MYRATH

I am so grateful for Kev Rowland's post of his review of this album as I've always had an overwhelming respect and appreciation for Myrath as one of my "gateway" progressive metal bands and Karma was an album from last year that I had been aware of but had completely forgotten to review. The band is still blessed with a core of founding members in stellar bassist Anis Jouini and guitar shredder Malek Ben Arbia, but more, it has the employ of an incredible drummer in the form of Frenchman Morgan Berthet (Shob, Klone, Kadinja)--a man who Malek Ben Arbia had known since his days at the MAI (Music Academy International in Nancy, France) but who didn't join the band until the period leading up to the recording of their wonderful 2016 release, Legacy. But, more, the band retains the amazing services of front man and lead vocalist Zaher Zorgati, who's been with them since joining them for the recording of their second album, 2010's Desert Call. Like Israeli artists ORPHANED LAND and YOSSI SASI, something in the incorporation of melodies and instruments (as well as lyrical themes) from their native Tunisian culture has always given me an affinity for their high energy, hard rockin' metal music. Zaher's vocals are always flawless--delivered with the apparent confidence and ease to make him seem as if as if he were metal's Steve Perry, and Morgan's drumming is nothing short of spell-binding. Though Malek's guitar sounds and chord play some times feel dated or an impediment to the band's supersonic success, his solos are always top notch, powerful, exciting, and highly creative. And Anis' is like a bass juggernaut, thundering the bottom end of the sound palette beneath Morgan's drums, beneath the desert elephants' thunderous feet.

1. "To the Stars" (3:58) opening with something that sounds a bit different--like American hard rock--the music does eventually morph into heavier though the constant presence of sustained keyboard strings chords in the background does tame it down a bit. Thankfully there are amny instances of individual contributions to amp this song up, like drummer Morgan Berthet's off-beat play in those between-verses bridges, some of Malek Ben Arbia's lead guitar flourishes, and singer Zaher Zorgati's vocal nuances. Still, this is quite a surprisingly "smooth" metal song--perhaps a little too dominated by Kévin Codfert's keyboard play. (8.875/10)

2. "Into the Light" (4:55) a standard power metal song and sound palette has the band chugging along with Kévin's very active keyboard play of Arabian chords and riffs constantly infusing the music with those delightful Tunisian melodies. Zaher's vocal performance is quite impassioned, though more in the verses than the choruses, but, heck! The guy is so rock solid--so amazingly consistent and dialed in. And then a keyboard (electronic piano) solo! Though I love Kévin's masterful keyboard orchestrations, wouldn't Myrath's music be amazing with true strings playing Kévin's parts?! (8.875/10)

3. "Candles Cry" (4:07) a perfect prog metal song; a template. (10/10)

4. "Let It Go" (4:25) the metal version of Frozen's big hit. (j/k) Incredible work between Kévin Codfert's keyboards and Morgan Berthet's drumming. (9/10)

5. "Words Are Failing" (4:45) I don't know why keyboardist Kévin Codfert is not included in the "fold" of full band members in the album's credits (as he has been on previous albums) cuz his contributions are not only key to the expansion of this band's fullest sound but often essential for the band to be able to achieve it's own unique sound and identity. I hear so much of Jem Godfrey's FROST* in this power and sound palette of this song. Incredible shift into deep djent at 3:13. A top three song for me. (9.5/10) 6. "The Wheel of Time" (4:19) I like the band exploring new styles and sound palettes as they do here. Great drumming, bass playing, Ozzie-like vocals, and keyboard accents. (8.875/10)

7. "Temple Walls" (3:32) one of the album's weaker tunes despite its base in Kévin Codfert's keyboard's Arabian melody lines. The chorus is a step up musically but the lyrics and power are just lacking something (despite another steallar performance from Zaher). I guess to put it best, I'd say this song suffers from feeling "old"--as if it was resuscitated from some 1980s demo. There is a little nice lead guitar fills and chugging djenting in the second half. (9/10)

8. Child of Prophecy" (4:27) opens with a slow, ballad-like intro before the band jumps into some great metal (guitars) and Arabian (keys) riffing over which Zaher gives another flawlessly powerful performance. I love the staccato djentinesss coming from Malek and Anis. The use of a traditional Tunisian acoustic guitar (possibly and oud) is wonderful! (9.25/10)

