huge Doom Metal fan! The growls follow the slow doomy guitar riffs. This song features Egan O’Rourke, the bassist and vocalist from Daylight Dies, on clean vocals. The song is well structured and a great one for Doom Metal fans. But considering that I was expecting more progressive and technical metal from this album, I felt that the song is a bit monotonous.

All in all, the entire album is awesome; acquiring a hard copy of the album is a must. I really recom-mend Catacombs to all Death, Black, Doom and Ambient Metal fans; the album is versatile, well structured and dark. If you are familiar with Voice of The Soul’s previous works, you will definitely love this album even if you felt there is a bit of a style difference. I also strongly recommend that you listen to and download the EP “Into Oblivion” from the band’s Bandcamp page.

highs

lows

27

It is the UK's largest Metal festival, held annually at Catton Hall in Walton-on-Trent, England, since 2005. It has 4 stages: “Ronnie James Dio Stage”, “Sophie LancasterStage”,“Jägermeister Stage” and “The New Blood Stage” which is mainly for introducing and supporting new talented metal bands.

International festivals

Words: Nahla SindbadPhotos: ©Metal Bell Magazine

The lineup included many big names:“Amon AmarthAmon Amarth”, “MegadethMegadeth”, “EmperorEmperor”, “CarcassCarcass”, “DecapitatedDecapitated”, “Children of BodomChildren of Bodom”, “Trip-Trip-tykontykon”, “ObituaryObituary”, “Lacuna Lacuna CoilCoil”, “Orphaned LandOrphaned Land”, etc. However, the biggest name for me was “Dimmu BorgirDimmu Borgir”, not only because I’ve never seen them before but also because their album “Abra-hadabra” is one of my all-time favorite albums; it has more keyboards and operatic vocals than any other album. They were so friendly during the “meet and greet”, and they put on a very powerful show on stage. Everybody started singing “Happy Birthday...” when they mentioned that last year was their 20th anniversary and that they

didn’t have the chance to celebrate it.

“ReVampReVamp” delivered a very energetic performance. I don’t think there is any vocalist doing better head banging than “Floor Jansen”. I had a chat with her before the show about her gig a couple of years back in Beirut with “Night-wish”, and she said she had a great time there.

I was excited to see the great suicidal black metal band “ShiningShining”. I went near the stage little early before the band starts, and I saw weird jazz instruments they never used before. I guessed they’ll be having a guest, until the vocal came on stage and said “Hello everybody, we are Shining

from Norway”. Apparently, there is another band also called “Shining” playing black jazz.

The Italian band “Lacuna Lacuna CoilCoil” played at the main stage. Their set list included some of their best songs such as “Heaven's a Lie”, “Nothing Stands in Our Way”, and “Our Truth”. However, the vocalist “Cris-tina Scabbia” swore the sound guy when he was trying to fix the sound during her speech.

“Amon AmarthAmon Amarth” had a wooden dragon ship on stage; fire and smoke were coming out of the dragons’ mouths, while the band was getting on and off the dragons and running around the stage all the time. When

Amon AmarthBLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR 2014

7th– 10th of August, England

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Bloodstock was a different experience. It’s more like a “happy family festival”. I’ve never seen in any metal event that number of babies, kids, pregnant women and elderly people. The playing area was almost bigger than the stage area, and even at the bars, drinks were served in cans and bottles, not only in plastic cups like other venues. The crowd manage-ment and security techniques were just different from other festivals.

the band played “The Pursuit of Vikings”, many people sat on the ground in lines taking the theme of the song and started moving their arms like rowing a boat while singing along loudly “Odin, guide our ships”.

I’ve seen “MegadethMegadeth” quite a few times over the years, however, this time I truly enjoyed their show. The sound was surprisingly very good. They played on the screen funny parts from different movies where “MegadethMegadeth” was mentioned, and at the end of the show, they played a video saying “Thank you” in all the languages.

Dimmu BorgirHailing Metal Bell TeamWith the Metal Horns \m/

The Lovely Floor JansenBLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR 2014

Sexy random AlienBLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR 2014

Dimmu BorgirBLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR 2014

29

Considered to be one of the best metal lineups this year: “Black Sabbath”, “Iron Maiden”, “Aeros-Aeros-mithmith”, “SlayerSlayer”, “SepulturaSepultura”, “SepticfleshSepticflesh”, “BehemothBehemoth”, “EmperorEmperor”, “OpethOpeth”, “Paradise LostParadise Lost”… and many more.

International festivalsWords: Nahla Sindbad

Photos: ©Metal Bell Magazine

20-22 June Clisson, France

Hellfest is the biggest annual metal fest in France and is one of the most important metal events all over Europe: more than 150 bands playing for 3 days on 6 stages, about 50,000 people were there each day, lots of cool places to hang around, “Metal Corner”, “Hellcity Square”, “The Kingdom of Muscadet”, “metal markets”, huge camping area, and the best meet up point “Hellfest old dead tree”.

Rob ZombieRob Zombie ruled the stage, and the crowd interaction was superb. He played classics such as “Dragula”, “Superbeast”, “House of 1,000 Corpses”, “Living Dead Girl” and “Sick Bub-blegum”.

Iron MaidenIron Maiden are simply one of the world’s top live acts. No matter how many times you’ve seen them, they’ll still blow you away every time, with some of the best metal songs ever written and performed.

SlayerSlayer and the greatest smile on Tom Araya’s face. They delivered a great show even without Jeff Hanne-man after his passing last year, and Dave Lombardo after being dismissed by the band the year before. Not letting anything slow them down.

Electric WizardElectric Wizard was next, and they were one of the bands I was most excited to see. However, the sound was not really good, and their performance wasn’t

really the best.

Nile Nile were extremely brutal, with their Egyptian themes and lyrics. They delivered a great show. When it comes to technical death metal, it’s hard to imagine any other band doing it better than them.

TurisasTurisas attracted many fans with their folk/symphonic/power metal music, their unique clothes and their red n’ black painted faces. Their set included some of their best songs: “Battle Metal”, “We Ride Together” and “Stand Up and Fight”. PowerwolfPowerwolf, the German symphonic Power Metal band, and their Romanian werewolf-themed lyrics

metal-bell.com

Hellfest 2014Hellfest 2014 was incredible and with no doubt will come back even stronger next time around.

must be on the top of every power metal fan’s list. They were very enjoyable, and everyone knew the lyrics and all were singing along to “We Drink Your Blood”.

Behemoth Behemoth looked absolutely demonic in their costumes to match the great evil music, the dark stage setup, Nergal’s necklace of chicken feet, horned masks, unicorn wings, and lots of fire. Kicking off with “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel”, the band ripped through a fantastic setlist.

Dimmu BorgirHailing Metal Bell TeamWith the Metal Horns \m/

31

Motocultor FestivalMotocultor Festival is an annual metal music festival which takes place in Brittany, north-west France, since 2007. Although the festival is considered to be very small compared to other metal festivals, the lineup, however, is always good. It has only two stages, no screens, very few metal shops, and a small camping site.

International festivalsWords: Nahla Sindbad

Photos: ©Metal Bell Magazine

It was raining on the first day; some people started covering them-selves in mud literally from head to toe, their eyes being the only area of their body not coated with mud. And some others preferred throwing it on the crowd, especially when one of the bands asked the audience to split into two and start a mud fight, screaming loudly “we want to see CHAOS”.

This time, I got to see “ShiningShining”, the Swedish band and not the Norwegian one. Their vocal “Niklas Kvarforth” is absolutely crazy on stage. Their music contains depressive under-tones, which include personal and suicide-themed lyrics. He also performed a song with “BenightedBenighted”, the French brutal death metal band.

I’ve heard from some people that “BehemothBehemoth”

might cancel their show because the band’s equip-ment and gear got lost due to a shipping problem. I wondered how they would look on stage without their costumes, banners, stands and pyrotechnics. Yet all that didn't stop them from performing; they went on stage without their usual corpse face paint. Nergal decided to wear a simple black hoodie instead of his long black robe, and it was

just another Behemoth awesome show. Luckily, I was there to witness it.

“InquisitionInquisition”, the black metal band from Colombia: a guitar, drums and a voice. There are only two members in the band, and the rest is recorded. I’ve never heard about them before, but their music was so emotional and spiritual in a demonic way.

15th– 17th of August, France

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Unfortunately, “Six Feet Under” had to cancel their show. Their tour bus got broken down on the side of the autobahn, 13 hours away from the festival. They got replaced by a French band, and now, they are one of the first announced bands that will play at Motocultor 2015.

music is a mix of death grunts and brutality on one side, and female melodious-ness on the other side. Their set list included some of their best songs: “Cry for the Moon”, “Storm the Sorrow”, “The Essence of Silence” and “Sancta Terra”.

“BelphegorBelphegor”, “KreaKrea-tortor”, “ObituaryObituary”, and “TestaTesta-mentment” were impressive as usual. Those are the kinds of bands that you can see over and over without getting bored.

I’ve met Stéphane Stéphane BuriezBuriez, the vocal of the French death thrash metal band “LoudblastLoudblast”. We talked about their experience at “Dubai Rock Festival” last summer, and his new project that will be a BIG surprise for every metal head. They played some songs from their new album, but unfortunately, they didn’t play my favorite one “I reach the sun”.

