Narjahanam - "Undama Tath'hur Al Shams Mn Al Gharb" [2007]

Artist: نار جهنم

Title: عندما تظهر الشمس من الغرب
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Bahrain
Release date: 2007

Track List:

1. That Alamat Al Nujoom / تحت علامات النجوم
2. Laheeb Al Nar / لهيب النار
3. Al Jihad / الجهاد
4. Al Shar Wa Aljan / الشر والجن
5. Rayat Al Mowt / رايات الموت
6. Nehaya Wa Bedaya / نهاية وبداية
7. Huroob Al Zaman Al Akheer / حروب الزمن الأخير
8. Yown Al Maw’oud / اليوم الموعود
9. Al Aukhera / الآخرة

Although Bahrain is only a small island in the Persian Gulf, it has a considerably bigger metal scene than in many other Middle Easten countries. Narjahanam (which means "Hellfire" in Arabic, I believe) is a pagan/black metal duo from Bahrain formed in 2004. According to the official biography:

"Narjahanam started off as a side project of Gravedom in the middle of the year 2004. The only reason Narjahanam started is because the ideas and concepts of the songs and lyrical theme did not fit with Gravedom since the lyrics are only in Arabic for Narjahanam, so both Gravedom and Narjahanam have different concepts"

Although the quality of production isn't perfect, and the sound of whole whole album is too "old school", "Undama Tath'hur Al Shams Mn Al Gharb" features a very interesting mix of dark metal (whatever it may mean) and oriental melodies. For some it may seem somewhat monotonous, but nevertheless it contains several really catchy tracks ("Al Jihad", for instance).

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Damaar - "Triumph Through Spears of Sacrilege" [2006]

Artist: Damaar (دمار)

Title: Triumph Through Spears of Sacrilege
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Lebanon
Release date: 2006

Track List:

1. فسق
2. Preaching for Mass Suicide
3. The Goatphoenix
4. Desecration (Blasphemy cover)
5. Ode to Blasphemy (Onward to the Gates of Mekka)

One more Lebanese band who knows how to play really brutal black metal! As far as I know, the name "Damaar" means "Destruction" in Arabic, and they haven't released anything beside this 2006 demo (they seem to have relocated to Australia after 2006 Israeli-Lebanese war, and then split up). Anyway, the demo is just great, and definitely recommended to any fan of extreme metal.

"While most bands fantasize about war and glorify violence they have never witnessed; Damaar hail from Lebanon (formed in 2004) where war perpetually looms. Furthermore, Damaar’s devotion to metal can hardly be questioned. In order to protect themselves from retaliation by the government, they were forced to distribute their demo by mp3 rather than tape or CD. Thus in the face powerful religious zealots, Damaar persisted in pursuing its evil directives. After relocating to Australia, Damaar was able to finally send out a proper (non-mp3) master and collect artwork for the vinyl release of their demo on NWN! This assault is pure aural bestial blasphemy in the style of Black Witchery, Revenge and others. Conceptually, Damaar invoke anti-religious warfare towards all those weak and feeble-minded followers of all false gods. The band is currently inactive following its move to Australia and its future is uncertain"

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Ayat - "Six Years Of Dormant Hatred" [2008]

Artist: Ayat

Title: Six Years Of Dormant Hatred
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Lebanon
Release date: 2008

Track List:

1. Ilahiya Khinzir! (All Hail Allah the Swine)
2. Fornication And Murder
3. The Fine Art of Arrogance Part One (The Icon And The Cattle)
4. Collective Suicide in The Boudoir (Feeling Wonderful Tonight)
5. Puking Under Radiant Moonlight (Followed by a Century Long Ejaculation)
6. Misogyny When We Embrace
7. Necronarcos (Tame You Death)
8. Curses! Curses! and Never Sleep...
9. Thousands of Pissed Motherfuckers...
10. Such a Beautiful Day! (The Exaltation of Saint Francis)

I'm continuing to explore the Middle Eastern black metal scene, and now here's a band from a country that has experienced two wars in the last 50 years (including a 15 year-long civil war between various religious factions - that, however, failed to solve the problem of sectarian hatred within the population of Lebanon...) Their music is surprisingly good - brutal, raw, "punkish" industrial black metal that can be described as "Aborym using Middle Eastern melodies". Ayat isn't specifically an anti-Islamic band, but they're speaking against any forms of religious establishment.