9. The Empire" (4:29) great opening guitar and "choir" vocalese to suck the listener in as the band creates a kind of NIGHTWISH sound, but then things thin out leaving Anis' awesome chunky bass, some of Morgan's more sedate metal drumming (so perfect, though!) and Malek's awesome soft-chugging guitar play for Zaher to sing over. Kévin's contributions are a little more background and support on this one, though those background vocal effects are an incredibly asset to the overall feel and effectiveness of the song. Heart-wrenching melodies swooning in the choruses. Great 'tron-supported lead guitar solo in the second half of the fourth minute. Another winner--big time! (9.33333/10)

10. Heroes" (4:12) I don't know, this one feels a bit like ktichen sink filler that was thrown together quickly as an extra chunk to bring the album up over 45 minutes. It's just a little too formulaic, stereotypic, and straightforward rock compared to the rest of the band's compositions. Still, there are highlights: especially in the guitar and drum interplay in the instrumental passage in the third and fourth minutes. (8.666667/10)

11. Carry On" (4:28) here is an opening that feels like a pop vocal performance and melody reigned in to feed and create a metal song. There is more than a little EINAR SOLBERG (LEPROUS) in this vocal performance. Only at the end of the second minute does music ever rise to that same Leprous level, but then it slides back into the more mundane for the next chorus despite Kévin's (or because of his) dextrous keyboard contributions. (8.875/10)

Total Time 47:37

This album is a little more dynamically diverse than the Legacy that I last reviewed--not always so frenetic and --there's some space and pacing that make me think of mature metal bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and modern day Metallica--and yet those Arabian "orchestral" strains provided by keyboard genius Kévin Codfert continue to mesmerize me like a snake rising out of a wicker basket.

Like Legacy, there are no bad or poor parts of this album (though I understand and commiserate with Kev Rowland's lament of the album's "American perfectionist" sound and production), but there are definitely highlights--and none more than "Candles Cry" (which is matched with a powerful video on YouTube): I would call this song a quintessential prog metal masterpiece; it has everything that a perfect prog metal song should have: incredibly solid and expressive vocals (sung in perfectly enunciated English--for which I am always forever grateful) accompanied by some rock solid metal music coming from a top notch rhythm section, embellished with some excellently nuanced keyboard support, all working in perfect unison and spirit to deliver a very powerful anti-war message in as direct and concise a fashion as possible. Flawless!

People, I think Prog World and Metal World very lucky to have this band to reference. I feel even more fortunate to have this opportunity to shout from the rooftops my appreciation for the extraordinary talents and gifts of singer Zaher Zorgati and drummer Morgan Berthet as well as the wonderful music offered us by this very tight, very focus band.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of prog metal highly prized and recommended for its unique inflection of Arabian sounds and melodies.

It has been way too long since I heard Myrath, as the last album of theirs I reviewed was 2011's 'Tale of the Sands' and there have been two more since, but at least I now have 'Karma' which is a blast of joy from the first note to the last. It is said that when the guys signed to Brennus to release 'Hope' back in 2007 they were the first band ever from Tunisia to be signed to an international label. I don't know how true that is, but I certainly can't think of any other bands from there (a quick check of PA's charts for top albums from Tunisia finds them the only band listed). The only true description of their music is prog metal, but they have been through different styles and influences over the years and here we find them quite removed from their more folk influence norms, but they still find room for Middle Eastern touches here and there, plenty of orchestration and loads of polish. Guitarist Malek Ben Arbia has been at the helm for more than 20 years, founding the band originally under the name XTAZY (who released a demo in 2005), while bassist Anis Jouini played on the debut album, which was produced by Kévin Codfert. The following year they gained a new singer in Zaher Zorgati while drummer Morgan Berthet finalised the current line-up in 2011. However, before they started recording this album they lost keyboard player Elyes Bouchoucha, who originally joined XTAZY back in 2003 and had played on every release, but they found a guest replacement in Codfert. What this means is that since they became Myrath and a full recording unit they have had pretty a stable line-up, and that shows.

My only complaint with this is not in the songs, which are packed full of hooks, or the vocals (which are sublime) or any of the musicianship (which is superb) or even the use of strings to emphasise the Middle Eastern roots, but with the production. This has been polished within an inch of its life, and possibly more so, which means it is just too sweet and leaves something of an aftertaste in the mouth. It is still an excellent album, but if the production had been pared back and been less (dare I say it) American, then this would probably have been essential. It is an album which dares the listener to turn up really loud and join in, letting the music swirl as the beat and groove gets everybody dancing, but I just wish it was a little rawer and rougher around the edges.