“EpicaEpica” delivered a great show as usual. Their

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International festivals

WACKEN OPEN AIR, the world's biggest annual Metal festival, celebrated its 25th anniver-sary this year. People call it Metal festival, but Metalheads call it their “Holy Land”.

Words: Nahla SindbadPhotos: ©Metal Bell Magazine

The festival was first held in 1990 as a small event for local German bands. By 1998, the event had become one of the most important in the world, where Metal heads from all over the world gather to watch awesome bands and to build a massive party. Seeing 80,000 people in black together can just overwhelm you. The crowd is young and old, local and international. W.O.A. is all about bull skulls, throwing up the horns, mosh-pitting, headbanging and crowdsurfing. It’s simply about enjoying anything and every-thing metal. Walking through the camp zone is probably like nothing you've seen before. Everybody is trying to enjoy themselves to the maximum. I passed by a group of tents where plenty of things were set up: gym equipment, foos-ball table, trampoline, swings, inflatable toys, portable cooking stoves, projectors, etc.

You will see people wearing Viking clothes, Scot-tish kilts, wedding dresses, pink bathrobes, or even Santa Claus and his elves having a walk together. You will find some people enforcing weird and funny behavior. A guy stopped me to shake hands telling me that my number is 45,031. Apparently, he has been greeting and counting every metal head he comes across.People there are happy and overexcited. And the best thing about it is that no matter how drunk everybody got, I haven't seen a single fight.

“The Viking Village” is very authentic and impressive. They have a small stage mainly for folk bands presenting the medieval spirit, big white tents, Viking combats, knight battles, wrestling shows,

bull riding, staged fights, and enormous weapons and fire shows. They sell all kinds of Viking stuff, lots of helms, armors, and horns.

The lineup included “AcceptAccept, Amon AmarthAmon Amarth, Arch Arch EnemyEnemy, AvantasiaAvantasia, BehemothBehemoth, Children Of BodomChildren Of Bodom, DecapiDecapi-tatedtated, EmperorEmperor, Fleshgod Fleshgod ApocalypseApocalypse, HammerFallHammerFall, Heaven Shall BurnHeaven Shall Burn, KreatorKreator, Lacrimas ProfundereLacrimas Profundere, MotörMotör-headhead, MegadethMegadeth, Skid RowSkid Row, SaxonSaxon, SlayerSlayer and WaspWasp”. However, many people were disappointed, especially that they were expecting to see

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“CarcassCarcass” overlapped with “MotörheadMotörhead”, two bands I was quite keen on catching. I decided to see “Carcass” first. Their intro “1985” can’t be missed. They played many songs from their latest album ‘Surgical Steel’ which has one of the most impressive album covers. It was quite funny when Jeffrey Walker asked the crowd: “What are you doing here? Motörhead are in the field nearby. Oh I know. You feel this is your last chance to see me perform live as well”.

One of the bands I’ve been listening to for a very long time is “CrematoryCrematory”. I always wanted to see them live. The first time they played in Wacken was in 1996. Felix Stass is so ener-getic on stage, and one

bigger bands to play in the quarter of a century celebra-tion.

“Skid RowSkid Row” played on the True Metal stage. They dedicated ‘Psycho Therapy’ to Joey Ramone who passed away in 2001, and closed their excel-lent set with their master song ‘Youth Gone Wild’.

It was my first time to see “King DiamondKing Diamond” live. It was probably one of the best shows I have ever seen. Kim’s unique falsetto voice and creepy horror stories turned the show into a very brilliant theatrical experience.

“EmperorEmperor”, the Norwegian black metal band, reunited to celebrate the 20th anniver-sary of ‘In the Nightside Eclipse’ by playing a few shows, and headlining Wacken was one of them.

“Saxon” is one of the house bands, playing every two or three years at Wacken. I got to know that the main organ-izer of Wacken is also the manager of the band.

The cello rockers “ApocalypApocalyp-ticatica” played this time with a classical orchestra. Their set included some of Sepultura and Metallica covers of course, and they ended their show with “Hall of the Moun-tain King”.

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of the songs I’ve enjoyed his performance in was Metallica’s cover “Tick Tack”.

I think what makes Wacken a special event is not the lineup, because big bands can always play in small festivals. It’s the whole environment and atmosphere that makes every metal head feel like it’s where they belong. More people are going there every year to live this breath-taking experience.

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International festivals

Convivum

Wacken Open Air 2015 is already sold out and will be held from July 30 till August 1. So far, 20 bands have been announced, and yes, ‘Savatage’ will have a reunion show.

In the end, Wacken 2014 was truly ‘Faster, Harder, Louder’, and Wacken 2015 will surely be ‘Louder than Hell’.

W:O:A Metal Battle is a com-petition founded to promote upcoming and fresh new bands from all over the world. The winners of the local battles have been given the chance to play live at the world’s biggest metal festival, and just saying you're playing Wacken is already a sort of achievement for any band. Many have graced the stages of Wacken and many dream of it.

The Black/Death metal band “Crescent” (featured in Issue 5) was the winner of the first ‘Wacken Metal Battle’ in Egypt. They played at the ‘Headbanger’s Stage’, repre-senting the Egyptian metal scene at the world’s biggest metal festival.

Later on, the jury selects the best five bands and the winners get rewarded with material and cash prizes. This year, the winners were as follows: -First place: [In Mute] a band from Spain.-Second place: Dirty Shirt a band from Romania.-Third place: Huldre a band from Denmark.-Fourth place: Evocation a band from China.-Fifth place: Convivium a band from Sweden.

This year, we have great news for the Middle East. Next year, the competition will also include, in addition to Egypt, Lebanon, U.A.E. and Jordan. So prepare your gear and your music and see you at the Battle.

Convivum

Wacken Open Air 2015 is already sold out and will be held frfar, 20 bands have been announced, and yes, ‘Savatage’ will h

In the end, Wacken 2014 was truly ‘Faster, Harder, Louder’, abe ‘Louder than Hell’.

already a sort of achievementfor any band. Many have graced the stages of Wacken and many dream of it.

The Black/Death metal band “Crescent” (featured in Issue 5) was the winner of the first ‘Wacken Metal Battle’ in EgEEgEgEgEggypyyy t. Theheeheheheeheeyy yyyy llplplplplplayayayedededeed aaaaat t ttt hhhhthththee ee‘H‘Heaaaaeadbdbdbddd aanananaanngegegeggggg r’r’r’ss StSttStS aagagagge’e’ee , , , rererepprprp eee--sesentntinnnnng gg thththththththeee EgEggypypypy tititianana mmmetetetalascssceneee e ee atatttttt tthehe wwororrldldl ’s’s biggegestst meetatatat l l fffeffff stttttttiviii alal.

LaLaL teteteteeeer on, the jury selects the bebestsstststtt five bands and the wiwiwiwinnnnnnnerererereeerssssssss gegegeggg t rewarded withmamaaaatetetetterririririririalal aaandndndndndnndnd cash prizes. Thisyeyeyey arrararrr, , ththtththtt eee wiwiwiwiwiwiwinnnnn ers were as fofofoofolllllllllowowowwowws:ss:

-F-FFFFirirrrsstststss pplaalacecececeeee: [In Mute] a band frfrfrfrfromomomomomomom SSpapapaapaiinininini .-SS-S-S-S-SS-Seeececonnnddddddd place: Dirty Shirt a babababab ndndndnnn ffrrrrror m Romania.-TT-TTThihihihihihh rddrdrd pppppppplace: Huldre a bandfrfrfrrrrromommmommomm DDDeneneenenmmmamm rk.-F-F-Fooouououooourrtrtrtr hh plpplplplplplp ace: Evocation a bababaabandndnnddndndnd fffffffrrom China.-F-F-FFFFFFifififififffttht place: Convivium a band frfrfrfff omommmmom Sweden.

ThThThhhhiiisisis year, we have great news ffofof r the Middle East. Next year,the competition will also include, in addition to Egypt, Lebanon, U.Ayour gear and your music and see you at the Battle.

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Being the oldest still active Metal band in a country with a Metal scene where many bands tend to stop after a few years (if not less) due to lack of funding, support and enthusi-asm, is already enough by itself to get the chattering started. Next year will be the band’s 20th anniversary and although not all those years have been active (7 of which having been lost in a hiatus), the band still has one of the largest total of active years for a Metal band in this country… with perhaps the smallest rate of productivity compared to their time spent as a band, with only one album released to date. Not only that, but the band’s line up has changed countless times through the years, leaving only its original founder, vocalist and guitarist Bassem Deaibess to

reform it each time. All of this would already be extremely strenuous were the band only surrounded by love and support, but as we all know, things are never that easy. Which brings us to our point: Blaakyum is not only the oldest still active Metal band we have, they might also be the band that has raised the most controversy in our quaint little Metal scene. A journey through the guys’ achievements, never before heard stories about their trials and tribulations as an unsigned band, and a different look at what we thought we knew about the band’s music and philosophy, will attempt to make us all understand why Blaakyum so often seems to be the talk of the town. We obviously want this article to be as purely objective

as possible, so it is natural to begin it in the same way that we would initiate a scientific article: by examining the etymology of our subject’s name.

