DESERT CALL

Tunisia, quite exotic country for Prog music, right ? Quite exotic for Metal at all. But that's allright (awright), because it just helps here, not blocks flow of ideas. First song, Forever and Day, has clear Middle Eastern influences. Well, I've never been to Arabic land. In fact, the only country except Czech Republic where I ever was, Croatia (and even this one just for two weeks when I was too young to remember it) is quite close one, also with Slavic language and surprisingly similar culture and language.

Legacy (check their biography) is different. Using their "legacy" (country, culture...) for their good, they manages easily to sound original. How can't they when they live in such a different society than ours, European one.

4(+), you'll basically get here good Prog Metal spiced by originality, so the result can't be anything than very good.

The eyes of the world are on the Maghreb country of Tunisia just now because of the current turmoil. While I'm relatively ignorant of the politics of the situation I'm hopeful the popular uprising won't adversely affect the fast growth of the country's underground music scene. At the forefront of that scene is Myrath, a group of young musicians whose 2010 album ''Desert Call'' blends progressive metal with elements of traditional North African music.

The band's forte, and certainly the main attraction for me at least, is that fusion of heavy riffs with folkloric rhythms, scales and harmonies. The first half of the album is excellent, and this is where the ethnic influences are strongest with additional strings and darbouka hand drums adding to the Arabic flavour. My interest starts to wane towards the end of the album with Myrath seemingly going for the jugular with the last four tracks consisting of some overwhelmingly heavy, although technically proficient, material. One of those four songs, ''Ironic Destiny'', features a guitar solo by Stephan Forté of French prog-metal band Adagio, whose Kevin Codfert also produced ''Desert Call''.

Highlights on the album include ''Forever And A Day'', arguably the best track here and the only one to include some Arabic vocals (more of these in future please guys!), ''Madness'' which contains wonderful percussion and strings, and the near 11-minute ''Silent Cries''. By the way, the remainder of the album's lyrics are in English. I'm a virtual prog-metal noob but for my money this was one of the subgenre's top releases of the past year, and as an added bonus the CD booklet contains lyrics to all songs and beautiful artwork.

I'm not as blown away by this as many seem to be as i've seen a lot of 5 star ratings thrown at this album. Don't be mistaken though, this is very good and what seems to appeal to most is the Middle Eastern vibe along with the SYMPHONY X flavour. I don't think that flavour is very strong myself but i'm told their debut sounded a lot like that excellent American Power-Metal band.This is pretty heavy stuff and my favourite parts are the bass that are ground shaking at times. Oh yeah these guys are from Tunisia located at the Northern tip of Africa between Libya and Algeria.

"Forever And A Day" opens with vocal melodies as percussion joins in then the heaviness with that Middle Eastern flavour to boot. It does settle back as that chunky bass comes to the fore with vocals. It's heavy again after 4 minutes.Great opener. "Tempests Of Sorrows" kicks in right away and there's that Middle Eastern vibe, vocals come in around a minute. Some growly backing vocals too. I really dig this one a lot with it's Prog-Metal style throughout. Strings too in the background.

"Desert Call" is a top three for me. A heavy intro but it settles quickly with chunky bass. It kicks in again with vocals too this time.The bass show before 4 minutes is a real treat then the guitar solos then the vocals return around 5 minutes. I like the chorus on this one. "Madness" opens with the guitar buzzing with percussion and atmosphere.The vocals will come and go. Flute around 4 minutes and some ripping guitar after 5 minutes followed by the keyboards. Great track !

"Silent Cries" is another top three.It opens with the guitar putting on a show as it builds with drums pounding away. So good. A calm with vocals a minute in. It's heavy again as contrasts continue. Nice guitar solo 7 1/2 minutes in then a calm with acoustic guitar follows with reserved vocals and strings too. Piano ends it. "Memories" has a Middle Eastern vibe with piano then reserved vocals as strings join in. Nice bass though. I like the vocal melodies and guitar after 4 minutes.

"Ironic Destiny" hits the ground running as rough vocals join in. "No Turning Back" is another uptempo track and the riffs remind me of a bygone day where JUDAS PRIEST and the like ruled the world. Good song. "Empty World" is hard and heavy to start with synths over top.Vocals before a minute. Ripping guitar before 3 minutes.