What I do know is that it has been way too long for me to miss out on Myrath who are Angra taken in a different direction, and like the Brazilians are certainly worth discovering.

3rd April: Myrath - Shehili (alternative folk metal, 2019)

Myrath have never blown me away, but I'm impressed with the longevity of their gimmick, because often bands that rely this heavily on a very specific sound tend to fizzle out. Even the leaders of so-called "oriental" metal, Orphaned Land, have started producing uninspired and by-numbers schlock, although their peak was much greater than Myrath's. This is no exceptional album, but it's a solid alt-metal outing with consistently chonky riffs and the inclusion of Arabic-scale melodies is almost seamless. They've definitely doubled down on the poppier approach that they've been leaning towards since Tales of the Sands, and I'm here for it, because those sort of Alladincore melodies work far better as hooks than as parts of Dream Theateresque wank.

6.1 (1st listen)

Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction

Shehili sounds like the work of an average bunch of musicians when, undoubtedly, these guys are capable of exceptional tunes. With Desert Call, Myrath blew me away with a sublime mix of hard-hitting progressive metal with deeply woven arabic vocals/ intstrumentation that created a unique feeling of been drawn away into an exotic, far away land (and I'm Indian!). Everything about Desert Call was simply stunning, while Shehili sounds half-hearted and run-of-the-mill metal with a spattering of middle-eastern influences. While the background of synth laid down by Elyes Bouchoucha and the essentially metal riffs of Malek Ben Arbia go perfectly with Zaher Zorgatti's vocal histrionics, the most notable missing element are the thunderous/ complex/ intricate/ pounding drums and percussion of Saif Ouhibi to go with the growling bass lines of Anis Jouini. Shehili sounds like over-produced pop-metal - the majesty of Myrath seems to be long gone...please bring back the Myrath of Desert Call!

Metal is so well suited for cross pollinating with Mediterranean musical influences that, in the absence of any context, you could be forgiven for thinking metal originated in the Middle East. Specifically, it is the prevalence of the Phrygian dominant scale (i.e. the 5th mode of the harmonic minor scale) in both genres makes that makes it easy to imagine how passages from folksy Mediterranean and Arabic music can easily be converted into crushing metal riffs. On Tales of the Sands, Tunisian power prog darlings Myrath have capitalized on this affinity between the genres to great effect.

Unlike Myrath's stylistic peers Orphaned Land in neighboring Israel (represent), their music is not the most compositionally ambitious. Rather, the focus is on building catchy and infectious riffs and hooks. That Myrath succeeds in doing so across almost the entire 50-minute run time is impressive. Thanks to the slick production, there are times on this record where I feel I am listening to straight dance music. And it is absolutely awesome!

MYRATH return from its North African hideaway with the fifth album SHEHILI thus proving that this Tunisian band that has made a career out of mixing Middle Eastern folk music with metal is in no danger of going away any time soon. In fact this quintet plus session musicians has only become more famous internationally since its 2006 formation however despite the band's exotic flair that has caught the rest of the world's attention, these guys still don't resonate very much in their native lands. It's been three years since MYRATH released "Legacy" which found the band taking a softer less progressive approach than on the preceding "Hope," "Desert Call" and "Tales of the Sands." SHEHILI emulates "Legacy" with lush symphonically embellished power metal inspired metal tracks that wrap themselves around the classic Arab sounds of the Sahara.

Unlike MYRATH's earliest albums which focused on the metal aspects of the band's idiosyncratic fusion, SHEHILI continues the thick atmospheric cloud covers of "Legacy" and crafts more accessible pop hooks that take a blatant dip into the mainstream with catchy sing-songy melodic hooks with simpler compositional constructs that add some power metal heft but focus a lot of attention on more AOR flavors that demonstrates that the band is clearly going for the mainstream breakthrough jugular which is what makes this album a little weak compared to the earliest powerful displays of metal music that has now been tamed into one trick camel races all the way to the top of the charts.