In extent: what does the name “Blaakyum” really mean? Well, the same answer has been given by the band throughout the years: the prefix “Blaak” simply means the color black, and the suffix “yum” is a different way of writing the suffix “ium” which is used to form the name of metal elements, such as sodium or calcium. Simply put, “Blackium” means the color black being a metal. Why is the name written in such a way, then? The answer always was something in the lines of “try to write Blackium and Blaakyum next to each other

Deaibess

This might be Blaakyum’s first time making the cover story of a magazine, but it’s definitely not their first time turning heads. Their achievements are numerous, the most recent ones obviously being their opening for Epica’s concert in Byblos, which made them the first Lebanese Metal band to play the festival, and their interview with Radio One which made the ratings blow the roof.

metal-bell.com

Words: Carmina KhairallahPhotos by: Eliane Radiy

and tell me which one seems the most Metal to you”. Simple, isn’t it? Well, Bassem Deaibess told us that there is a deeper reason behind the odd spelling. Let’s start with the “Blaak”. Deaibess was, in his younger years, inspired by Dave Mustaine from the “Big Four” band Megadeth. When asked about the reason why “death” was written without an “a” in his band’s name, Mustaine would retort that it was a way to “break” death. In a similar way, “Blaakyum” breaks the black-ness. But why would one want to do such a thing? Well, it is a secret to none of those who have been following Blaakyum’s interviews that Deaibess studied theology in order to become a priest. References to his theo-logical considerations regarding one’s own “blackness” (or what we could refer to as “dark side”) can be found in the band’s 1998 single “Am I Black”, which was re-mastered for their album “Lord of the Night”.

Which brings us to the “yum”. This spelling actually refers to the Arabic word “ ”, which means day. In that sense, “Blaakyum” means “black day”. This also comes from Deaibess’ religious education, for he, as a hard shelled Christian, believed in the “Second Coming” (or “Judgment Day”) when the Christ is supposed to come back to Earth and judge all

humans. According to him at the time, the vast majority of humans were sinners, which would inevitably mean that the Second Coming would be a “Black Day”. This brings us to one of Blaakyum’s most famous controversies: how could someone who meant to become a priest become the lead vocalist of a Metal band? Well, those two occupations are actually more linked than they may seem. The subject has already been addressed during an interview with Invisible Oranges during which it was stated that Deai-bess used to be a musician and dancer while aiming to become a priest. It was then said

that “(…) a nun told him he could play music and still serve God.” When asked about it, he said that the way this was written is actually misleading. What the nun actually told him was that, being a talented musician who people enjoyed watching and listening to, he would be better able to serve God by doing what he loves and has a knack for than by becoming a priest.

philosophy behind the lyrics: But the link doesn’t stop here. The job of a priest is mainly to preach “God’s word” to the people. Similarly, Blaakyum address delicate socio-politico-religious subjects in their lyrics, always adding a dab of relatively cynical and rather acerbic social criticism that adds to the strength of the delivered message. Interestingly enough, though, not every part of said message is completely obvious the first time one listens to it.

Let’s take for example the lyrics of the title track “Lord of the Night”. The chorus makes it fairly obvious what the song is about: “one ring to rule them all, one ring to find them; one ring to bring them all, and in dark-ness bind them”… Anyone who’s even vaguely familiar with Lord

Deaibess

“ ”

Rabih Deaibess - Lead GuitarRabih Deaibess - Lead Guitar

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of the Rings could make the link. We were told by Bassem Deaibess that the song was initially titled “Morgoth” as the primary meaning of the song is obviously the Dark Lord, master of Sauron, summoning his minions to the evil side of the creation of Middle Earth, or something along those lines. But then, is Morgoth the “Lord of the Night”? Could be, but Deaibess hinted towards another possible meaning. At the end of the song, one can hear what sounds like a fairly distorted, enthusiastic “Alright”, typical for a thrash-ish Metal song. Right? Wrong. The actual words at this point are “All Rise”, the exact words that are pronounced in court when the judge enters the room and the session can come to a start. And what is on the cover of the

album? A hooded figure in front of a courthouse… See where I’m going there? We’d rather not reveal more of what lies between the lines, but the next

time you feel like giving the old grey matter a good whir, we’d advise checking the entirety of the album’s art and lyrics (and maybe even the “thank you” page), as there are several more hints hidden here and there, and several different ways of interpreting each of them.

a soPhomore in the making. But no matter how intricate Blaakyum’s first album may be, everything gets old after a while, and we’d definitely grow tired of the

band were “Lord of the Night” the only thing they’d ever come up with. Well, fear not, for as our readers who are familiar with the band must know, the second album is already in the making. In fact, each of the songs of the album except for one have already been performed live by the band at least once (including, even, a song (“Warzone”) from the potential third album, but that will obviously have to wait). Sadly, though, the life of an independent Lebanese band is never easy, and the recording of this second opus is constantly delayed by issues which, as you all must have guessed, are for the most part of a financial order. But, in all due honesty, no one likes waiting too long for a meal without at least being given

a little appetizer to calm their hunger, so here’s a little some-thing to nibble on for those who’d want to know about the thematic of the soon-to-be new album: “Line of Fear”.

the line of fear: First of all, as it has already been mentioned by the band during previous interviews, this album includes more cooperation by each member of the band, instead of it almost entirely being focused on their front man’s writing abilities and inspirations. Not only that, but this album also aspires to include the entire Lebanese Metal scene in a common fight, one that has marked its history deeply. I can already hear the mumbling: our history is a thing of the past, nothing interesting has happened to us in decades, [insert generic “the scene is dead” comment here]. But au contraire my dear friends, one of our most mediatized fights has happened not so long ago, and even the youngest members of our lovely family have most probably been lucky enough to witness it: what some like to refer to as the “Massacore Incident”. For those who don’t know (or have been quick to forget, or never read our article about it in issue 0), here’s the

Deaibess

Rany Battikh - Bass GuitarRany Battikh - Bass Guitar

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story. In late 2012, a concert named “Massacore” was organized somewhere far from Beirut. It included mostly electronic artists but also two of our leading Metal bands: Kimaera and Blaakyum. Some local scandals TV show tried to make a scoop out of it by trying to revive the witch hunting (that it had already addressed during its earlier years) and the whole thing was a huge media boom for the scene. In fact, a “Leba-nese Metal heads NGO” almost happened. And then poof, all lost under the dunes when the sandstorm calmed down. Well, at that point, Blaakyum had already started writing their second album with a mostly local mythological theme in mind, but this whole thing was too good to miss out on, and they were quick to change track while the metal was still hot enough to be beaten into a sword. Here’s a quick idea of what some of the songs are about, for those who were too busy headbanging to notice:“Destined to Rise”: this one has a fairly self-explanatory title, but the story behind it is a bit more intriguing. Deaibess had just

finished writing this song that was originally about the way religious sects brainwash people and turn them into sheep, addressing a certain individual who was “destined to rise” from all of this, when the Massacore Incident happened, and the whole song instantly became applicable to all Metal heads in this extremism-ridden country.“Wicked Revelations”: This one is kind of a “metal-heads against the world” song, also accusing the closed mind-edness of religious bigots. It is mostly made up of on-the-spot improvised riffs, which lends the subject the impulsivity that it needs. “Crossing and The Line of Fear”:Are rather similar to what has been mentioned before, but they target the perpetrators of the Massacore Mishap more specifically and have some pretty sharp edges going to them, especially the title track. We could go on, but then there’d be nothing left to say when the actual album is out, so here’s one more reason to wait for it eagerly. But we can be sure that the whole process of creating a new album won’t be easy, at least if it goes anyway like the creation of the first one did.

life in the studio: In previous interviews, Blaakyum have already men-

tioned that the recording had to be repeated as it had first been done using VSTs but was then reiterated by “traditionally” recording each individual instrument to create a more authentic sound. That would’ve been alright had the band had all their time, but they had set a deadline for themselves at the time which they soon learned was a horrible idea. The band ended up “camping” in the recording studio for days on end, working to a point that they got high and drunk on work. The results of their horrible fatigue often lead to some hilarity. For example, drummer Jad Feitrouni was so sick of Deai-bess making him repeat some tracks sometimes up to more than a hundred times just because of his nitpickiness that he’d end up throwing his drum sticks at him, claiming to be “practicing his aim” when solicited about the act. Also, Elias Njeim (who was the

Deaibess

Jad Feitrouni - DrumsJad Feitrouni - Drums

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guitarist of the band at the time, and was since then replaced by Bassem’s brother Rabih Deai-bess) would often improvise licks, and his tiredness would make him forget them instantly. One time, such an incident occurred, but DeaibessDeaibess reassur-ingly mentioned that he had recorded the improvised lick which actually made it on the record, and they both ended up laughing uncontrollably, and they both ended up laughing uncontrollably.

life on the road: However, those small incidents were nothing compared to what the band went through while touring. One of their smaller foreign mishaps included having to spend two days in Turkey (this way they got cheaper plane tickets) and learning that the place that they were planning to sleep in had no vacancy, which lead them to crash in a place that was so messed up, mostly hygiene-wise, that it got to a point where it was almost scary.

