Kev Rowland It has been way too long since I heard Myrath, as the last album of theirs I reviewed was 2011’s ‘Tale of the Sands’ and there have been two more since, but at least I now have ‘Karma’ which is a blast of joy from the first note to the last. It is said that when the guys signed to Brennus to release ‘Hope’ back in 2007 they were the first band ever from Tunisia to be signed to an international label. I don’t know how true that is, but I certainly can’t think of any other bands from there (a quick check of PA’s charts for top albums from Tunisia finds them the only band listed). The only true description of their music is prog metal, but they have been through different styles and influences over the years and here we find them quite removed from their more folk influence norms, but they still find room for Middle Eastern touches here and there, plenty of orchestration and loads of polish. Guitarist Malek Ben Arbia has been at the helm for more than 20 years, founding the band originally under the name XTAZY (who released a demo in 2005), while bassist Anis Jouini played on the debut album, which was produced by Kévin Codfert. The following year they gained a new singer in Zaher Zorgati while drummer Morgan Berthet finalised the current line-up in 2011. However, before they started recording this album they lost keyboard player Elyes Bouchoucha, who originally joined XTAZY back in 2003 and had played on every release, but they found a guest replacement in Codfert. What this means is that since they became Myrath and a full recording unit they have had pretty a stable line-up, and that shows.

My only complaint with this is not in the songs, which are packed full of hooks, or the vocals (which are sublime) or any of the musicianship (which is superb) or even the use of strings to emphasise the Middle Eastern roots, but with the production. This has been polished within an inch of its life, and possibly more so, which means it is just too sweet and leaves something of an aftertaste in the mouth. It is still an excellent album, but if the production had been pared back and been less (dare I say it) American, then this would probably have been essential. It is an album which dares the listener to turn up really loud and join in, letting the music swirl as the beat and groove gets everybody dancing, but I just wish it was a little rawer and rougher around the edges.

What I do know is that it has been way too long for me to miss out on Myrath who are Angra taken in a different direction, and like the Brazilians are certainly worth discovering.

siLLy puPPy MYRATH return from its North African hideaway with the fifth album SHEHILI thus proving that this Tunisian band that has made a career out of mixing Middle Eastern folk music with metal is in no danger of going away any time soon. In fact this quintet plus session musicians has only become more famous internationally since its 2006 formation however despite the band’s exotic flair that has caught the rest of the world’s attention, these guys still don’t resonate very much in their native lands. It’s been three years since MYRATH released “Legacy” which found the band taking a softer less progressive approach than on the preceding “Hope,” “Desert Call” and “Tales of the Sands.” SHEHILI emulates “Legacy” with lush symphonically embellished power metal inspired metal tracks that wrap themselves around the classic Arab sounds of the Sahara.

Unlike MYRATH’s earliest albums which focused on the metal aspects of the band’s idiosyncratic fusion, SHEHILI continues the thick atmospheric cloud covers of “Legacy” and crafts more accessible pop hooks that take a blatant dip into the mainstream with catchy sing-songy melodic hooks with simpler compositional constructs that add some power metal heft but focus a lot of attention on more AOR flavors that demonstrates that the band is clearly going for the mainstream breakthrough jugular which is what makes this album a little weak compared to the earliest powerful displays of metal music that has now been tamed into one trick camel races all the way to the top of the charts.

On the positive side of things, vocalist Zaher Zorgati still delivers a powerful vocal charm and is perfect for the type of music that MYRATH has conjured up. The other winner is the strong symphonic string section that includes the usual menagerie of instruments such as the violin, viola and the new which is a Persian flute that is prominent in most forms of traditional Middle Eastern music. Also included are traces of lute and elegant piano arrangements that add touches of Western classical teased into the Eastern sounds. The symphonic touches overall are what define SHEHILI much more than the rather subordinate heavy rock aspects that barely even qualify for metal any longer. The production is also perfect as it allows each little sound to find its own space without intruding on the others.

Ah, i loved early MYRATH. The five-piece metal band from the far flung non-metal lands of Tunisia who dared conjure up metal mirages with local flavors. The early albums were powerful and delivered all the goods while weaving it all together in highly progressive ways. Most of those complexities have been replaced at this point with easy on the ears flavorings that keep most of the tracks sounding rather similar in approach. The formula is rather simple. Recycle the same Eastern musical scales, add a bit of guitar heft with the only occasional solo along with a rather subordinate bass and drum rhythm section. While Zorgati is clearly the star of the show with his passionate and intricately designed vocal style, the rest of the music falls rather flat compared to the earliest offerings.

MYRATH have obviously fallen into the trap that many bands do as they flirt with commercial success and by that they lose the passion that was generated in the beginning when the music was intended as a statement rather than a means of economic opportunity. While many bands find a way to balance these two acts by having a few more commercial tracks and some more sophisticated experimental and progressive ones, MYRATH have chosen to create a rather monotonic album’s worth of 12 tracks where the overall feel of the individual songs doesn’t really advance. It all sounds like a series of reshuffling with a few minor bursts of bombast for a little contrast. It’s clear form the videos that this band is aiming for the mainstream and that involves healthy amounts of cheese to pull it off. While the sound of the band is clearly intact, there’s just not enough going on on this new album to get me really excited. Personally i want the old MYRATH back. This just feels shallow. Not bad but not great either.

siLLy puPPy As kismet would have it, the fourth album by Tunisian progressive folk metal band MYRATH actually translates the band’s name into English, thus making a sort of multi-lingual eponymous album title. Clever. It’s been five long years that the band has been hiding in Aladdin’s lamp only hinting of releasing their album but here in 2016 they have at long last after years of gaining recognition as the world’s most sought after melodic progressive Middle Eastern metal band that they let the genie out of the bottle and the ensuing puff of smoke has had time to permeate the eardrums of rabid hungry fans worldwide.

