BADER NANA

BADER NANA is a Lebanese musician based in Kuwait, he is influenced by many metal and neo-progressive rock bands and has composed for the soundtracks of God of War, Star Wars, battlefield and assassins creed. He released his debut album "Wormwood" in 2011, which is his 5th album and a continuation of S-F history across time and space. Question its melodic, neo like modern prog with metallic escapades; Nancy Alsafady on the violin, Omar Afuni on the backing vocals help him develop a bewitching and varied sound.

'Long Story Short' pompous intro, romantic spleen with piano and violin, symphonic flight and its roll of pads and guitar, a playful metal instrumental progressive movement. 'Star Born' to an EAGLES tune, basic acoustic title, enhanced vocals, simple, self-contained melody that flows naturally; the aerial guitar solo accentuates the clarity of the title with the catchy chorus; Nancy's final violin which brings sensitivity and introspection. 'Mercury' on a space heavy rock riff, pop-rock tune 'Inspector Gadget' with a break worthy of DREAM THEATER for the synth solo that gives the peach 'Same Old Song' and the recurring musical theme with folk pop digression rock opera for the harpsichord, it starts AOR a while, it's vintage 80's but it's well done with a solo still airy and well handled. 'Awake' continues in the same vein, title becoming more rock with its riff and guitar solo stretching over a progressive frame stuffed with strings. 'Journey Home' follows with a medieval Celtic accent, minimal interlude and this voice which is a more colorful, lively, taking far towards 'Earth 1974' and its playground as a preamble for a bucolic ballad title stuffed with violins; a monolithic crescendo and the final guitar resembling that of Brian MAY. Desperate No More 'on a latent tune like intro TV show and a second instrumental prog metal with vibrato guitar in the background; snub with the 'Desperate Measures' from the 1st album; halfway through it goes even further, louder, the vintage keyboards reminiscent of the legendary DEEP PURPLE, the DREAM THEATER for this momentary fury on keyboards. 'Ordinary Life' launches over Neal MORSE BAND, the phrased voice that sticks to it; a track that goes everywhere that is worth listening to by the sensitive break, tearful guitar, slightly tortured. 'The Dream' rolls in with a breath for the last big track, an album debut chorus as a bonus; Bader's voice still warm and expressive, tricks and other convolutions, strings to amplify the sadness, the emotion, everything to finish this album well.

BADER NANA comes close to the most symphonic DREAM THEATER here with the angelic keyboards and guitar, the amazing melodic keys that carry easily. A fairly basic but effective style, modern in the footsteps of SPOCK'S BEARD and PORCUPINE TREE. A raised sound also with the participation of Adel Al-Qattan and Ramzi Ramman who brings back to the heyday of the AOR with their magical solos; a concept album that is new from more or less old sounds, much more interesting than a copy / paste as we see too often lately.

A young Lebanese musician and artwork designer, Bader Nana plays multiple instruments and his most well-known collaboration was with the Extreme Metal band Benevolent from Kuwait.Since 2009 Nana had resided to Kuwait City and started recording his personal albums, kicking off with an acoustic tribute to famous Michael Jackson's pieces, followed in 2011 by the ''Wormwood'' album, containing original material.Nana receives little help by a pair of guests in a couple of synth and guitar solos, the rest of the album being totally performed by himself.

With an undenied love for current and past Prog Metal/Rock acts such as PINK FLOYD, TRANSATLANTIC, SYMPHONY X, DREAM THEATER and SPOCK'S BEARD, Nana managed to put up an album with some reasonable flaws, considering this is a one man's effort, but also a work full of sheer passion and rich arrangements.His vocals are quite nice, modern sounding and fairly expressive, while the music talks of Nana's talent.Powerful and dynamic pieces with sharp guitar riffs, keyboard-based orchestrations, Neo Prog-like melodies and bombastic passages.Nana shows a tendency to combine the heavier and more angular side of Progressive Rock, characterized by his metallic riffing and the fiery synthesizers, with the smoother side of the genre, including acoustic textures, nice electric melodic tunes and mellow songwriting.It kind of reminds me of PENDRAGON's later stuff with doses of more recent acts such as RIVERSEA, COSMOGRAF or NINE STONES CLOSE.The long closer ''Destroyer of worlds'' is the perfect example of his musical influences, being a well-constructed piece of Prog Metal, FLOYD-ian soundscapes and grandiose Neo/Symphonic Prog with very good guitar parts and extended orchestral moves, filled with some impressive breaks.