But one of the most memorable incidents happened when they had to take trains from Slovenia to Slovakia. Taking trains meant running from platform to platform while holding heavy luggage full of instruments in places they’d never even seen before. But this one time, they weren’t able to buy tickets beforehand, and locals told them to just tell that to the controller, who would make them pay for their tickets on the spot. It worked, until at

some point one controller didn’t seem to agree. According to him, this system only worked in Slovenia, but they were in Austria now (for those who wouldn’t count geography as their forte, Austria is a necessary passage-way between Slovenia and Slovakia). The not so engaging controller told them they had one minute to buy their tickets at the next station. It was Bassem Deaibess who was put in charge of the task, while his band mates assured him they’d “hold the

door” for him. But obviously this wasn’t Lebanon, and those things are exclusively part of our local charm. The train took off, and Deaibess was left all alone, without any papers or phone, only a credit card.

His distress must have been terribly obvious as a local came to ask him if he was lost. Thankfully, the man had a kind heart, as after he heard of Deai-bess’ misfortune he offered to let him use his mobile phone, knowing that it would count as an international (thus expen-sive) call. He tried calling Jad Feitrouni but the call was diverted to his house, so he told his wife to text Jad and the others to wait for him at the next station. And it seemed lady luck had not yet been done toying with him as the machine from which he wanted to extract his ticket didn’t accept credit cards, but the kind Austrian offered to pay the two euros required. Upon finally arriving at the train station, Bassem was greeted by his band mates mocking him. It turned out they had spent the ride making a mock news video narrating their misadven-ture. It seems that some remain children at heart no matter what.

Bassem Deaibess - Vocals & Rhythm GuitarBassem Deaibess - Vocals & Rhythm Guitar

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Deaibess

We’ve covered a large variety of subjects in this article, from metaphysical considerations to foreign mishaps, and all of it was aimed at trying to sum up this one local band. I think the best way of coming to a conclusion from all of this is by quoting Bassem Deaibess again in his saying that Metal is a culture, and what we call the “Metal lifestyle” is simply a part of this culture; Metal was never supposed to be trivial. I guess we can all agree that many Metal heads are living this Metal lifestyle, but if one day you grow out of it, that just means it was never truly part of you. The Metal culture is truly vast and it would be impossible to cover all of it without dedicating one’s life to it. This seems to be what Blaakyum have been doing so far, and for that alone I think they deserve all the praise that they have been criticized for receiving. So, in conclusion, thank you Blaakyum, please keep on making us proud.

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The opening act was performed by Blaakyum. The Lebanese Heavy/Thrash band was the first local metal act to reach the stage of Byblos International Festival, a fact which is a

leap forward in the Leba-nese scene. Blaakyum’s lineup comprising founder, vocalist and rhythm guitar-ist Bassem Deaibess, lead guitarist Rabih Deaibess, bassist Rany Battikh and

drummer Jad Feitrouni managed to put on a show quite worthy of an interna-tional festival of high caliber. The playlist entailed a mélange of old time favorites and new songs

an Epic(a) night on the stage of Byblos

The Dutch gothic/symphonic band Epica, long awaited by its Lebanese fans, performed on the stage of old city Byblos the night of Saturday August the 2nd. Epica partici-pated in Byblos International Festival —as was stated by vocalist Simone on stage and guitar-ist Mark in his interview with Metal Bell Magazine— after receiving over the years many emails from fans and promoters inviting them to perform in Lebanon. Epica is also renowned for a predominant middle-eastern influence in its music, which contributed to increasing the band’s recognition amongst Arab fans. [To read Metal Bell’s full interview with Mark Jansen & Simone Simons go to p. 50].

words: dahlia noir photos by: eliane radi

Simone Simons - Epica

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which are to be soon recorded in a new album. Blaakyum’s opening track was Cease Fire, a song written about Israel’s attacks on Lebanon during the summer of 2006, clearly showing why Blaakyum is known for its musical commitment to expressions of social and political discontent. The

band then invited the audience to take a minute of silence for the suffering of the citizens of Gaza and Mosul. Following it was Lord of the Night, a tribute to the Lord of the Rings. The Land, a heavy folk popular track among fans that showcases national pride and belonging to Lebanon, was the third

song to be played followed by a new title being Baal Adon. The crowd then headbanged to Rip It Off, which is a favored song by thrash lovers. The band then closed their act by a mash up between 3al 3ein, a new heavy folk track and a moshpit on The Last Stand.

Epica commenced its performance which lasted for about one hour and a half with The Second Stone, a track from the band’s latest album The Quantum Enigma released this year. The members (Vocalist: Simone Simons; Vocalist and guitarist: Mark Jansen; Keyboardist: Coen Janssen; Drummer and vocals: Ariën Van Weesenbeek; Guitarist: Isaac Delahaye; Bassist: Rob Van Der Loo) then went on with yet two other tracks from The Quantum Enigma, being The Essence of Silence and Victims of Contingency. With that being said, it is to note that Epica played in this concert mostly titles from their last album: six from The Quan-tum Enigma and about one or two tracks from each of their other five albums. Simone then invited the audience to be Unleashed with a hit song with the

Bassem Deaïbess - Blaakuym

Epica

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same title from Design Your Universe released in 2009. Epica persisted on storming the stage with its great presence with Storm the Sorrow from the album

Requiem for the Indifferent released in year 2012. A heavy track from The Quan-tum Enigma entitled Chemi-cal Insomnia was up next, followed by another one from Design Your Universe which the crowd cheered for and gladly headbanged on: Kingdom of Heaven, a track unique with its dominant growls and haunting chants. Natural Corruption from The Quantum Enigma and The Obsessive Devotion from the album released in 2007 The Divine Conspiracy were equally electrifying. The band members bid their farewells after performing their hit The Phantom Agony from their first album of the same title from 2003 and came back for the first Encore. The latter encom-

passed two of their most loved tracks Sancta Terra from The Divine Conspiracy and the epic Cry for the Moon from The Phantom Agony. In the second Encore, the track from The Quantum Enigma, Unchain Utopia, which was released as a lyric video, was performed and positively received by the audience, as well as Consign to Oblivion from the album carrying the same name and released back in 2005.

The fans were overall very satisfied with the performances of Blaakyum and Epica, and it is always rather pleasing to witness the openness of Byblos International Festival to metal music, something that many other Lebanese festi-vals have yet to grasp. What was also quite astounding is the modesty of Epica’s members as several of them not only gave their fans the opportunity to take auto-graphs and pictures after the concert but also had a chitchat with them and were eager to hear their opinion about the perfor-mance. It goes without saying that each event is bound to face some prob-lems, and I think that men-tioning them here is one step towards dealing with them. There were some technical issues with the

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sound of instruments during Blaakyum’s act and the Derbakkeh, which Blaakyum introduced in this act as a surprise element, was not audible. The press passes were solely allocated for the seating area and did not allow their holders to move around the different zones which was quite unfortunate and unsatisfactory; I personally for example decided to purchase a standing ticket to enjoy being amid the cheering crowds. And on the occasion of mentioning concert zones, it is crucial to note that the golden circle and regular standing division is unfair. This is a phenomenon that was not found in past events several years back and the attend-ance in this concert that is lower than usual might be a consequence to the increas-ing prices. But while it could be also due to the current tense political situation, hats off to Epica for coming despite the country’s insecurity. For as Bassem Deaibess stated during the concert, this is the true spirit of metal.

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interview by: dahlia noir photos by: eliane radi

DAHLIA: Hello, thank you for granting us at Metal Bell the chance to ask you a fewquestions.MARK: You're welcome :)

D: You started off as“Sahara Dust” until 2003,and then went on to change your band’s name to Epica.What was the reason for choosing the original nameand why was there adecision to change it? M: We called ourselves Sahara Dust after the many Arabian influences in our music when we started with our first line up with Helena Iren Michaelsen (former Trail of Tears and Imperia). But it didn't work out, and when we found some new guys, we also changed our music a bit. Sahara Dust didn't fit as well as we would like to, and also our record company didn't like the name so much, so we decided to change it. But we couldn't find a cool name. When we entered the studio to record our first album, we still didn't have a new name. In the same studio, they just recorded the new album of Kamelot called 'Epica'. When I saw that, I knew instantly that that would be a great name for our band.

D: We have witnessed in thescene worldwide severalbands that are influenced by

upon others but give an expression of what's going on so people can create their own opinions about it.

D: Which album proved to be the most challenging whether in terms of writing or producing etc. and why?M: The Quantum Enigma for sure, as we paid more attention to every part of the production process. We looked how we did it in the past, took the positive points and added extras which we thought would improve the end result. So we intensified the pre-production phase. We went more into detail with the songwriting part, we experimented more with the sound and different mics and amps before we started recording. We worked with a new producer for new insights, a new mixer for best results. It was a lot of work but worth all the efforts!

D: Can you tell me about a funny experience/incidencthat happened with you ontour?M: Our former guitar player once stripped down and walked naked over the balcony to another room in the hotel and knocked on the window where some of us where having a party. We were shocked to see him there in front of the window

middle-eastern melodies.And you have mentioned inprevious interviews thatthe prevalence of oriental symphonies in Epica’s songs comes from aparticular interest in Arabic traditional music. Does your interest in the culture go beyond music? M: : I am interested in many cultures all over the world. From every culture, you can learn something in my opinion. It makes you more open minded. Indeed, I love the traditional Arabian music.When we go back in time, the origin of civilization comes from the Middle East, that's also something that fascinates me. There are many great monuments in the Middle East.