Personally i have been one of those eager hungry fans as i have a huge appetite for all sorts of world ethnic music with Middle Eastern types such as bellydance, raï and klezmer leading the pack. Accompany these attributes with some metal guitar turned up to eleven with raucous guitar distortion, sizzling solos and frenetic percussion and you got me hooked. The first three albums by MYRATH are amazingly catchy and i find them to be recurring listens in my world. MYRATH has had the unsavory duty of being a spokesband of sort to represent an entire culture within a fairly Euro-centric style of rock genre, namely heavy metal which despite the universe it has spawned still has some rather rigid limitations on any newbies on the block coveting a fast pass into the club. Well, MYRATH more than proved themselves on their first two albums channeling their inner Symphony X and ushering an arranged marriage with the ethnic musical wonders of their North African environs, a comparison that they have successfully shed.

While LEGACY adheres to the stylistic fusionfest of previous releases, there has been a major shift in direction on this album. While the first two albums were much more into progressive metal territory, the band began to tame things down a bit on “Tales Of The Sands” creating a more lushly symphonic metal production and LEGACY not only follows in the footsteps of the previous album but takes these ideals even further. The progressive tendencies have been put on a leash, the symphonic touches have been given magic elixirs as to elevate themselves higher than the pyramids in neighboring Egypt. The production has been given the proper steroids to make every little violin lick dance like a coiling serpent on sand dunes around the seemingly alternative metal scaffolding of the song structures.

After my initial spin i was totally disappointed in this album for this went in a most commercial direction and into territory that i’m not biggest fan of. After quite a few listens now i have come around somewhat. MYRATH first and foremost are masters of melodic developments and in that department they do not let me down in the slightest. If taken for what it is and not compared to previous albums this is a really decent mix of Arabic folk songs dancing on a little doumbek a the local hafla where a metal band just happened to join the party. Once again MYRATH do indeed seamlessly meld the two worlds into a cohesive whole however this time around the metal aspects are sedated while the folk elements are highly symphonically embellished.

After all is said and done and a plethora of listens to bring me to some sort of conclusion i can only finally assert that this is my least favorite MYRATH album yet i find this very seductive like a mirage of a sand castle on a camel ride through the Sahara. There is no doubt that the musicianship and vocal performances by Zaher Zorgatti are of the utmost quality. The production is off-the-hook beautifully perfect and the symphonic elements are not in the least bit cheesy. The aggressive timbres flow into the subdued symphonics like magic and the river of melodic riptides expand into streams of musical developments like myriad minnows at the mouth of the Nile, however despite all the effort in the technical prowess on display here i just find there is too much emphasis on the ballads and crossover appeal. MYRATH is going for gold with this one hoping to expand their Tunisian tentacles into an ever expanding fan base. While that’s all fine and dandy, there seems to be lacking a balance between these kinds of tracks and those of the past that really pack a punch. While i can’t really say i dislike this album as it has really grown on me, i, at the same time, feel the album is missing some key elements that links it to their more energetic and passionate past. Definitely an album worth hearing but it gives me a sinking feeling that if they go any further down this direction they may just drop the metal aspects altogether and become good beach music for shish kabob parties in Malibu.

Also, i don’t know if it’s just my copy or a universal trait in the album release but my brand new copy has the most embarrassing period of silence between the percussive sounding opener “Jasmin” and the first full track “Believer.” Not only does it have a period of silence but has a scratching sound like the master recordings were damaged. The two tracks are obviously supposed to seamlessly blend together like a magic desert spell that unleashes your inner genies to grant you wishes of musical bliss for the hour long charm called LEGACY. It doesn’t really effect my overall impression but a huge blemish on an otherwise almost perfect production. A somewhat pleasing album but i expected more.

Warthur Review Myrath and the temptation to compare them to Symphony X is overwhelming, and this is particularly the case on their debut album. Playing down the influence of traditional Middle Eastern music on their sound a little in order to demonstrate that they can recapture the Symphony X power-progressive metal sound just as effectively as anyone, Hope might not be as strikingly original as later albums like Tales of the Sands, but it does demonstrate that even early on Myrath had a keen command of their chosen musical style. Yes, Symphony X listeners may find it very familiar, but I don't think it ever becomes outright derivative, with Myrath coming up with ingenious wrinkles to the Symphony X sound that the Symph-Xers themselves haven't cottoned to. It's just kind of a shame they don't put the more original aspects of their sound front and centre here like they do on later albums.

siLLy puPPy The debut album from this band from Tunisia proved that in the brave new world, great bands can emerge from the nooks and crannies of previously unthinkable places where little attention had been paid to before. MYRATH not only emerged from an unexpected country with no history of prog nor metal but little history of any famous bands whatsoever. It's really great to finally hear this debut album after hearing their excellent third album TALES OF THE SANDS.

There's no doubt that MYRATH are the Symphony X of the Sahara with some Dream Theater influences as well. At least the prog metal half of the equation. The Middle Eastern folk part which is what really sets them apart from the previously mentioned bands is woven into the tapestry of the music very well. The album begins with some exotic sounding North African music before the metal kicks in and the result is that I was instantly sucked into it. These guys really know how to craft well written and catchy tunes that leave you wanting more.

In a way they have usurped the Symphony X sound and are now doing it better then that band does. I would give this 5 stars if it was completely original but since it is so derivative no matter how good it is I'll go with 4