On the positive side of things, vocalist Zaher Zorgati still delivers a powerful vocal charm and is perfect for the type of music that MYRATH has conjured up. The other winner is the strong symphonic string section that includes the usual menagerie of instruments such as the violin, viola and the new which is a Persian flute that is prominent in most forms of traditional Middle Eastern music. Also included are traces of lute and elegant piano arrangements that add touches of Western classical teased into the Eastern sounds. The symphonic touches overall are what define SHEHILI much more than the rather subordinate heavy rock aspects that barely even qualify for metal any longer. The production is also perfect as it allows each little sound to find its own space without intruding on the others.

Ah, i loved early MYRATH. The five-piece metal band from the far flung non-metal lands of Tunisia who dared conjure up metal mirages with local flavors. The early albums were powerful and delivered all the goods while weaving it all together in highly progressive ways. Most of those complexities have been replaced at this point with easy on the ears flavorings that keep most of the tracks sounding rather similar in approach. The formula is rather simple. Recycle the same Eastern musical scales, add a bit of guitar heft with the only occasional solo along with a rather subordinate bass and drum rhythm section. While Zorgati is clearly the star of the show with his passionate and intricately designed vocal style, the rest of the music falls rather flat compared to the earliest offerings.

MYRATH have obviously fallen into the trap that many bands do as they flirt with commercial success and by that they lose the passion that was generated in the beginning when the music was intended as a statement rather than a means of economic opportunity. While many bands find a way to balance these two acts by having a few more commercial tracks and some more sophisticated experimental and progressive ones, MYRATH have chosen to create a rather monotonic album's worth of 12 tracks where the overall feel of the individual songs doesn't really advance. It all sounds like a series of reshuffling with a few minor bursts of bombast for a little contrast. It's clear form the videos that this band is aiming for the mainstream and that involves healthy amounts of cheese to pull it off. While the sound of the band is clearly intact, there's just not enough going on on this new album to get me really excited. Personally i want the old MYRATH back. This just feels shallow. Not bad but not great either.

3.5 rounded down

"Myrath" is a progressive metal band from Tunisia (it has been said that they are the original heavy metal band from Tunisia) formed in 2001 by guitarist Malek Ben Arbia. At first, the band traveled around doing live shows, mostly as a cover band for heavy metal songs, but eventually, after replacing many members of the band, Malek went to Music Academy International to learn music theory and improve his guitar skills. In 2006, the band recorded their first album which was released in 2007 and have since released 5 albums.

In May of 2019, they released their 5th album called "Shehili". Except for the drummer, the entire band-line up remains the same as it was for their debut album: Zaher Zorgatti on lead vocals; Malek Ben Arbia on guitars; Elyes Bouchoucha on keyboards; Anis Jouini on bass; and Morgan Berthet on drums. The album consists of 12 tracks with a run time of 47 minutes. None of the tracks reach the 5 minute mark and, except for 1 short introductory track, all of them are between 3 and 4 minutes long.

The music on this album is a heavy metal style with many aspects of the traditional Arabic sound interspersed in the metal sound. The band is not afraid of their musical roots and use every opportunity to include them in their heavy music. The musicians are definitely talented, from the excellent lead vocals, the heaviness of Malek's guitar work, the excellent keyboards that take the music to a symphonic sound at times, always leaning heavily on the traditional sounds of their country and of course the rhythm section that provide a solid backing to the music. However, most of the tracks are sung in English.

So the music is great, especially for lovers of straightforward heavy metal that don't mind the addition of the Arabic sound. This aspect definitely gives some great personality to the music and make it exciting to listen to. The problem here is the music is not very progressive, but that doesn't mean it is bad, this album just doesn't deliver on the progressive side of the assigned genre, but it does deliver on the metal side of it. The tracks, being kept around the convenient times of 3 to 4 minutes only allow the music to become predictable, and thus the sense of being progressive is lost. Each song has an edge of symphonic metal with the excellent addition of traditional element, but the sense of adventure and experimentation with their sound doesn't rise above the standard sound of Arabic Metal. Since "Orphaned Land" is an obvious reference to Progressive Metal with an Arabic edge, it makes since to make the comparison to them, and Orphaned Land does it much better especially from a progressive stand point. Those hungering for that sound would do a better job at filling that need. If you don't mind the fact that there isn't much progressiveness in the music, that Myrath would still be a great choice.

