MYRATH — Tales Of The Sands (review)

Album · 2011 · Progressive Metal

5/5 · 2011-11-09
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Myrath, a metal band hailing from Tunisia, have really been making a name for themselves within the metal and progressive communities since the release of their debut album Hope in 2007. Although best classed as a progressive metal act, Myrath also includes in their sound many influences from traditional music of Tunisia, which also sees them often included in lists of so called oriental metal acts (or if you’re like me you can just bundle them under the very board term of folk metal). Tales of the Sands is their third album, released in 2011, and it sees them incorporating even more traditional influence into their sound that also includes strong power metal influences.

Listening to this album it’s not hard to hear why there’s been such hype about Myrath. Not only do they know how to make a great metal track with strong riffs, great solos and plenty of punch to get your head banging but their traditional influences really make their sound just that bit more unique within the field. Deep down Myrath takes many cues from Symphony X, in fact the album Hope sounded pretty much like Symphony X homage, but with the group’s second album Desert Call (2010) Myrath began to develop their own identity. Tales of the Sands sees the sound that Desert Call began come into full fruition, and the result is Myrath’s best album yet, an absolutely stunning gem of prog power/folk metal that is also extremely symphonic.

Zaher Zorgati certainly has just the right sort of voice to lift Myrath’s music to great heights. He is one of those singers whose voice has a noticeable accent to it, which works in his favour for the Tunisian flavoured metal. His vocals, though he often displays the capability to do some really great power metal style vocals, such as in the extra catchy chorus of album gem Merciless Times for example, seem more orientated towards the traditional melodies. It’s most definitely the right choice and his vocals complement the music perfectly, but he also knows when to deliver in a more metal orientated way. The variation in his performance is great. Elsewhere on the album there are also some additional female vocals, which are actually the first vocals heard.

The songs on the album are generally short by progressive standards, meaning that Tales of the Sands is most definitely a song based progressive metal album. Myrath included some lengthier compositions on their first couple of releases but the longest track to be found here is just shy of five and a half minutes. Although overall I would say that Tales of the Sands does sacrifice some of the band’s progressiveness of Hope and Desert Call to make way for even more Arabic sounds Tales of the Sands is still most definitely classable as a progressive metal album. The traditional sounds are often used in such a way as to make the music progressive, such as in Wide Shut. There are also some electronic keyboard sounds from Elyes Bouchoucha on occasion, which are in contrast to the atmosphere created by the traditional sounds, but somehow don’t sound out of place.

The way Myrath produces metal anthems such as Merciless Times, Braving the Seas and Under Siege as well as highly progressive tracks like Wide Shut, Requiem for a Goodbye and Beyond the Stars is a clear showcase of just how the band has hit their stride and perfected their sound. Given the strengths of their first two records I was expecting another exceptional release from Myrath, but in Tales of the Sands the guys from Tunisia have given us their first masterpiece. May it be the first of many.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 9.5/10)