Right at the moment when you think nothing (talking in terms of music) can surprise you anymore, a release like this appears. CD format, limited to 500 copies, about ten minutes playing time for each band. Nothing new so far, but now please fasten your seat belts! ALNAMROOD are hailing from Saudi Arabia and are not only playing Black Metal, which would be a big surprise on its own. They are mixing traditional oriental percussion and chanting with early 1990s Black Metal. Although the band was founded back in 2008 and already released six albums, I never noticed the trio. Honestly, I have never heard anything like this before. Just imagine the sheer fury and chaotic frenzy of early IMPALED NAZARENE teaming up with tunes sounding most bizarre and unprecedented to your ears. Except you have a favor for oriental Folk music or watching documentaries about Bedouin tribes. To make things more obscure, at least for my European ears, the track ‘Tajer Al Punqi’ (divided into two parts) is sung in Arabic with very dominant clear vocals in the mix. Quite a few bands (such as NILE) added oriental elements like language, ancient instruments or rhythm patterns to their music, but at the end of the day it still was Metal plus some scent of exotic. But ALNAMROOD are going far beyond those bands, they celebrate genuine Pagan Metal straight out of the desert. Awesome! DARKESTRAH are presenting a twelve minute long epic opus of BORKNAGAR influenced music. The atmosphere ranges from soundtrack like heroic moments to violin supported gloom and despair. If you have in mind the band being active for 17 years by now and having six albums published you will not be surprised by the well-balanced songwriting, the proper sound and the skills to the instruments. For all additional info on ALNAMROOD and DARKESTRAH check out www.alnamrood.com, www.facebook.com/alnamroodofficial, www.facebook.com/darkestrahofficial or www.darkestrah.vze.com. Label contact: www.shaytanproductions.com