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Nokturnal Forest - "To Embrace the Nocturnal Hymns" [2010]

Artist: Nokturnal Forest

Title: To Embrace the Nocturnal Hymns
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Syria
Release date: 2010

Track List:

1. Through A Winter Night...
2. Transylvanian Darkness
3. Bloodied Tears
4. March Of The Nocturnal Path
5. Black Millenium (Mutiilation Cover)

"To Embrace the Nocturnal Hymns" is the latest release by Nokturnal Forest up to date. It's much better produced and more atmospheric than "Cleansed By The Evil Hand", so I'd say the band is moving in the right direction. They definitely need a better vocalist, though... but I guess it's very hard to find any metal musicians in Syria.

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Nokturnal Forest - "Cleansed By The Evil Hand" [2010]

Artist: Nokturnal Forest

Title: Cleansed By The Evil Hand
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Syria
Release date: 2010

Track List:

1. Intro
2. Transilvanian Darkness
3. Sabbath Of A Thousand Young
4. Sacrifice The Immolation
5. The Nocturnal Forest
6. With Wrath So Divine (Dhul-Qarnayn Cover)
7. Outro
8. Evil Church (Enthroned Cover)

One more raw black metal demo from a Middle Eastern country which is currently in state of civil war. Hope al-Assad will find a compromise with the rebels, and Syria won't follow the path of Libya...

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Janaza - "Burning Quran Ceremony" [2010]

Artist: Janaza

Title: Burning Quran Ceremony
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Iraq
Release date: 2010

Track List:

1. Burn the Pages of Quran
2. Islamic Lies
3. Arise
4. Black Metal Ist Krieg (Nargaroth cover)
   
5. When Islam Brainwashed Mankind

Not so long ago CC (of Cracked Core) asked me if I know any anti-Islamic (not just anti-religious, but specifically anti-Islamic) black metal bands from Middle Eastern countries. Well, can't say there's a lot of such bands... but there's a female-fronted black metal project even in Iraq! It's called Janaza, and consists of only one member behind the moniker "Anahita". Female-fronted black metal from Muslim countries isn't something unheard of (see İlkim Oulanem), but Anahita's lyrics are much more explicit, and she comes from much less secular country. In terms of music, this demo is nothing special, but don't forget it's true black metal from a country with virtually no metal or rock scene, and made by person who witnessed the horrors of war with her own eyes (unlike those Scandinavian metal bands who prefer to sing about war while staying in the most safe region of the world...)

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The Silver Shine - "Same Old Song" [2011]

Artist: The Silver Shine

Title: Same Old Song
Genre: Psychobilly
Country: Hungary
Release date: 2011

Track List:

1. Homeward Bound
2. I Sold my Soul for Rock and Roll
3. Screeeaam!!! (Timmy Version)
4. Forbidden Zone
5. Anyhow
6. Kamikaze Stomp
7. Crazy Babe
8. Power Cut
9. Angels to Some
10. Burning Dices

This new release from The Silver Shine isn't disappointing, although it isn't really a new album, just a collection of re-recorded old tracks (hence the name "Same Old Song"). By the way, they're not just a psychobilly band, but a straight edge psychobilly band! Although I'm not really SxE (I do drink alcohol... but only a little, and on very rare occasions), it's a good thing in my book (unless it's hardline/militant/nazi SxE... but I guess it's apparently not the case with Silver Shine).

Where to download it? Well... just type in google "Silver Shine Same Old Song mediafire", and you most likely will immediately find the link you need.

Kids Of The Streets - "Get Off!" [2011]

Artist: Kids Of The Streets

Title: Get Off!
Genre: Oi!
Country: Russia
Release date: 2011

Track List:

1. A Good Day
2. One Of Us
3. Get Off!
4. Mountain River

Another Russian punk (more precisely: oi!/streetpunk) band who can play good music by international standards, and sing in English without heavy accent. Kids Of The Streets are S.H.A.R.P. skinheads from Moscow region who released their debut LP in 2010. Here's their newest 4-track EP, "Get Off!".

