The new Harcorde Band rising in the sands of Dubai, Svengali launch their debut EP entitled Unscathed on the 15th of this month. A project initiated by Adnan Mryhij and Fadi Al Shami, try and mark their stamp on the metal scene in the middle east with this EP. Well, I have had the pleasure to listen to and write a review on this EP. So without further ado…
The EP starts off with “Ophidia”. The song kicks in with a strong Drum and Bass line, followed by Adnan power-housing his vocal chords to kickstart this one. About a couple of minutes into it, and I am already expecting the rest of the EP to take me over. What you get to hear is a pure juxtaposition of melody and distortion, with Fadi coming into the chorus with his clean vocals and it’s a pattern followed all over the EP. Now this might tend to get monotonous with some of you out there, but I can assure you all, the balancing in very simple terms is just beautiful.
I don’t usually listen to EP’s, especially debut ones. As for me, they’re what a band does to recognize their long term sound. But listening to Unscathed, being very few of the EP’s that I’ve actually felt, that the members have already figured out the direction their heading into, before getting into the studio for this one. And this by all means is a very positive means of having a start. The album produced by Hadi Sarieddine of the band Benevolent, has done a great amount of work on trying to nail this one.
Post the half way mark, comes in “Embrace”, which according to me is the best song of the EP in my opinion. Adnan extending his vocal range in the verses, to the sublime clean vocals added by Fadi on the chorus, is absolutely divine. This song speaks of strong emotions, and what it does give you with that are strong riffs and hard drumming. Followed by “Embrace”, is the song “Conquer”. The band has recently released an official video of the song on their YouTube channel.
Over the past few years, I have heard a lot of EP’s of upcoming bands. What distinct bands from each other, and I’m quite sure all of you have had the feeling too – for being inclined to your favorite band – is that the very first time you played an album, there was that one or maybe two songs, that made you play the album again and again. There have been very few debut EP’s let alone albums, that can make me recollect that feeling. Unscathed did it for me. For the neutral, if you are looking for something nice to listen to, lend an ear to the songs “Conquer” and “Embrace”.
This is not perfect by all means, but what they’ve certainly shown is a lot of potential for the future to be one of the big guns. Anyone recall listening to a certain EP named “Human Chaos” almost a decade ago? These guys have me looking forward to watching them play live, and their first full length album. This gives you a cohesiveness of power riffs, with strong bass lines and drum patterns, backed by the grueling screams, and the serenity of the clean vocals. Overall, this is a fresh sound for the metal scene in the Arab Emirates and the Middle East.
Reviewed by: Adrian Miranda
SVENGALI – UNSCATHED (EP)
LAUNCH DATE: APRIL 15TH 2014.
COUNTRY: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.
OVERALL RATING: 3.5 / 5.
Ttrack-list:
1. OPHIDIA
2. SIRENS
3. THE END
4. EMBRACE
5. CONQUER
6. FREE FALL