D: Your songs often contain themes related to today’s world issues. In youropinion, what is the extent to which rock and metal music can inspire changeamong today’s youth?M: Metal has always repre-sented freedom. Metal bands make the music they love and in general follow their hearts instead of thinking with the mind/wallet. In our lyrics, we talk about subjects that we feel connected to. We try not to force our own opinion

iinnterview by: dahlia noir photos by: eliane radi

Interview with EPICA

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Before their concert at Byblos International Festival, Metal Bell had the chance, through our amazing Dahlia, to interview Mark & Simone from Epica.

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as it was a very thin path to walk from one room to the other while the rooms were on the 5th floor. So if he'd have fallen, he'd have been dead. He always pulled crazy pranks on us. Haha.

new album and what youthink comprises a shift in itfrom your previous works?M: There were 3 major things that we did different compared to the previous album. First of all, we worked more as a team, all band members plus producer Joost van den Broek were involved in arranging the songs. Secondly, we worked with a different team of producers compared to all other albums. This gave us some new energy and refreshing ideas. Third of all, we spent much more time in fine-tuning the sound of each individual instrument and the album itself, therefore, we also worked with a new mixer: Jacob Hansen. Sound wise, the guitars sound heavier than before. This is something we wanted to achieve as now the guitars sound really heavy when they have to sound heavy. A song like "Victims of Contingency" would have never sounded so brutal with the old mix setup.

D: Are there any video shootings [video clips] scheduled for songs from “Quantum Enigma”? If so,which ones, and would you mind talking about theprojected theme/story plotof the video(s) in mind?M: We're thinking about the video shoot at the end of summer. Cannot reveal the song we have in mind yet :)

MB: In reference to yournew song “Unchain Utopia”, can you tell us what the “Utopia” which Epica envisions is?Simone: A world in which nobody is hungry, everybody is free and can feel happy. Of course, it's a "utopia" and therefore probably never possible to achieve, but that's the utopia the way we envision it.

D: Tells us a bit about your Enigma Tour and in particu-lar why you decided to include Lebanon as one of the destinations? M: It's not always a matter of us deciding where to go, it's often the other way round. Promoters approach us and ask us if we want to come over and play at their festival/club. After the booker negotiates with the

promoter and they have a deal, we decide if we want to go or not. We have never played in Lebanon before, so we are very enthusiastic about it. We have many fans there and they are very happy too, so I hope it's gonna be as great as we expect it to be.

thrash metal band (and one of the first Lebanese bands to play in Internationalmetal festivals), wasannounced to be the actthat will be supportingEpica on the 2nd of August. Remembering your early days when you were tryingto make it on an interna-tional level, any words ofadvice that you would like toaddress to Blaakyum?M: My only advice would be to follow your heart and let nobody tell you what to do. You know best what you want and how much time you want to invest in your band. Epica is a band that dedicated all time and energy in making the band grow, but every band has different wishes and different goals. I would also advise them to have fun. It all begins and ends with having fun in what you're doing.

brutal with the old mix setup. booker negotiates with thhe

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One big inconvenience was the timing. A comment left by the venue owners on the Facebook page of the event announced the doors to open at 9:30 pm and the band to start around 10:30. It was all heavily delayed due to sound check issues and people were allowed to enter the venue around 11:00, leaving the show to commence half an hour later. The obvious result of this lateness was that by the end of the show most of the audience (which had been considerable for a solo gig), had already left.

When the band did start (which didn’t go without a few technical issues, espe-cially while starting the first song), their playlist, entirely made of covers, went as follows:The Book – Vader Conquer All – Behemoth (this was played again at the end of the show as an encore)World Eater – Bolt ThrowerA Moment of Clarity – DeathThe Shadow of the Reaper – Six Feet UnderThree Dimensional Defect – Decapitated

Crystal Mountain – DeathSacrificial Suicide – Deicide Mandatory Suicide – SlayerDawn of the Angry – Morbid AngelLunatic of God’s Creation – DeicideEpitaph – VaderPull the Plug – Death As previously mentioned, the size (and enthusiasm) of the audience was rather impressive for a solo show by a relatively new band, so the area in front of the stage was mostly filled with people headbanging and demonstrating short lived attempts at moshpits. The

hemorrhagiaConcert Review

On Friday, September 5th, the Syrian/Lebanese Technical Death Metal band Hemor-rhagia rocked the stage at Yukunkun, Gemayze for their first ever solo concert. The band’s participation as a Death tribute act in an earlier concert alongside local bands Thrash Storm and Nocturna last March had been rather disappointing in its technicalities, thus a solo show was a considerable risk.

words: Carmina khairallah Photos by: ziad zayat

metal-bell.com

technicalities of the show were reasonable, with the sound being decent for the most part, although the band experienced some issues that created rather long pauses between songs at times. Also, as I’ve said in many previous reviews of events at Yukunkun, the strobe lights were relatively

annoying as well as inappro-priate for the setting of a Metal show, but apart from that, the lighting was fine, and people seemed too busy screaming, headbanging and singing (growling) along to mind either way. The band’s playlist took about an hour and a half to perform, leaving what was

left of the audience to enjoy some playback Metal music afterwards before scurrying home and applying heat pads to their sore necks. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening, and we thank Hemorrhagia and Yukunkun for their efforts, looking forward to what we’ll see from them next.

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The supporting act, Candlends, one of the most talented grunge bands in Lebanon, played some Nirvana covers and their own unique originals. We are used to the performance of the vocalist/lead guitarist, jumping on stage and swip-ing the floor, but somehow the stage of PlayRoom didn’t help him. No one can forget, either, how he was calling the crowd “p**sies” because they didn’t stand in

front of the stage.

It was now time for In-Sanity Q to hit the stage. We were expecting a better entrance, but we all noticed how the band got on stage plugging their own instru-ments. The show started and Chris appeared in his weird make up, and it was time to blow shit up with Dany and Tony's heavy riffs and Johnny and his running and jumping skills - of course

with his awesome bass lines. In-Sanity Q have their own originals that became familiar to everyone who attended the show. Every-one was singing along, headbanging, and watching the 3 skits of the taxi driver, the doctor of the family and the clown of the town. I couldn’t help but notice the presence of “Fouad Yam-mine”, the vocalist of

In-Sanity Q

the theatrical rock show

After making history with Jim Beam, it is time to bring "bad" back to PlayRoom with In-Sanity Q’s theatrical rock show, for the first time ever in Lebanon. When you hear the word "theatrical", you expect dancers and actors. But since it was a first, In-Sanity Q settled for one dancer and 2 actors, though Joelle, their manager, told us that the burlesque dancers of PlayRoom were going to dance on this show, but they had a better offer and the management team of PlayRoom failed them.

words: Chady Khairallah

metal-bell.com

“Meen”. I hurried to ask him about In-Sanity Q and he was shocked and loved this band and gave them two thumbs up.

After the show, I asked "Mario Bassil", the owner of PlayRoom, about what made him take this step to include a rock act at the PlayRoom. He answered that he was trying to see if the setup of PlayRoom is suitable for a rock concert, so he invited some rock artists such as Moe Hamzeh from “The Kordz”, “Adonis” and of course Fouad Yam-mine from "Meen", but he insisted that he didn't want to have a rock concert that was going to cost him, of course. But from my point of view, I don’t think PlayRoom (and its huge cost) is suitable for small gigs.

I then spoke to “Tony Abou Jawde” who had an amazing time watching In-Sanity Q. And because he has been a rocker ever since he was a kid, he was stunned by the talent and perfor-mance.

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When I first arrived at the concert, I was really frustrated. I had to go to the ticketing stand which was 10 minutes away from the venue to get my invitation ticket, but apparently some-one had already taken it. The employees at Virgin were just giving the tickets away

to anyone who gave them the right name. An hour later, I bumped into a good friend who gave me an extra ticket that she had. Thank you Ashley El Jor! The venue was good; I had the chance to see the back-stage area where every band had their own room

and an open bar. There are barely 2000 supporters of the rock scene in Lebanon, and it looked like they all came to support these bands and see The Rasmus. Some of them were just here for the Lebanese bands, which was pretty cool. RESPECT.

jim beam rocked

and made history

It is time to make history with Jim Beam: the first rock concert that hosts 9 of the most active Lebanese rock bands, with special guests “The Rasmus”.

words: Chady khairallahPhotos: karl f. sfeir

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I would like to apologize to the Coolcumbers, Bandage, Lazzy Lung and Meen because I couldn’t get in by then. But from what I heard from the crowd, you did one hell of a job. Sandmoon, I'm sorry but you didn’t fit in this show and what I heard from most of the crowd was that they wished you didn’t get on stage.

When Pindoll got on stage, I was already inside. The stage was big with average equipment. What caught my eye was that every band worked on their own video presentation on the big screen behind them, and the sound and lights were very professional, having a mixer for the monitor on stage and a mix for line arrays. Every band had 30 minutes to

play, but apparently, because there was a delay in starting the show, the stage manager had to come on stage and inform the bands that their time is up, which pissed off the crowd and some band members who I got a chance to talk with.

