Desert
Prophecy of a Madman
A&M Releases

With tones of Paradise Lost, Manowar, Grave Digger, Rage, Blind Guardian, Moonspell and Aria, Desert boasts a breed of dark epic metal that’s catchy, understandable and technically proficient. Vocalist Alexei Raymar brings down the desert legends in an impressive range of vocal styles from growls to operatic while all the musicians are, as the Russians tend to be, masters of their instruments. Bass (Vadim Shulman) and drums (Max Balagula) provide the sonic tapestry upon which the intricate guitar (Max Shafranski) and keyboard (Oleg Aryutkin) work stands out notably.

Alexei Raymar’s vocals have a dramatic “Phantom of the Opera” sick ringleader kind of thing going – “The Prophecy of a Madman” is a great illustration of Desert’s flair of storytelling in music.

“The Desert (In Your Soul)” is dramatic, catchy and dark at the same time. You could hear this and a few other tracks on this album both in the goth clubs and on the metal circuit.

“The Lion and the Hawk” tells about the eternal war between Christianity (the lion) and Islam (the hawk). Says Alexei, “I always wanted to write a song about the Knights Templars and also wanted to connect them with the problem of religious wars. The main question of this song is when people will stop to kill each other over their gods?”

Sacred Throne is a Manowarish call to arms of unity and brotherhood, to fight for the Promised Land! Alexei says it’s totally inspired by Lord of the Rings, Gondor for Aragorn,the lost kingdom of the lost king. But I could for sure see IDF guys blasting this from their tanks when taking on the enemy. It’s a great anthem. And a great album. Check it out and pick it up at http://am.desertband.com/

good rawking stuff…

Daath has their newest clip posted on YouTube for you to enjoy. Holy Land representation is guitarist Eyal Levy so support!!

They are sold as Kabbalistic metal but Levy makes clear, “We’re just studying the tree of life which comes from many different belief systems and we use some of the ideas found in the kabbalah, but it’s not just that. So if you’re finding some differences it’s not because we did bad research, it’s because our perspective is not strictly a Jewish one. The band isn’t based on anything religious. —————–
I got miffed because they have some serious mismatches in basic definitions and “Kabbalistic” theology that any 4th grader Chabadnik could point out but yeh, he just said they’re not trying to make it like they’re Kabbalah. Anyhoo it’s good music and like I said, there’s a brother involved. They’re currently on tour in Europe so catch ’em if you can.

Yalla, check it out.

Israel glam act Crossfire will be performing in an event to celebrate the release of their new album “Dirty Games”.

Though all the details aren’t final (check http://myspace.com/thefadingmetal for updates or the Hyde Park metal forum if you know Hebrew), The Fading will be performing for free at The Plastic Club in a show that will be filmed for Israel’s Channel 2. It seems to be called for 2230 though that’s likely to change. It’s open to all ages though once it’s over the crowd will be cleared out and it will be for only 18 and up like it is the rest of the week. Additional details are forthcoming (including the address of the place).

Hatebreed has confirmed a performance at Tel Aviv’s Teatron Club on Sunday, April 29.

Hatebreed were in talks to come to Israel for the past year, at least. Frontman and Headbanger’s Ball maestro Jamey Jasta released a statement this past January about how they hope to perform in Israel, and their arrival has been long anticipated by the Israeli metalhead population.

Thanks Yared/Golani for the heads up.

Long-running Israeli death metallers SALEM will film their March 28 show at the Barbie club in Tel Aviv for a possible DVD/CD release. More information will be made available soon.

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This just in from Betzefer.
I’m really happy for them because Sepultura is one of their favorite bands.

“We just confirmed Main support for the upcoming SEPULTURA european tour which will start this March! Check the tour dates now to see when we will hit your town!

We will play our last show in Israel in the Barby Tel-Aviv on 3.3.07, two days before flying to Europe, so come and check us out playing with some of the best Israeli bands around.

It’s been a while since we been to europe and we cant wait to get back on the road, See all of you European kids in the pit!!!!”
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