Aug 102021
 

 

(Comrade Aleks brings us his interview with Ismaeel Attallah and Youssef Saleh from the Egyptian band Crescent, whose latest album was released at the end of last month by Listenable Records.)

Highly influenced by Swedish Black Metal in their early days, Crescent from Cairo, Egypt never hurried and have worked out their image patiently and carefully since 1999. This attitude and the band’s place of origin explain why it took so much time ’til they managed to finish their first album Pyramid Slaves in 2014. They didn’t wake up famous the next day, but a contract with Listenable Records and a few big festivals were in their hands.

Crescent totally changed direction with their sophomore album The Order of Amenti (2018), yet some pieces of black metal were left in their body though death metal influences were far stronger. And if you are wondering how this Egyptian blackened death metal sounds today, then Crescent’s new big work Carving the Fires of Akhet is your best chance to dig it out. Ismaeel Attallah (vocals,guitars) and Youssef Saleh (guitars) are our guests tonight. Continue reading »

Jan 262017
 

 

As I made my way through the enormous list of new songs and videos that I’ve been compiling since last weekend, a certain shape began to suggest itself to me — the shape of a tasty metal sandwich. And with that shape in mind (and a gnawing hunger in my guts), I selected and organized the following 8 songs.

For this playlist of mostly brand new things we begin harsh and heavy, then segue into a block of Exceptions To Our Rule (the one about singing), and then move into the other side of the sandwich where total war on the senses lies in wait again. You’ll also find some very eye-catching videos in here, along with a broad assortment of music that struck my fancy — with only truncated commentary from yours truly.

MANETHEREN

According to a press release, “The End is a concept album about a human being travelling across the lands as the world begins to end…. Each song represents different events during the ending process, and as they unfold the being feels as himself is becoming god, or death itself. By the end of the album this being by all means becomes god and rules over the wasteland left behind.” Continue reading »