Pindoll: They have an amaz-ing presence on stage. The

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lead singer has an amazing charisma and gives a crazy show for the crowd, and there’s an amazing chemis-try between the musicians.Jay Wud: What made Jay Wud's show special tonight was his new custom guitar that he was using for the first time, (read all about the guitar on page 10-11) With his magical presence on stage, he captured the crowd, especially with his new song that started a moshpit! It was almost the heaviest song of the event,

but of course security guards stopped that.The Rasmus: When they started the first song, there was a problem with the sound and we couldn’t hear any vocals, but it was fixed instantly. I didn’t feel the presence of the guitarist on stage, he was always between his guitar pedals and the amps, while the drummer, the bassist and the front man were giving an amazing show. The lead singer wasn’t able to hit the high notes though, but the bassist surprised the crowd

by playing a Feyrouz song. “Who Killed Bruce Lee” were up next but unfortu-nately the crowd left and only loyal supporters waited for them. They gave an electric show! People who knew their songs were singing along, dancing and going crazy. The Wanton Bishops: Saving the best for last? I don’t think so. They played some country music, and what surprised me is that some people love this style. But honestly, there was nothing impressive other than their presence on stage where they were all drunk, but we can’t deny the cool performance by the drummer.We can’t forget the DJ from Radio One who played some amazing tunes that made the crowd cheer while waiting for other bands! For my last words, I really think The Rasmus were supposed to be the last band to perform because people left after their show. One last thing, I'd like to apologize to those who came and expected to have a "metal show", but the event was clear and it was a rock concert, not a metal one.

The bands that participated in this event were amazing, starting with November November and their talented guitarist and vocalists, without forgetting “Marc Bassila” on djembe.

EDD WINEDD WIN played some cool reggae music and delivered an energetic performance, however, the bassist wasn’t up to standard as the rest of the band members.

words: chady khairallahphotos by: Eliane radiwords: chady khairallaahhphotos by: Eliane radi

laugh to the rythmmetro al-madina

X-BandX-Band, whose lead singer is “Xriss Jor”, one of the best vocalists in Lebanon, performed an amazing show for the crowd, singing some of the commercial songs that we are all familiar with.

Last but not least, BandAge BandAge ended this night with a heavy twist of covers and 2 origi-nals that I can’t get off my mind. “There are no answers! No answers at all!”

On October 15th, we went to Metro Al Madina to check out this new concept called “Laugh to the Rhythm”: an event that combines music and stand-up comedy. 3as3us, A.K.A Shant Kabakian and Anthony Hamawi, were the laugh of the night. They prepared some commercial songs with a special twist or “Leba-nese” lyrics and some improvised acts that involved interaction with the crowd.

In the end, this event was well prepared and the organizers are thankful for Metro Al Madina and the stage crew. A thank you goes to Jim Beam for sponsoring this event and giving the bands some motivation (if you know what I mean). And thank you for supporting your local bands.

Check Out the full Photo Gallery on

www.metal-bell.comW etal-b ll omml b llPhoto Gallery on Photo Gallery on PP nnnooo

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Remember the last time we attended a gig in Yukunkun and the sound was not up to our expectations? We all do, but this was not just another one. Yukunkun and Metality teamed up to deliver something new, that being Voice Of the Soul. The Dubai-based progressive death metal band came to Lebanon to perform for the first time ever along with Deathlam, Thrashstorm and Noise (Jessica Jinbachian) who was the DJ of the event.

metal sound. I am not likely to enjoy such an act, as the music was too much raw material with only a guitar player, a bassist and a drummer. However, the band’s performance was tight, delivering just what they came here for, playing 6 tracks including “Maggot Remains”, “Reign of Terror”, “The Last March” and “Legion”. Though to point out something, each of the songs started with “this song is called: insert shriek voice here”. If you were trying to guess the

song name, you sure had a bad time.

Second was Thrash-storm. At some point, many were not familiar with the band, but no longer, as these guys have participated in almost all the events taking place lately. It is remarkable that these guys hold a big fan base, and even though I am not quite impressed by the “too much punk” thrash metal they play, it was really fun and nice to watch them; they do know how to put an ener-

Voice of the soul’s

first time in lebanon

The event took place on October 4th. Every attendee was handed a copy of the new released Voice of the Soul album “Catacombs” at the door. Music started around 9 pm with Jessica selecting the tunes for some to head-bang on, but not everyone was there. At 10:15, when the first band, Deathlam, started, people started to show up. The first of the acts, Deathlam, is a 3-piece band, delivering a raw black

words: hussein shehadyphotos by: ziad zayat

metal-bell.com

getic show. By the time they were on stage, almost every-one was moshing and acting crazy. The band played 5 songs, and to be honest, I didn’t know when each started and finished. The first was “Manyak” which is an Arabic word not to be mistaken for the English word “maniac”, then “Black Death”, “Skatanic”, “Thrash Command” and “Blood of Sodom”. Just as the clock hit midnight, the main act, Voice of the Soul, was on stage.

Everyone was excited, waiting to see what they have, and no one was disap-pointed. The guys played 5 songs from the new album: “Desolation/Perpetual Deception”, “Pendulum”, “Quarantine”, “Perdition”, and “Defiled”, one from the “Into Oblivion” EP: “Cast Away in Betrayal”, and a cover for “Death”: “Crystal Mountain”. Knowing that this is the first time they play these songs live, it was great. Mark my words, everyone was satisfied, with people clearly stating “This

is a real metal show” and demanding an encore at the end of the show where the band played “Pendulum” one more time, and that’s how good nights end. After all, it looks like we weren’t the only ones who had a good time. “Honestly, I really enjoyed playing in front of Lebanese fans. They really get into it. I lost focus a few times playing because of how aggressive some of the moshpits were. It was a fun crowd to play, and I really hope we can play another show in Beirut in the near future”, says Kareem, VOTS’ guitarist/vocalist. And we definitely want to see something from VOTS again.

For those who missed it, you really missed a great event which could have been perfect if not for one incident. It is shameful that this would still happen often, as the night didn’t end peacefully, but with a fight. Despite the reasons and how it happened, we should keep in mind that we are brothers in metal, and brothers in metal don’t fight. That’s how we rise with our scene.

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The event took place at Nawawis, Faqra which had already witnessed a similar event before, a breakcore rave at Mad

Parade, but for this event, only a part of the place was reserved. The sound was prepared and everything was ready before the event,

and every group of metal heads already had their plans as the event was BYOB and food. The only thing that was left hanging, however, was transporta-tion, since many were coming from various places. It was hard to find a way to get them all to the same place before heading to the campsite which resulted in a small number of people who attended the event. Friday 12th was the day to go and it started at 2 pm. About 10 or 15 people were already there, but it wasn't until 9 p.m. that everyone started showing up. The music started with some heavy/nu metal till

metal warfare camp

You probably attended the last two “Metal Nights” in Gemmayze, and you probably didn't, but one thing is for sure: as we gather for some metal tunes, we always want the night to go on just a little bit longer without having the neighbors complain about the noise and pubs closing early. Maybe that's how the idea came into mind – a group of metal heads staying up till the morning, head banging to their favorite songs. Jessica Jinbachian, the organizer of the last two Metal Nights, had decided to throw an outdoor event before the end of summer.

words: hussein shehadyPhotos by: petro chidiac

Camp Fire - near the tentsMetal Warfare Camp

metal-bell.com

I would like to thank this camp, for finally letting us see metal heads the way they should be! Also, a big shout out to the guys who came from Saida, as the bus they were supposed to go with ditched them, but they made it anyway! It was really great to see such an event, it was even better to see the harmony and the positive vibes between everyone. Our scene needs events like these and for sure needs the bond between metalheads. Hoping that if anything similar happens soon, more people can attend.

around 8 p.m., then they shifted to some thrash, black, and death metal until 2 a.m. where they cooled it down with a little progres-sive rock. The next day, many people were having barbe-cues for lunch. Later at night, there was a huge campfire which everyone gathered around, played

some games and had a good time. Many stayed awake till the next day, and witnessed a beautiful sight of fog covering up the area. That is definitely something a metal head would like to wake up to! One thing I'd like to mention is that I realized that any time there is an event, there has to be some

sort of fight between people attending. It’s not something new that the scene is divid-ed into sectors, and people fighting is almost inevitable and that is why I think there should always be security at events like these. However, it was not the case at this event and everyone was getting along, even though these 45 people did not all know each other.

Headbanging in natureHeadbanging in nature

Serge KeshishianSerge Keshishian Innerguilt Innerguilt

Cheers guys \\m//

Bassem Deaibess - BlaakyumBassem Deaibess - Blaakyum

Jessica JinbachianJessica Jinbachian

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The event did not feature Nemr Abou Nassar and Michel Labex Labaki as it was supposed to, since both apologized for not attending. Still, the absence of such great names did not affect what everyone witnessed.

The event started at 9 pm as expected. The place was already full, with parents supporting their children, and friends cheering for their fellow friends. Many watched the show standing, as the Quadrangle, although being big, is not structured for such events. You could see a

variety of instruments, from guitars and basses to drums and keyboards. Students were also from various ages, which shows how the school is for everyone.

