MYRATH

Shehili

EARMUSIC

Tunisia’s progressive metallers up their mainstream appeal

After almost two decades together it’s becoming ever more apt that Myrath is the Arabic word for ‘legacy’. Shehili is the Tunisian progressive metal band’s fifth release since they wisely discarded the original name of X-Tazy. Mixed by three different producers including Jens Bogren of Opeth and Katatonia fame, its crosspollination of Middle Eastern-style instrumentation, Marshall stack power and clean vocals is hypnotic and lush. The likes of You’ve Lost Yourself, Stardust and the super-commercial Dance

– commanding a million YouTube viewings in a little over a month – making the band sound more mainstream than ever before. Some will find it hard to forgive them this fact, but singer Zaher Zorgati is unlikely to lose sleep as Myrath march unstoppably to the next level. ■■■■■■■■■■

FOR FANS OF: Orphaned Land, Amaseffer, Adagio Manically enraptured Nibiru vocalist Ardat uses it exclusively, lending the Italians’ fourth arcane offering an unnerving atmosphere of summoning. Salbrox’s slow-working poison begins with EHNB’s percussive heartbeat, matching your own then rapidly switching the tempo, drawing body and mind down its spiral. EXARP’s sulphuric acridity dissolves the soul, caustic, enraged, before HCOMA’s tribal drums swirling in a maelstrom pave the way for some truly nasty vocal exhortations. By now accustomed to dissonance, the abrupt sparsity of ABALPT and BITOM leave you vulnerable for defiant closer RZIORN. Salbrox is not an undertaking for the weak of will. It drags you into its dark dimension and spits you back out into cold reality, indelibly imprinted onto your subconscious. ■■■■■■■■■■

FOR FANS OF: Shibalba, Mirrors For Psychic Warfare, CHVE the gamut from furious, lightspeed circlepit-inciters like Carnivores and The God Of New Flesh – which incorporates some skinflaying blastbeats – to taut, authoritative chuggers like Acquiesce and the brash, breakdown-infested Dead To Me. Human Furnace’s bile-soaked, razorbladegargling roar is the icing on the confrontational cake, sounding remarkably fresh for a man who has been screaming himself hoarse for almost 30 years. ■■■■■■■■■■

FOR FANS OF: Integrity, Cro-Mags, Slayer