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This is one of the very local acts that I’ve attended, and believe me when I say I wasn’t let down. Metal East Records and JoScene collided to deliver one of the best metal acts, I’ve personally witnessed.

The venue, The Music Room; Now, I’ve never been to the Music Room before but I heard a lot about it. The place is spacious, with a decent stage and lightening equipment.

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At 8:15, the first band started Fat Randall. The only punk band in the whole night. The band was fun to watch, and very silly; cracking up jokes between tracks. The set included 5 tracks and 2 covers, “No Cigar” and “To Be With You”. Their first track “Retardation” was seemingly good, until the Solo.

Apparently something went wrong with the cables, and there was no distortion. Romario – the bassist – and Paul – the guitarist – tried to hide it with some wisecracks. It worked, everyone laughed and they proceeded to the next song. Despite their shenanigans, the audience interactions didn’t raise until the very end when they wiped out with “Millennium Falcon”.

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DJ Cindy Reframe blessed our ears with some 80s heavy metal tracks to entertain the audience until the next band got ready, which was Voice of the Soul. 9:00 sharp the band was on stage – I was really impressed with how time punctual everyone was. They started off immediately, with a slight problem with the drums, but was easily fixed. The band started off with “Immolation” , with almost over half of the crowd was at the stage; banging their heads. “Guardians of Genocide” genuinely had an intelligent solo. Monish – the guitarist – absolutely nailed it. blankMoving on to their track from their upcoming album in September – which jokingly has no title – the drummer gave us some beats until Kareem and Monish tuned their guitars. The track is much heavier than the previous two, and that gives you a slight hint how the album is going to be like. They skilled it off perfectly, I don’t think there would be any other way to end their set.

Again, DJ Cindy moves into heavier tracks. MC Sary announces some giveaways including t-shirts, CDs and ION turntables. While Svengali set-up their gear, other band members helped them set everything in place and that was a very nice gesture.

9:45 Svengali started – I told you they were precise – So, this was their first time on stage, and boy they carried it out! Their tracks were all from their blankEP “Unscathed”. The band have been putting up their practicing sessions for the past few months and it clearly shows their effort on stage. I enjoyed the harmony between Fadi’s clean vocals and Adnan’s brutal vocals. They went together so well especially in “Ophidia” and “Sirens”. The vocalist Adnan was so high on interacting with others, jumping and calling them to jump along. The audience were on edge as they were looking the band they’ve waited for months. In case you haven’t heard their EP, listen to them here.

Finally, Bilocate; Again DJ Cindy goes on amazing everyone with mingling tracks together smoothly, and band members helping the Headliners arrange their gear and instruments. Now, almost all of the venue was empty except for the stage surroundings. They came back to Dubai after 5 years away to show us what they got!

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They started heavily off with “A Desire to Leave” everyone was singing the lyrics along; pretty amazing. Their second track was by far my favorite “The Tragedy Within” as it had some tabla mingled, and everyone was belly dancing! They only had one cover in their mindblowing set “The Castsaway” by Amorphis; and they smashed it.

This was a very intense night. Metal Eastern Night and JoScene did a great job in managing the bands, the time between the sets was precise. They made sure the audience wasn’t too drunk or heavily headbanging to extent of hurting themselves. I could see organizers roaming around the venue making sure everything is in place. MC Sary ended the night with announcing the winners of the ION turntables, lucky them! It was a Perfect night, with great choice of bands and venue.

Review by: Nj Bakr
Photography by: Alexandre Antozzi


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