Does anyone remember the opening of one of our reviews when we stated that: Metal is indestructible, unstoppable, growing each and every day in Egypt? If you don’t remember then sir, I wanna congratulate you, you’re in the very middle of the fastest rise Metal in Egypt has ever had.
You know that urge to go do something different? Like when you have one of those days and need to break the routine? That’s how I felt on April the 7th in the very early morning. I finished work and ran to El Sawi Culture Wheel to attend the METAL GRINDERS II event, the fourth event in a matter of two months maximum. Awesome, right?
The lineup consisted of two fast risers: The fresh faces of Gorynov, the youngest band in Egypt’s Metal scene with an age span topped by Mohammed Ibrahim (vocals) who is 20 years old, and the youngest member Ali Amr (rhythm guitar) with only 16 years of age. They sound cool, right? What if I told you that their drummer is the sweet little lady strolling around the stage area in her messy hair? Yes, the first ever Metal band in Egypt with a girl drummer. Well, second band considering MaScaRa when they were ALL girl act back in the days.
I tried to sit down with them but they were too shy to stay in one place for too long. So I caught up with their bassist Omar Magdy to discuss their first ever concert in Sakkia, to notice he was also too nervous to even talk; still he was so professional and informative about the gig, the band, everything.
Less talking, More action!
I went to check out the modern Melodic Death band Segadoras, they looked like they were up to something. Big!
Head count for the night wasn’t as expected, but that didn’t lower the two bands enthusiasm a bit. Gorynov went onstage to play their mixture of cover tracks and original pieces, “Divide and Conquer” was a good starter. As well as for the tracks that really shocked us “Unleash Hell” and “Hate Grenade”.
They are really good when it comes to the spirit. For us older metelheads looking at amateurs going full-thrash-Metal- crazy is something glorious, a thought backed up with them playing few tracks from Sepultura and Metallica’s “Creeping Death” with full skill and passion.
All I can point out is that their front man wasn’t up to the kind of music they played. He has the potential but he has to look like what he plays, as if it was a Metal band fronted by a singer, not a performer. I mean, he has the aggressive look and sound, but he needs to “loosen up” as once James Hetfield said.
Sara Al-Sayyad was the crown jewel of the band. The first ever female drummer to play with aggressiveness and techniques, no wonder why some people call her “Little Vinnie Paul”.
Finally the three axe holders had very few falls to be mentioned as they held the whole act together. Those guys were in it to win it!
It’s something when the audience is like you in general, but when some of the old metalheads in Egypt, and by old I mean the oldest, then you are doing something exceptionally unique.
When I started listening to bands like Amaranthe or Soilwork, I didn’t have the slightest idea that there could be a groovy version of Melo/Death metal like the new genre of modern Melodic Death Metal. But by the dawn of 2011 we had Segadoras, the first ever modern MeloDeath metal band from Egypt.
Piece of advice? Stay tuned for them in the near future.
I had the chance to watch this band starting from scratch, building up fast a decent reputation with major lineup changes in the drummer, rhythm guitar, lead guitar and bassist positions. And putting on a show takes a lot of courage and chemistry which appeared this time more than ever based on viewers’ opinions.
“The Rise” was their signature track and also the act opener, with a new comer on stage: Scott Tyler. A new monster backing vocal from the city of Mansoura. Real name? Unknown.
They took away the dub-step touches the track had and made it into a normal Metal track including Scott and Gasser; an oriental singer who appears only in this track. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the chance to listen to him the first time they played the track – they compensated the fans by playing it again as closing – because his mic was switched off by mistake.
The tracks played in the set-list made all of us realize how far these guys changed. Especially “My Existence” and “The Undefeated”. In the track “The Ultimate Sacrifice”, the former guitarist Mishmish showed support and gratitude by joining his comrades on stage with the boys from Sinprophecy, head-banging and driving the crowd crazy. Also Hossam Al-Tawdy shared the closing breakdown of “The Rise” with them.
Although this band was very good, it was easy to see they were too scared to fail that they stuffed their performance with an arsenal of features; Scott’s appearance to start with, Bahaa’s vocal power had risen to a great height of power and brutality that he didn’t need in fact any backing voices.
Their music was multi layered and that’s okay. Still it’s too multilayered that you’d feel like it was “Progressive extreme Metal”. Watch out guys!
The new bass player Ammar or as they call him Raa’d – which translates into thunder- looks very young for such skill on stage, only if he moves a little instead of his statue-like stance he had.
Reviewed by: Ahmed A. Atteya
All photo rights reserved to Lina Al-Gohary
Special thanks to Ahmed Magdi for providing Sinprophecy‘s photos.