"Shockwave" opens with heavy guitar riffs. Killer stuff right here as the keyboards then vocals come in as riffs continue. Love the crunchy guitar before 4 1/2 minutes just like the intro. It does settle right down with reserved vocals, piano and acoustic guitar before kicking back in again. Nice.It's very rare i'll give the bonus track a top three rating but nothing about this band or album is normal. "Hard Times" is heavy with background synths. A good headbanging tune.Vocals 2 minutes in. Great sound before 3 1/2 minutes. Nice guitar work follows. A Middle Eastern calm at 4 1/2 minutes. It's heavy again late.

A very solid 4 stars for this one. Prog-Metal fans need to check this band out.

'Desert Call' - Myrath (7/10)

Barring Antarctica and the Lovecraftian horrors that live there, Africa is the least prolific continent when in comes to heavy metal and progressive music. To most, this will come as an established fact rather than speculation; despite a wealth of culture, modern strife has kept Africa back from letting its voice out. There are exceptions however, as Myrath proudly indicates. Hailing from Tunisia, Myrath plays a polished style of progressive metal, in the style of Dream Theater and Symphony X. What sets Myrath apart- and thus makes them worthy of mention- is that they use sound of traditional Arabic music and fuse it into the metal sound. Similar in this respect to the more established Orphaned Land, Myrath has an exciting and epic sound, and 'Desert Call' will appeal to anyone looking for a progressive metal curveball.

Although metal is a community which often prides itself on being progressively-thinking and open-minded, too much metal gives the sense of deja vu; that it's already been done before, and will be done again. Ironically, progressive metal is a central offender for this, as it sometimes feels every band calling themselves 'prog metal' these days is either a Dream Theater clone, or a melodic hard rock group looking for an added edge in their marketing. Myrath fits the glove with the sound of current progressive metal, but they are made memorable by their defining trait; that is, there is a strong sound of Middle-Eastern music running in tandem with metal. Much like the bands Kamelot or Nightwish merge their metal elements with Western classical music, Myrath does the same with their own culture, and the outcome is impressive. Myrath are a very capable prog-power band regardless of the Middle-Eastern sounds, but without this new angle, I would not have such a vivid memory of them.

Importantly, 'Desert Call' does not use these traditional Arabic sounds as a gimmick, but beefs them up so that they're an integral part of the music and sound. Malek Ben Arbia's guitar playing is firmly rooted in the school of John Petrucci and Michael Romeo, but Zaher Zorguatti's vocals are keen to switch between acrobatic power metal wails and a signature Islamic holler, often within the course of a single vocal line. Seif Ouhibi's drums find the balance as well, at times delivering the powerful metal pummel, but also occasionally conjuring a beat that sounds like it could score a cinematic chase through Baghdad. The songwriting's greatest strength is their near-seamless ability to work the Middle-Eastern sounds into the music, but the more power metal-oriented aspects can exert a certain level of cheese. Many of these songs have memorable melodies and song structures, but I often felt that by the end of most tracks, I had heard a run-through of the chorus one, or two too many times. Bring into focus a lackluster sense of flow and possibly overdone length, and 'Desert Call' begins to lose its status as the 'metal revelation' it could have been.

Myrath's signature style was born with their debut 'Hope', and it continues to run strong in the blood of 'Desert Call'. Although the current trends of progressive metal are starting to die out, Myrath's ambitious pledge to bring the sounds of their home culture to metal gives a refreshing new perspective on a style that has rarely managed to hold my attention in recent years. Its cheesy power metal theatrics aside, 'Desert Call' is worth an easy recommendation.

A decent sophomore effort from this talented band from Tunisia. They succeed in not making a cookie cutter copy of their debut. I do think I prefer the debut slightly over this as the Middle Eastern fusion effects have been subdued here a bit as well as the prog metal having been revved up. At the same time, this sounds a little less derivative of Symphony X, so all in all it is pretty even for me.

Not all of the songs are as catchy on this one but the ones that are can be extremely addictive with 'Shockwave' being at the top of the list. Something is lacking on this release for me to really love it like I do their follow-up to this, TALES OF THE SANDS. Overrall a very good second effort from this band showing the world that a great prog metal release from Africa is no flash in the pan. After hearing the next release it's obvious that they will push their sound even further and hone their musical sound into something even more interesting.