A talented artist from the depth of Asia comes to remind us that Prog music is a worldwide affair.Music played with passion and energy, wrapped in tight and enjoyable pieces.Recommended.

On "Anthology" the Kuwaitian Bader Nana establishes himself as a strong Neo Prog act, and as my personal favourite new prog artist of the 2010s. After the spectacular "Wormwood" he comes up with another release of insanely catchy and tasteful choruses, moog-like synth solos, prog metal riffing and some subtle Eastern elements. And man, does it work. These days I don't seem to get goosebumps that easily (probably due to aging a bit), maybe five new songs a year can produce them, but on the first two tracks "The Discovery (Apsinthos)" and "Daydreamer" I find them all over me. The lyrics are somewhat simple but manage to catch those secure and always flowing deep emotions that most of us have pretty well. The greatness doesn't even subside that much as "Liquid Fire" presents a layer of tasty grooves and melodies, a stellar track. "The Unbeliever" is a bit downside and puts the album as a whole just below five stars (it feels like a crime to prevent it from having them all, still). "11:11" is a dreamy melodic instrumental featuring some collaborated acoustic guitar and percussion providing some even pretty folkish parts. "Allie" is a traditional ballad, almost close to boring but manages to get away with it, being only a mediocre track. The album gets its tension back on "War" which while being maybe the 'metallest' track on Anthology has a nice late-Dream Theater like atmosphere and again an amazingly good chorus. The ending mini-epic "The Great Beyond" is an appropriate closer, not quite on the masterpiece level these kinds of songs could be but a very good track nevertheless. Right now, after listening to this album I'm feeling like Kevin Moore never left Dream Theater and I'm again that teenager going to highschool who was just getting into prog through progressive metal.. and simply enjoying it very, very much. And another thing I'm finding is me, someone who almost intensely dislikes track-to-track reviews, doing it exactly like that. Well, I suppose this album is worth of an exception.

Well, he did it. Bader Nana achieved what I didn't think was possible. This completely independent, one-man band has bested his debut album 'Wormwood'. His sophomore album 'Anthology' is not just better than the previous album, it blows it away handily. This is not to take anything away from 'Wormwood', for it is an amazing album.

For those not familiar with Bader Nana, he is a multi-instrumentalist from Lebanon who composes and performs his music by himself. He sings, plays the instruments, and writes the lyrics. For those who have written music, you know that this is incredibly difficult as there is only ever one perspective on the music. Bader Nana, though, seems to have little trouble with any of this. His compositions are extremely tight, his lyrics are very well-written, and the melodies are catchy and complex. His music is often labeled as neo-prog, but I think a label of 'heavy prog' would be more appropriate, especially on this album. 'Anthology' is a little heavier overall than 'Wormwood' and displays some downright awesome guitar jams that are instantly enjoyable. However, he also keeps his amazing synth, and his drumming is as off-tempo and chaotically consistent as ever. He also throws in plenty of other instruments to spice things up a bit. With all of this, the music becomes layered in such a way that several amazing things constantly converge to form music with incredible height and originality.

Bader Nana not only brought his musical chops to show us here, but a new layer of maturity seems to have been learned. Gorgeous melodies, restraint, amazingly structured songs, and a true sense of progression all make it into this album without a hitch. One thing I am especially impressed with is how smoothly he can transition between time signatures: I'm not sure I've heard anyone do it better. This can especially be heard on the first track 'The Discovery': This song has an incredible structure and melody, and I daresay that it is one of the top 5 songs I've heard thus far in 2013. Amazing stuff. Aside from this track, my other favorites are Day Dreamer, Liquid Fire, and The Great Beyond. All of the other tracks are sensational as well.

