“Alright, earMUSIC. We have to talk. It’s important to know that Myrath is one of my favorite bands on the planet. I’ve been listening to them for well over a decade now, so every time the Tunisian five-piece announces a new album, my rapt, anxious anticipation skyrockets. Frustratingly, since the announcement for sixth LP Karma dropped, album leaks and fake release dates ran amok and led hopeful fans like me to dead Spotify links and rampant misinformation. The repeated PR foibles alone were enough to make me worry that the album wouldn’t be any good. Then, to top it all off, you hand us stream promo? Very naughty! But, that’s okay. All is forgiven because god damn was Karma worth it in the end.” Forgiveness and my wrath.
Tunisian Metal
Brood of Hatred – The Golden Age Review
“Tunisian one-man band Brood of Hatred caught my attention during my early days on Bandcamp, luring me into mastermind Muhammed MĂȘlki’s twisted brand of progressive post-death metal with Skinless Agony. He apparently released a second album, Identity Disorder, so quietly that I completely missed it until just a few days prior to writing this. Catching up on what I missed gave me a clearer picture of how Brood of Hatred developed over the last eight years leading up to his latest outing, entitled The Golden Age.” Pox Romana.
Omination – NGR (New Golgotha Repvbliq) Review
“It may not be quite accurate to say funeral doom is about minimalism, but it’s not far from the truth either. Much of that is a result of the pace. Even if a funeral doom song has as much going on as a regular metal song when condensed to a regular runtime, stretched over 15 or 20 minutes, it sounds like less. Notes are sustained longer, beats per minute are reduced, and at any given moment, less really is going on. Until now, I would have told you the idea of maximalist funeral doom was an oxymoron, antithetical. It seems no one told that to Tunisia’s Omination.” Maximum doom.
Myrath – Legacy Review
“Myrath makes what they call “Tunisian metal.” While this is a totally legit way of framing it, it’s also fair to say that they really make a kind of orchestral power metal laced with the sounds and stories of North Africa. Despite having debuted in 2007, I’ve only previously listened to 2010’s Desert Call. It might be that I had just gotten to the album directly after reviewing the absolutely transcendent The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR by Orphaned Land, but the album didn’t stand up for me and I didn’t really ever follow up on them.” So what’s 5 years distance do for Angry Metal Guy’s opinion of the only Tunisian metal band you’ve ever heard of?