Hello 2016 and happy New Year everyone. Through this article we will take you to a short journey through the events that occurred through the Egyptian metal scene in 2015. This article will be divided into 3 main topics: New Bands, Line-up changes and metal releases that came out through the year. Last year we published an article similar to this one in 2014. Here, you can compare the events of 2014 to 2015. Let’s start with the new bands.
New Bands in 2015
1- Hallak
Hallak is a new slam brutal death metal band that was formed in 2015. The band members are: Al Sherief Marzeban from Scarab, Zander Adam from Destiny in Chains and Prophecy in Chains, and Michel Khater from Nathyr. The band is still working on their first release.
2- Outcast 44
It’s a new hardcore/ nu metal band, that was formed by Zander Adam and Sayed Ragai from Sinprophecy. Outcast 44 is not the first project which gathered Zander and Sayed, they cooperated before in Prophecy In Chains. Outcast 44 released 2 tracks are ‘As The Days Passed’ – which you can read the review here – and ‘Error 404’.
3- Awaken Within
Awaken Within is a collaboration that recently joined the Egyptian scene. It is formed by Amr Medhat from Egypt, Paul Martin and Ryan Thomson from the United Kingdom. This year, the band released their first Self-titled EP in addition to 3 singles, one of them was reviewed here.
Now, let’s move to the second part in our harvest which is the line up changes, which was witnessed by many bands in the Egyptian scene, let’s go…
Line-up changes
Beshoy’s come-back to Enraged
This year Enraged declared the return of their old friend Beshoy.
Absolution newcomers
This year Absolution‘s line-up ended after Yousab Youssef and Matthew Osama joined the band.
Segadoras new Bassist and new Drummer
Segadoras declared their new bassist Ahmed Yassin and their new Drummer Youssef El Qushairy.
Mephostophilis’ new drummer
Ali Osama El Rawy joined Mephostophilis as their new drummer.
Nathyr is still suffering
Nathyr declared that they are in need a new bassist and a new drummer. Till now, no news about who the new members are.
Moataz leaves Midwinter
Moataz left Midwinter after finishing the recording process of their first EP Portrait Of Doom.
Vocalist wanted
Gorynov announced the departure of their vocalist Mohammed Ibrahim. They are still in search for a new vocalist, however Sammy Sayed from Scarab cooperated with them in live shows.
Vocalist departure and rejoining
Sinporphecy gave their fans this year a shocking announcement; Sayed Ragai left Sinprophecy. After the departure of Ragai many people started talking about Sinprophecy splitting up. Few months ago Sinpophecy announced Sayed Ragai’s return to his band again.
Resolve’s new vocalist
Resolve announced that Mike Gharib from Absolution joined them as their new vocalist.
Al Azif’s new bassist and new vocalist
This year Al Azif announced their new bassist Abd El Rahman El Dewainy and their new vocalist Mohammed Atef.
Odious’ old friends
Odious announced that Alfi Hayati from Hate Field and Amr Medhat from Awaken Within to rejoin Odious line-up to share the band through concerts and tour. Both Amr Medhat and Alfi Hayati were in Odious before their departure. Check their long awaited album ‘Skin Age’ here.
Sayed Ragai joined Finis Omnium
This year Sayed Ragai joined the melodic death metal band Finis Omnium.
Now, Let’s check the releases we had this year. This year we had over 20 releases
1. Absolution – ‘The edifice of Zanjibar’.
2. Arsh Anubis – Nether World Oracles, full length.
3. Astray – When the Stars Collide, full length.
4. Awaken Within – Awaken Within EP and 3 singles, ‘Death Dealer’, ‘All For Nothing’ and ‘Wariro Of Ages’.
5. Devour – Freak, demo.
6. Enraged – Jahr, EP.
7. Finis Omnium – Chaos. Hatred. Tyranny, full length.
8. Gorynov – ‘Enemy is my Sight, [Single, only played live]
9. Grave Solace – Words from Grave, full length compilation.
10. Hate Field – An Acoustic for a Night, live album.
11. Hecate – The Oceans Ov Hell and In Nomine Artem Blackium, singles.
12. Kato Hafez – Kato Hafez, EP.
13. Midwinter – Portrait of Doom, EP.
14. Nathyr – As the Legacy Unveils, full length.
15. Odious – Skin Age, full length.
16. Outcast 44 – ‘As The Days passed’ and ‘Error 404’.
17. Sallos – At Dawn in which the Dead have Missed, demo.
18. Scarab – Serpents of the Nile, full length.
19. Sinprophecy – ‘Tears of a Sinner’.
20. Thorvald – Nordic March, single.
21. Throne Of Carnage – EP of 3 tracks ‘The hell above’, ‘The heaven below,’ and ‘Traitors and annihilation for the weak’.
22. Worsens – ‘Noah’.
For this list to come out, there’s special thanks to Mahmoud Ezzat for providing more information to help writing this article, as well as Adam Mohamed from the Egyptian Metal Archive.
Extra thanks to:
Written by: Rana Atef
Edited by: NJ Bakr