So, the tracks tend to sound a lot alike because they all share the same traits, especially on the first half of the album. One standout track is "Lili Twil" which is based on a Moroccan song. The song is mostly sung in the original languge. This song still has a heavy edge to it, but leans more on the keyboards to provide the more traditional orchestral sound. "Stardust" is a piano-led ballad, but still straightforward. It shows off a softer side of the band, but still has a bit of heaviness boiling underneath it. The rest of the tracks pretty much follow the similar formula of heaviness with a symphonic edge and undertones of Arabic music. It is a decent album, but could use more variance between the tracks and is lacking in the progressive department, so for the sake of Prog Archives, it gets 3 stars. For heavy metal lovers, it is worth 4 stars.

Review #25. Believe it or not, this is one of the best heavy albums that has been released this year. Well, so far at least. A solid, powerful and well-structured album, including great Heavy Metal riffs and tunes.

For those who aren't familiar with Myrath and their music, I should say that they are a Tunisian Progressive Metal band, and their discography consists of 4 studio albums so far. What makes them special and different, is that they are playing Progressive Metal enriched with many elements from Tunisia's traditional music. Their songs are mostly in English, but there are some exceptions in which they sing in their own language.

Although Progressive Metal was never my cup of tea, I should say that I really enjoy Myrath's music a lot. I have all their albums, which are almost equally good, with 'Tales of the Sand' (2011) being my favorite one.

The album begins with an (unnecessary in my opinion) intro, followed by the Anatolian influenced powerful riffs of 'Believer'. Next comes 'Get your Freedom Back' which is one of the album's best tracks (always in my opinion). Killer guitar riffs, fast pace, and excellent vocal skills by Zaher Zorgatti, the band's singer. 'Get Your Freedom Back' is followed by 'Nobody Lives' which although is a good song, the lyrics are mostly in Tunisian, so many people might find it difficult and unpleasant to listen to. But it includes many nice changes and beautiful guitar. 'The Needle' that comes next, is another powerful guitar-driven song, with many changes, nice guitar riffs and a "catchy" refrain.

I am not going to mention each song separately here, because there is no reason to do so. All the songs are good ones, and each person will pick his/her favorite songs according to his/her music taste. But just for the record, I will mention my favorite songs, which are: Get your Freedom Back, The Needle, Through Your Eyes, I Want to Die and Endure the Silence.

A very important element in Myrath's music is without a doubt the band's excellent singer, who is raising the band at a higher level with his performance, and his very good use of English. The album includes 11 songs, and has a running time of almost 50 minutes in total.

Highly recommended to the fans of Progressive Metal music, and to all those who can appreciate a "different" album, musically speaking. My Rating would be 3.5 stars.

As kismet would have it, the fourth album by Tunisian progressive folk metal band MYRATH actually translates the band's name into English, thus making a sort of multi-lingual eponymous album title. Clever. It's been five long years that the band has been hiding in Aladdin's lamp only hinting of releasing their album but here in 2016 they have at long last after years of gaining recognition as the world's most sought after melodic progressive Middle Eastern metal band that they let the genie out of the bottle and the ensuing puff of smoke has had time to permeate the eardrums of rabid hungry fans worldwide.

Personally i have been one of those eager hungry fans as i have a huge appetite for all sorts of world ethnic music with Middle Eastern types such as bellydance, raï and klezmer leading the pack. Accompany these attributes with some metal guitar turned up to eleven with raucous guitar distortion, sizzling solos and frenetic percussion and you got me hooked. The first three albums by MYRATH are amazingly catchy and i find them to be recurring listens in my world. MYRATH has had the unsavory duty of being a spokesband of sort to represent an entire culture within a fairly Euro-centric style of rock genre, namely heavy metal which despite the universe it has spawned still has some rather rigid limitations on any newbies on the block coveting a fast pass into the club. Well, MYRATH more than proved themselves on their first two albums channeling their inner Symphony X and ushering an arranged marriage with the ethnic musical wonders of their North African environs, a comparison that they have successfully shed.

While LEGACY adheres to the stylistic fusionfest of previous releases, there has been a major shift in direction on this album. While the first two albums were much more into progressive metal territory, the band began to tame things down a bit on "Tales Of The Sands" creating a more lushly symphonic metal production and LEGACY not only follows in the footsteps of the previous album but takes these ideals even further. The progressive tendencies have been put on a leash, the symphonic touches have been given magic elixirs as to elevate themselves higher than the pyramids in neighboring Egypt. The production has been given the proper steroids to make every little violin lick dance like a coiling serpent on sand dunes around the seemingly alternative metal scaffolding of the song structures.