Throughout 'Anthology', Bader Nana shows a consistent maturity and skill in writing music and lyrics, and there are some truly classic and incredible moments: moments where you feel this strange welling in your chest, as if music couldn't get any better (I often feel that when listening to Riverside or Haken). His skills and attention to detail are evident, but so are his sensitivities to emotion and lyrical quality. Bader Nana has again crafted a masterpiece, and this album is sure to make my Top 10 list of 2013. Best of all? This album is completely free on Bandcamp, although I paid some money because such amazing artists need to be supported. Either way, give it a listen.

Bader Nana's Wormwood is a pay-what-you-will download available from the Kuwait-based musician's Bandcamp. Other releases available on his page include metal renditions of themes from computer game soundtracks and a collection of acoustic Michael Jackson covers, so I wasn't sure what to expect here; in fact, what you get is a charmingly realised album in a melodic prog vein reminiscent of the softer side of Ayreon.

Recorded at Bader's own studio in Kuwait City, evidently at the group's own expense, there are a few parts where more polish might have been helpful but on balance it's a very credible effort which makes me interested to hear more from Bader, though given how eclectic his other solo releases are I suspect it might be hard to predict when we'll hear more. Certainly, Bader does a good job of dipping his toe into the melodic side of Dream Theater's territory, but he doesn't offer a great many musical surprises in store here and for long stretches of the album you wouldn't know whether this was Bader Nana playing or Anonymous Mid-Atlantic Melodic Prog Band No. 254; hopefully future releases will display a bit more of a distinct personality.

BADER NANA is a composer and instrumentalist based in Kuwait City, and following tenures as a guitarist in one band and drummer in another he decided to start a solo career a few years back. "Wormwood" is his debut album, initially digitally released in 2011, but later officially issued by the Russian label MALS Records in the fall of 2012.

Bader Nana's debut album "Wormwood" is a creation that should find favor amongst those with a taste for mainstream oriented progressive metal as well as those who enjoy neo progressive rock of the harder edged variety. I surmise, fans of artists like Spock's Beard and Ayreon will make up the main target audience for this production, but those with a taste for bands similar to Sylvan should also find plenty to enjoy on this disc.

I just noticed that this album seems to have slipped under the radar and it is sad really. It is probably my favourite album by an unknown band in the last few years and blows many of the established band albums out of the water. This has so much going for it(apart from the fact that it was a free download). I am a great believer in bringing great music in to the mainstream. Crossover? Why? Because it gets to more people. I am no fan of clubs. I don't think I am special or clever because I like highbrow music or weird, fast, complex and long songs. Bada Nana have an incredible sense of composition. By the end of this album, I feel like I heard Dream Theater mixed with some classic pop rock. Perfect! It can enable anyone to enjoy a little fast and heavy music mixed in with a recurring theme that stays in your head for ever. By half way through, I felt like I must have heard it before. I wish I had the skill to write and play like these guys. It is brilliant!!!!!!!!

This album stayed in my speakers for quite some time when I first discovered it in 2012. Wormwood is a great piece in every way, accessible and entertaining, yet musical and progressive enough to keep its listener addicted. In my opinion this is one of the best albums of 2011. It is full of interesting riffs, and nice melodies. Take the awesome track "Journey" for example. It begins with a grooving section with scifi lyrics, turning into a beautiful, hymn-like piece with some proggy riffs. Other highlights for me are the haunting "The Plague" and another groover "The Answers". "Destroyer of Worlds" is a satisfying mini-epic to end the album. The plot is like a typical hero story turned backwards, set into Space and Middle Age Earth. Playing is good, though not exceptionally technical or virtuose most of the times. This isn't a huge backlash for me, as shredding is not what this is all about. Highly recommended for fans of Spock's Beard, Ayreon, Neal Morse and Dream Theater and those who are not afraid of the neo-style approach.