I was not surprised when I saw an 11-year old boy improvising on the guitar, or when a 12-year old girl covered Adele’s “Someone Like You” on keyboards and vocals, then during some other time at the show, played an original

she wrote on keyboards. But to see an old man whose profession is a dentist playing blues on stage makes you realize how important such school is and that you don’t need a career in music in order to learn it. There were 39 students, starting with guitar players. Everyone had a 1-3 minute backing track to play along to. Styles varied; some played rock and metal, others blues and jazz, depending on what the

N-Jam annual musical event

For those who don’t know what the N-Jam music school is, allow me to start from my own experience. The school was created by Elias Njeim, one of the best guitar-ists in Lebanon and the Middle East, if not the best of them all. I was part of the school for some time, and possibly everything I know about the guitar, I learned it from there. The idea was to give our society the best musicians it can get, and October 5th was the time to see what the N-Jam school has given so far.

words: hussein shehadyphotos: Anthony Ghanime

metal-bell.com

student preferred. You already know now that there was an act on the keyboard followed by N-Jam’s keyboard instructor’s act, and others on bass teaming up with N-jam’s bass instructor. Only one student played the drums followed by N-Jam’s drum instructor’s act. And only

one band played through the night, delivering some funk rock tunes; members of the band were also students at the school.

Of course, the night wouldn’t be complete with-out the sensei, Elias Njeim, showing some of his tricks. Well, we know now where all

the talent comes from, don’t we? And so it was, the last part of the show was to either make you work harder hoping one day you will be as good, or make you think you can never do that and just quit playing. Hope-fully it will be the first choice.

Eventually, the night and the event came to an end, but only for the attendees. The students’ job did not finish, as they have another whole year of learning and training, for next year might witness the same faces but better performances or new faces as well. Lastly, everyone should keep an eye on the N-Jam music school; that’s where our new generation of musicians will come from.

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Of course, the event was delayed as usual. Even though the location is a really nice place and having an event outdoor is really epic, the stage was poorly lit. The lights were placed behind the musicians,

making it very hard for them to see well while playing. And that’s what many musicians complained about, especially when it comes to playing the challenging Dream Theater solos. It made it hard for the audience to see the perform-ers as well!! So the “Rebels MC – Lebanon” had to light up their motorcycles for a few minutes and park them in front of the stage, giving the crowd a better lighting. Next issue to be raised was the very low stage that was probably not more than 30cm high, which made it hard for the attendees to see the musicians playing. The Rebels’ bikes also contributed to this issue as they parked in front of the stage in 2 rows, and that pushed the crowd farther back, and made it almost

impossible for the ones in the back to see anything. We hope these issues will be fixed in the next events, as we look forward to them.

Regarding the perfor-mances, Dirty EnzymeDirty Enzyme started off, playing originals

April

Turbulence

Prog Night and whatnot

Metal Bell Team went to Animal City Zoo in Zikrit to watch three talented Lebanese bands cover some of the toughest styles to play. The event was organized by Beiroots.

by: Majd, Chady & nancyPhotos: nancy m. jdid

metal-bell.com

Dirty Enzyme

such as “Never Let the Woman”, “It Means Noth-ing”, “While I Lay”, “Para-dise”, “Don’t Leave Me”, and “Grungedelic”. Though their music wasn’t so “progres-sive” and didn’t match the theme of the night, they were really impressive and gave a brilliant image of the capability of the Lebanese bands. They complemented the originals with some classics, such as “Hysteria”, “Little Black Submarines”, and “Even Flow”, that really got the crowd warmed up for the next act. As soon as Dirty Enzyme were done with their funky and groovy bass lines and cool guitar riffs, AprilApril took their place on stage and started covering amaz-ing bands such as Tool, Porcupine Tree, and Opeth. The covers for Tool were quite brilliant. April played “Jambi” and “The Pot” by Tool, “Open Car”, “Blackest Eye”, “Trains”, and “Anesthe-

tize” by Porcupine Tree, “Harvest” and “Hope Leaves” by Opeth, and finally, “Heavyweight” by Infected Mushroom (jam). However, the covers for Porcupine Tree and Opeth could have used a bit more work on the vocals, and head banging to Porcupine Tree was a bit off… Regardless of that, they got everyone head banging hard! Our expectations were high, and April gave us more than we expected. Hope to hear some of their originals at their next show.

Last but not least, TurbulenceTurbulence was up next. They started with their first song, a brilliant original, only to be interrupted midway through the song by a power cut, followed by a second and a third cut. And that ended the night and got the fans disappointed and upset for not being able to listen to awesome Dream Theater songs covered by the excep-tional Turbulence. Appar-

ently, most of the crowd came to see this band, but the poor organization and the absence of the organiz-ers from the stage area (as they stated in a Facebook post on the event wall) led to the end of our progres-sive night with a huge disappointment. Turbulence members were outraged and that was clear in their statements on Facebook as well.

On a side note, Turbulence were selling Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater and Tool T-shirts, made especially for this event so they can raise money for their upcoming album. Everyone hurried to the stand and bought all the shirts to support the band, as we at Metal Bell did. You can still order your shirts by sending a private message to their Facebook page inbox. And Guess what? They are preparing a Third Dream Theater night!

We have mixed feelings about this event. Nonetheless, I am pretty sure that if the light-ing system at least is fixed, the next event will be a night to remember. Cheers for Beiroots! Until the next event!

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On Thursday the 26th of July, the Dubai-based act “Bull Funk Zoo” graced our very own Nova Club in Sin El Fil, with the help of local Rock act “The Kordz”’s vocalist, Moe Hamze. The location, long renowned for its frequent Rock and Metal shows, has now taken up a calmer, more soothing demeanor, and was the perfect place for the good vibes to come.

Words: Carmina khairallah

lin and more. But they were far from the ordinary cover band, and they made sure to add their own personal touch to each song, exuding a groove that left no foot safe from tapping and no hip safe from swaying. Techni-cally speaking, the entirety of the band seemed highly professional, mastering their instruments and voices quite well. The sound, on the other hand, could have been better, as it often is in these local gigs, but that did not tame their enthusiasm the least bit, and they all seemed to be enjoying their time immensely.

After about two hours of this musical treat, everyone regretfully parted, all enriched with the vibes that only a night of good music, good company and good booze never fails to deliver. Thank you Bull Funk Zoo and thank you Nova Club, we are anxious to hear of what you will bring us next.

h of July, the Dubai-based act “Bull Funk Zoo” graced our very with the help of local Rock act “The Kordz”’s vocalist, Moe Hamze. h f J l th D b i b d t “B ll F k Z ” d

WWords: Carmina khairallah

Bull funk zoolive at nova

metal-bell.com

time immensely.y ,

we are anxious to hear of what you will bring us next.

The doors were said to open at 10 pm, and about an hour later the place was packed with fans and friends, all gathered on couches set around the center of the venue that was all fixed up to serve as a very casual stage. The comfort-able setting and dim lighting made it even more obvious that this was a most friendly gathering, with no preten-tions to come taint the positive waves. The band played one track from their debut album, but their playlist was mostly composed of covers from many varied well-known acts such as Bob Marley, The Beatles, Led Zeppe-

words: hussein shehady

or a technical issue. After the pleasant act, it was up to Amadeus to perform an acoustic medley right with some melodic tunes. Right after that, more progressive songs were on the way as the next song was “Road Salt” by “Pain Of Salvation” followed by “Opeth’s” “Burden” and finally “Deep Purple’s” “When A Blind Man Cries”. The night was coming to an end but the action was not done, as the band took a

break for the drummer to kick in with a solo everyone enjoyed then finished with an instru-mental. At the end, everyone got their CD signed by Amadeus and the band also stayed around for a friendly chat with the fans. I didn’t get my CD signed as I left a bit earlier, but something I am sure of, everyone enjoyed their time and had a great night as everyone did give a positive feedback saying it was great.

affect us as listeners. I truly enjoyed the Porcupine Tree songs, not only the songs themselves are great but also the way the guys deliv-ered- it was flawless. The vocals, however, were a little bit low as compared to the rest of the band and that was apparent on most parts of "Arriving Somewhere but Not Here”. Not to criticize Elia Monsef’s performance, the vocals did need to be higher but we cannot really judge if it was Monsef's fault

words: hussein shehaddyyyyy

Eon is a project Amadeus Awad has been working on for a while. “The Book of Gates” was actually recorded a year ago, before “Schizanimus”, but was set to be released almost a year later. This EP will be the fourth release for Amadeus Awad along with “Ghost Stories”, “Time Of The Equinox” and the latest “Schizanimus”, and as its predecessor, you can see it has many guest artists: Symphony X’s Russell Allen, Amanda Somerville on vocals, John Macaluso (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen) on drums, Dan Veall on bass, Kevin Moore (ex-Dream Theater) on keyboards, and more.

After all, the release night was definitely something up to our expectations with only one thing missing as I was hoping to listen to something from the new album. Still, if you were not there, you did miss something big. Make sure to check out Amadeus Awad’s Eon – The Book of Gates now available for you to listen to.

by Opeth s Bfinally “Deep Pu“When A Blind The night was end but the actdod ne, as the ba

brb eak for ttootttt kick in weeeveveryone efinished wmental. At the eggogg t their CAAAAmadeus aalso stayeaa friendly cfffans. I didnssigned as eeearlier, buaaaama sure oeeeeeenjoyed thhhad a greaeeevvee eryone dppppppoositive feiiititt was gre

of Arriving Somewhere but Not Here”. Not to criticizeElia Monsef’s performance, the vocals did need to be higher but we cannot really jujujj dgdge if it was Monsef's fault

ll, the release night was definitely something up to our expectatsing as I was hoping to listen to something from the new album. Su did miss something big. Make sure to check out Amadeus Awas now available for you to listen to.

