Myrath – Tales of the Sands

As each country has its traditional music, so also does Tunisia which specifically has ethnic, oriental and indie elements in its music. And I think that this country’s elementsis included in the music of Myrath. For those who don’t know, it’s a metal band from Tunis ,Tunisia which started out as a teenage cover band in 2001 and after a few years the band would develop their own style towards progressive metal.

Their first album “Hope” was released in 2007 and their second, “ Desert Call “ in 2010. So in 2011 they come back with their new album which called “Tales Of The Sands”, whose production comes from Kevin Codfert , the keyboardist of Adagio. In this album, Myrath have found their identity, more specifically they have incorporated their country’s music oriental, ethnic and indie melodies with progressive metal, something which is pioneering in my opinion.

The listener should expect several in this album, there are a lot of melodies and commercial hits that will remain in his mind. The album starts with the song “ Under Siege “ which starts with female backing vocals and an oriental melody which prepares the listener about what he’s going to listen later. There is harmony between progressive metal and oriental music which is presented with a perfect chorus. On the second song “Braving The Seas“, the song starts with a traditional oriental instrument and after this, the band shows the progressive elements in the song with heavy riffs and great chorus . ”Merciless Times” is the third song of the album and the only video clip of this album, it’s the most commercial hit of the album with a typical melody and a great riff, this song will make you travel in their country, Tunisia.

I was also impressed and with their fourth song which is called “ Tales Of the Sands, it’s the usual pattern of the band but here the chorus is on their language.The album moves with the same patterns, great choruses, heavy riffs, oriental melodies, great melodic and technical solos, excellent tone on the keyboards and a drummer full of energy and traditional elements all of them.

Personally the album impressed me the most because I have a love for traditional oriental sounds, and will not stop playing from my playlist. It’s nice to get away from the common metal bands and hear something innovative. I said a lot I guess, it’s up to you to decide about the album. If you like one song of this band I am sure that you will like all of them .