ARKAN

WOW this is very good extreme prog at the top of my expectation ther other work before ware amazing but with Sofia it come with more harmony and progression .The voice of Sarah Layssac for the clear part is perfect ,most of the singing for this album is her with the right amount of the groth voice just well balance(if your looking for music [email protected]) The Music on sofia is more organise ,melodic and simply glow true. this is extreme prog melodic for a larger audience and very, very good true the all Album A refined sound from France with a Arab touch Just great to her

Another well attempted effort by Algerian/French extreme metal band Arkan. Following the path chosen on their previous abum, they once more give us their perfect blend of extreme metal and ethnic North African (Algerian) music. Due to the many character changes, their music keeps you exited right from the start. By assimilating North African music in a true way in their music they have really added a new dimension to extreme metal. Again the grunts are alternated with Arabian sung melodies and once more the playing of the oud (Arabian lute) is perfect. This time Sarah Layssac, already present on the previous album as a guest, has entered the band as a member and supplies us with well-sung female vocals. A touch of viruoso flamenco guitar (which ofcourse is in its origins North African) concludes (before the "hidden" bonus track another fantastic Arkan album. This is a band to check out !!! Danny Martins.

A perfectly succeeded blend of extreme metal and ethnic North African music. Extremely heavy & progressive metal is alternated with well performed compositions on the oud or as we call it: the Arab lute. Most of this type of bands only add a little bit of ethnic to spice up their music as a sort of gimmic, but here we have the real thing. Abder and Mus are true masters of the oud. Listening to "Hilal" is never boring. We have aggressive grunts over heavy dark metal riffs following fluently sung arabian melodies, accompanied by the oud and ethnic percussion. An album great to discover, the only weak spot being the too machine like sounding drums in the heavy parts, but this seems to be the problem with most power metal bands. In Rotterdam we have lots of ethnic music of all kind, but I wish we had ARKAN !! Danny Martins.