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Niggers - "Ugly Russians" [2011]

Artist: Niggers

Title: Ugly Russians
Genre: Punk
Country: Russia
Release date: 2011

Track List:

1. Niggers Anthem
2. High School
3. Mr. Dickhead
4. Ugly Russians
5. Punk Rock Grandparents
6. No Fake Friends
7. My Mother Said
8. Loser Rock
9. Tough Friends
10. Birth Of A Goat
11. We Hate Your Guts
12. Ha Ha Ha

Another band having the infamous N-word in their name (along with New York Niggers and Niggas With Guitars). Actually I was honestly surprised of how good their music is, and they can sing in English almost without accent (unlike most Russian punk bands). They're from Novosibirsk, but they're definitely not a stereotypical "Siberian suicidal post-punk" band - just old school punk, nothing else. Recommended!

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Cracked Core & Brandkommando - "The Root Causes of Social Dysfunction" [2011]

Artist: Cracked Core + Brandkommando
Title: The Root Causes of Social Dysfunction
Label: Mental Excitement
Genre: Industrial / Noise / Power Electronics
Country: Russia / Poland
Release date: 2011

Track List:

1. Bioconverter
2. Ma$$ Media
3. Under Pressure
4. Social Phobia
5. TV Noise

This product of collaboration between two experimental/industrial musicians - Cracked Core (Russia) and Brandkommando (Poland) - is one of the most interesting noise/PE albums of the last year, and the first release I'll post here in this year. AFAIK Brandkommando is known for his laconic manner of speech, so I'll follow his example and be brief: it's very noisy release. Much more noisy than any of the solo works by Cracked Core.

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My last post in this year

Happy 2012 year to everyone reading my blog! Hope I'll get some more readers in the next year, so i'd know that my work isn't in vain. As of today, I'm keeping this blog up just to share some rare music and to improve my English skills. I don't really have much time to update it on regular basis, but I still hope it'd be useful to someone. Stay tuned!

My 25th anniversary

From today I'm 25 years old ;) Feel free to greet me!

Cracked Core - "darkyouverymuch" [2011]

Artist: Cracked Core

Title: darkyouverymuch
Genre: Industrial / Ambient / IDM
Country: Russia
Release date: 2011

Track List:

1. FYF 0.1
2. Reset:Rebirth
3. AMFBB
4. b@ck20ldsk00l
5. Solar Dream
6. New Releases, New Bugs...
7. VX in Middle East [raw]
8. Мгла [Хаос-Модуль - 23 rmx by Cracked Core]

As I've promised month ago, I'm posting the new album from Cracked Core, named "darkyouverymuch". The name was inspired by "Tank You Very Much", one of many working titles for the cult FPS game Wolfenstein 3D. CC continues to compose dark electronic music inspired by both cyberpunk and Middle Eastern-themed music like Muslimgauze and Fedayi Pacha, and "darkyouverymuch" isn't much different from the earlier CC's releases in terms of sound; however, CC himself was disappointed with the quality of final mix, but admitted that he most probably won't be able to do any better re-mastering. I wasn't surprised to hear it, though, as I'm already used to his perfectionism. By the way, a 5-track CC/Brandkommando split album is already recorded and mastered, and is about to be released (maybe this weekend). It's expected to be much more harsh and "noisy" than any solo release by CC.

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Virgin Cold - "Phobia" [2010]

Artist: Virgin Cold

Title: Phobia
Genre: Industrial / Electronic
Country: Russia
Release date: 2010

Track List:

1. Melancholy
2. My Soul That Spring
3. New Religion
4. Phobia
5. Depression
6. Cold World

I don't have much information about this project, except it's from my city. The music is surprisingly good, although much closer to darkwave than to industrial / dark electro. All the tracks are purely instrumental. My personal favourite is "Cold World", but the rest of the album is good as well. Overall, a very promising debut release, definitely deserving a wider audience...

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Deafknife - "Pantheon" [2011]

Artist: Deafknife

Title: Pantheon
Genre: Post-Black Metal
Country: Russia
Release date: 2011

Track List:

1. Father Dagon / Mother Hydra
2. Shub-Niggurath
3. Yog-Sothot
4. Beyond The Wall Of Sleep

So, apparently, the members of Deafknife are reading my blog, and they even asked me to check out their first live EP called "Pantheon". Well, I'd say it's definitely better than the demo (although I'm not a big fan of live albums). I especially liked the 2nd track, that's how modern black metal should sound IMO. The lyrics, based on H.P.Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, are in Russian (at least in 2nd track, which has the most clean vocals... not sure about the others).

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