Eon the Book of gates release

Back to the same place as last year on Satur-day September 13th, Metro al Madina held the release night. I thought the place was great for the release as the style of music needed a venue with Metro's look. The place was full, with tables in front of the stage removed for those who like to stand and watch the performance. Black Resonance, the name of the lineup performing, started around 10:20 with an instrumental song, following with tracks from “Schizanimus”: “The Poetry of Time”, “Noir” and “A Song for a Loner”, and then two Porcupine Tree covers – “Normal” and “Arriving Somewhere but Not Here”. They started a bit late but apologized for that later. The performance cannot be described as anything but epic; every-thing was amazing, even though there was a problem with the drum’s monitors and the band asked twice for technical help but that didn’t

69

International News

It was announced that on October 20, Deep Purple will be releas-ing a new DVD entitled “Live in Verona”. The film will include their concert that took place at the ancient Arena di Verona in the summer of 2011. This performance was marked by the joining of the German Neue Philhar-monic Orchestra who performed along their biggest hits.

The setlist includes favorites such as “Smoke on the Water”, “Hush”, “Perfect Strangers”, “Highway Star” and “Woman from Tokyo”.

A performance clip for the track “Space Trucking” can be found online.

This legendary meeting of classical music and rock is not a one timer for the band, as 45 years earlier, Deep Purple had performed a “Concerto for Group and Orchestra”.

Upcoming DVD “Live in Verona” from Deep Purple

The American band recently released a statement on their Facebook page announcing a change in their November plans. Apparently, the band members have decided to reschedule their U.S. tour dates in November to concentrate on their upcoming studio album. The fans were also assured that sold tickets will remain valid for the new dates which are to be announced soon. A full refund is also available to those who cannot attend the new scheduled concerts. This is quite a busy period for the band, as a MANOWAR feature length video entitled “Hell on Earth V” was also released on iTunes in several countries. The two hours long video includes the Viking Encore from the “Demons, Dragons and Warriors” tour and many other full-length versions of hits and highlights from tours.

After ten years and four albums, Ronny Munroe waves goodbye to Metal Church. The band stated that this departure is due to Ronny’s wish to pursue other interests. However, the band stated that Metal Church is still alive, with big announcements ahead *new vocalist perhaps?*Ronny released his third solo album earlier this year titled “Electric Wake”.

MANOWAR to Postpone their U.S. Touring to Work on the Next Album

In what is probably their most intense and peculiar music video, Slipknot revealed their brand new masks. ‘The Devil in I’, released as Slipknot’s first official single from their fifth album “The Gray Chapter”, is set in a loft-meets-insane asylum. In the video clip that lasts for six minutes, the members fully showcase their new mask designs that had been teased prior to that in a recent tour promo. Two similar masks are worn by both Slipknot’s new bassist and drummer and all the members have subtle changes in their masks. Taylor’s mask however received the biggest changes. It is now more form-fitting, has a peel away “skin” and shows his mouth more than the old one.

Slipknot New Masks Make the Highlights of Rock and Metal News this Month

Ronny Munroe Leaves Metal Church

metal-bell.com

Decapitated, Crash Number 3

First, a tour bus accident ends the life of drummer Vitek and possibly the career of lead singer Coven, then an airplane crash, and now this.

The band had a “serious” van accident while they were on their way to a show at House of Blues in New Orleans, LA with GWAR and American Sharks. Only two persons were hospitalized for a short period then discharged, while others were miraculously intact –according to the state-ment the band issued on their Facebook page.

Think that’ll stop this br00tal force? Think again, the tour is still on as planned.

In Mother Russia, Cannibal Corpse Gets Grinded

Well, here’s what happened: the Ufa show got canceled due to techni-cal reasons (the venue was supposedly late on rent), the shows in St. Peters-burg and Moscow were canceled since “the band didn’t have the correct visas”, although according to the band’s statement, their papers were “correct” and they had the appropriate visas. During the Nizhny Novgorod, the show was stopped, the police raided the venue in search for drugs, and ten people were arrested. At the Chelyabinsk concert, three songs were banned, and anyone under the age of 18 was not allowed to attend.

Cannibal Corpse weren’t the only band to suffer in Russia. Earlier this year, Behemoth’s tour was canceled in the country and Marilyn Manson had several shows canceled… The reason? Demands of a certain religious cult in the country.

Ozzy Talks about Black Sabbath Farewell

"I'm doing one more BLACK SABBATH tour, one more BLACK SABBATH album, and then we're disbanding the name, I believe. And then after that, I'll be doing my solo stuff", says Ozzy Osbourne, the front man of Black Sabbath.

Ozzy also expressed the hope to have Bill Ward, the original band drum-mer, back in the lineup. "Hopefully we'll end on a happy note. The only sad note about it is that Bill Ward didn't do the last tour, for reasons that I guess have something to do with financing or something. I don't know." He then adds: "It would be great for him to get it together and sort all the problems out for the next tour. It would be a great way for the four of us to end such a wonderful experience of being Black Sabbath, and what we achieved.”

It's not easy to think of it; they started the legacy, they gave us metal music, but like everything else, it's coming to an end.

AUDIOSLAVE Ex-Members Cornell and Morello Reunited in a Live Performance

After a separation that lasted since the band’s breaking up in 2007, singer Chris Cornell and current member of SOUNDGARDEN made a guest appearance on September 26 at the El Corazon in Seattle. In his appearance, he joined former AUDIOSLAVE guitarist Tom Morello in an acoustic set that was part of a benefit concert for “15 Now”. The latter organization is a grassroots association that fought in success for a $15 minimum wage in Seattle. This reunion is a witness to the statements that both Cornell and Morello had made back in 2007 that the separation is an amiable one. Cornell wanted to make a record for himself and was tired dealing with the political negotiations of AUDIO-SLAVE. Morello had also said that he had no hard feelings against Cornell for quitting, and that “the band’s friendship and roots were deep”.

71

International News

In a recent radio interview conducted with renowned singer King Diamond in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the heavy metal artist spoke about the positive outcomes of his open-heart-triple bypass surgery that took place in November 2010.

“The set is an hour and a half, full blast. And it's not easy, when you sing my style of vocals. You don't think about that often that I get much less oxygen than the rest of the band.” King said. “But now, after those 90 minutes, when we get off stage, I literally today feel, 'Was that it?' And you can talk to me and this and that, and it's not a problem.”

The Danish singer also mentioned that doing what the doctors requested him to do, such as cutting cigarettes and chang-ing his diet, was also a great aid for him in turning this bad experience into something positive.

King Diamond Speaks About the Positive Aspects of His Bad Medical Experience

Bad news for Rammstein fans who have been hoping to see them on tour sometime in the next couple of years. Apparently, according to the band’s guitarist Richard Krupse in an inter-view with Metal Hammer, the band is currently taking some time off. The Rammstein member expressed the band’s intention for the moment to leave space for each individual to do his own thing.

Aside from several upcoming live DVDs, it does not seem either that the band will be releasing a new album anytime soon: “I like that idea, actually, to take breaks […] I think we will come back together. I love touring with Rammstein, and if somebody has a vision for a record, we'll do another record.”

Rammstein on a Break!

metal-bell.com

Metal

Artist: ARCH ENEMYAlbum: War EternalReleased: June 4th, 2014Length: 50:32Style: Melodic Death Metal

Label: Century Media

Artist: STEEL PANTHERAlbum: All You Can EatReleased: April 1st, 2014Length: 48:09Style: Glam/Comedy Metal

Label: Kobalt Label Services

Artist: GAMMA RAYAlbum: Empire of the UndeadzReleased: March 28th, 2014Length: 56:46Style: Power/Speed Metal

Label: earMUSIC

Artist: SONATA ARCTICAAlbum: Pariah's ChildReleased: March 28th, 2014Length: 53:04Style: Power/Progressive metal

Label: Nuclear Blast

Artist: BURZUMAlbum: The Ways of YoreReleased: June 2nd, 2014Length: 68:35Style: AmbientLabel: Byelobog Productions

Artist: LACUNA COILAlbum: Broken Crown HaloReleased: March 31st, 2014Length: 47:35Style: Gothic/Alternative MetalLabel: Century Media

Artist: MAYHEMAlbum: Esoteric WarfareReleased: June 6th, 2014Length: 47:25Style: Black/Doom Metal

Label: Season of Mist

Artist: DELAINAlbum: The Human ContradictionReleased: April 4th, 2014Length: 42:00Style: Symphonic/Gothic Metal

Label: Napalm Records

Artist: EPICAAlbum: The Quantum EnigmaReleased: May 2nd, 2014Length: 68:13Style: Symphonic Metal

Label: Nuclear Blast

Artist: ANIMALS AS LEADERSAlbum: The Joy of MotionReleased: March 24th, 2014Length: 54:23Style: Progressive Metal

Label: Sumerian

ArtistAlbum: EReleased: JLength: 47:25Style: Black/Doom abel: Season of Mist

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