Estorat Taghoot

For some time I hear from many people the name Al Namrood. That’s how I started to search for information and music of the first band of Saudi Arabia which played Black Metal, there. The band consists of three members, was formed in 2008 and so far they have released one EP, one split and three full length albums. “Estorat Taghoot” is their second album which was released in 2010, it contains eleven tracks of about one hour of duration. Al Namrood in this album play Black Metal combined with the oriental traditional music of their region.

When I received the cd and listened to the first notes I felt quite puzzled by the oriental intro with which the album begins, but slowly she succeeded to take me with her in a journey to the Middle East. The whole album has many traditional elements which bring to your mind images of ancient Babylon, combined with the special dark atmosphere which characterizes Black Metal. The big difference from the European Black bands is the feeling. As the Europeans put out that chill in their sound, Al Namrood put out warmth, the warmth of the desert. The riffs other times are fast, other times rhythmic, mid paced, dark, with many changes and generally very interesting. Along with the riffs, the keyboards play a very important role that many times they play the first role while the guitars just follow. Important is also the good job that has been done concerning the tracks’ structure which is another of the positive elements of the album.

The guitars are clean and played very well, with much passion, and along with the nice keyboards, they achieve to pass to the listener the images that the band narrates. The bass can’t be clearly heard but it is present and fills the music. The drums, although their lines are quite interesting, many times their sound sounds empty as being produced by a drum machine, but without becoming annoying. Also in some parts you can listen to some traditional percussion which gives to the compositions even more intense oriental elements. The vocals are light and brutal Death vocals with a variety concerning the feeling and expression. The production is quite loud and bassy, while the mix is very balanced delivering the atmosphere very well. Although the lyrics are written in Arabian, the listener doesn’t have any difficulty to get into the journey to the ancient Babylon that Al Namrood offers. By the small text in the cd, the lyrics speak of the history of a Babylonian tyrant.

The most important weakness of the band is that sometimes there were no borders concerning the oriental elements, so the track to lose its Metal identity. However in most of the tracks, they achieved that balance between the two different elements and that’s why I think that “Estorat Taghoot” is a good work and Al Namrood are showing great talent giving promises for the future. Listen to it.