After my initial spin i was totally disappointed in this album for this went in a most commercial direction and into territory that i'm not biggest fan of. After quite a few listens now i have come around somewhat. MYRATH first and foremost are masters of melodic developments and in that department they do not let me down in the slightest. If taken for what it is and not compared to previous albums this is a really decent mix of Arabic folk songs dancing on a little doumbek a the local hafla where a metal band just happened to join the party. Once again MYRATH do indeed seamlessly meld the two worlds into a cohesive whole however this time around the metal aspects are sedated while the folk elements are highly symphonically embellished.

After all is said and done and a plethora of listens to bring me to some sort of conclusion i can only finally assert that this is my least favorite MYRATH album yet i find this very seductive like a mirage of a sand castle on a camel ride through the Sahara. There is no doubt that the musicianship and vocal performances by Zaher Zorgatti are of the utmost quality. The production is off-the-hook beautifully perfect and the symphonic elements are not in the least bit cheesy. The aggressive timbres flow into the subdued symphonics like magic and the river of melodic riptides expand into streams of musical developments like myriad minnows at the mouth of the Nile, however despite all the effort in the technical prowess on display here i just find there is too much emphasis on the ballads and crossover appeal. MYRATH is going for gold with this one hoping to expand their Tunisian tentacles into an ever expanding fan base. While that's all fine and dandy, there seems to be lacking a balance between these kinds of tracks and those of the past that really pack a punch. While i can't really say i dislike this album as it has really grown on me, i, at the same time, feel the album is missing some key elements that links it to their more energetic and passionate past. Definitely an album worth hearing but it gives me a sinking feeling that if they go any further down this direction they may just drop the metal aspects altogether and become good beach music for shish kabob parties in Malibu.

Also, i don't know if it's just my copy or a universal trait in the album release but my brand new copy has the most embarrassing period of silence between the percussive sounding opener "Jasmin" and the first full track "Believer." Not only does it have a period of silence but has a scratching sound like the master recordings were damaged. The two tracks are obviously supposed to seamlessly blend together like a magic desert spell that unleashes your inner genies to grant you wishes of musical bliss for the hour long charm called LEGACY. It doesn't really effect my overall impression but a huge blemish on an otherwise almost perfect production. A somewhat pleasing album but i expected more. 3.5 rounded down

Awesome metal from Tunisia. Accessible, bombastic, passionate, skillful, well-produced, this music will definitely get you pumped up! Constructed a bit like a Broadway show (it even opens with an overture-like instrumental), it has the plus of being totally energizing and very well polished. At times the performances get to feel as if they're a little SPINAL TAP-over-the-top--especially in the vocal department--but the many instances of Middle Eastern music inputs really add something to this awesome to this music--make it very engaging. The rock/metal foundations of the music (drums, guitars, vocal stylings) can get a little cliched in a 80s "hair band" kind of way. In fact, it's the orchestral-like keyboards and traditional Middle Eastern sounds and stylings that make this album as good as it is for me. Singer Zaher Zorgatti is uber-talented--singing in both the English language with its rock/metal traditions as well as in other languages (probably Arabian) with their vocal traditions' stylings. His lyrical pronunciation is impeccable and very much appreciated. If there is a weakness in the album it is probably in the unwavering high energy of the music. Even the gentler side of the band as expressed in songs like "Through Your Eyes" and "I Want to Die" (two of my favorite songs) are often so "big" and bombastic in their production as to be quite overwhelming. Listening through the entire album in one sitting is a taxing, draining experience; the constancy of their musical approach is a bit numbing and, eventually, disengaging. Plus, there is the afore-mentioned undeniable sound and style similarity to 80s hair bands like Guns'n'Roses, Skid Row, Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, and Faith No More.

Favorite songs: 6. "Through Your Eyes" (5:37) (10/10); 4. "Nobody's Lives" (5:43) (10/10); 8. "I Want To Die" (4:39) (9/10), and; 2. "Believer" (4:32) (9/10).

A solid four star album that is interesting for the influence and input of Arabian sounds and stylings.