I Wanna Rock

Outcast 44 released their 1st single “As the Days Pass” on the 12th of October, you can get your digital copy through Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015SRPIBA?keywords=outcast+44&qid=1444674743&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Follow Outcast 44 through Facebook to get all of their updates.

Bovem are:

Mostafa Sokkar - Bass/Vocals. Shady Mohamed - Guitar. Mohamed Hani - Guitar. Ahmed Sami - Drums.  

Now lets start our brutal conversation,

Photo courtesy: taken off the band’s facebook page. 

What is the meaning of the band's name "Bovem"?

It is the Latin word for an Ox, it represents the power and the stubbornness of the Oxen, which we translate as brutality.

When and how did Bovem begin?

It all began in November 2014, when Shady Mohamed and Ahmed Samy decided to start their own project due to having common musical interests, which lead that they have the same way of thinking in writing music. After sometime Mostafa Sokkar wanted to join the band and we were glad to have such a big and old name in the metal Scene joining our project, then we contacted Mohamed Hany at a later time. The band was fully formed in early 2015, end of 2014.

At first did you start playing some covers to define the band's sound or you started writing your music immediately?

Ahmed Samy and Shady Mohamed used to cover lots of music together, from Behemoth to Death and other black and death metal bands. Ahmed Samy and Mohamed Hany are old friends and they already have tried to write music together and play covers. Then upon some improvises between Shady and Ahmed chances of writing music was appeared, but as the band was fully formed we started writing our own music.

Do you all have the same musical influences or you come from different backgrounds and you try to mix all of it together in your music? 

Mostafa Sokkar has death metal influences with bands such as Hypocrisy, Vader and Dying Fetus, and also doom metal such as My Dying Bride and Katatonia. Ahmed Samy is influenced by black metal such as Mayhem, Marduk and Acherontas, and also blackened death metal such as Behemoth, Belphegor and Hate. Shady Mohamed is influenced by death metal such as Death, Decapitated and Cannibal Corpse, and also Blackened death metal such as Behemoth, Belphegor and Hate. Mohamed Hany is influenced by progressive metal such as Opeth and Dream Theater, and also black metal such as Mayhem and Watain.

Since you are releasing your first album "Ominous Dawn" soon. Can you tell me about it?

Our debut album is all about the apocalypse with its stages with good and evil's ultimate battle at the end. We are trying to bring the apocalypse to our listeners by telling its story.

When do you expect it to be out?

We are expecting it to be out in early or mid 2016.

How usually your writing process go?

Songs ideas are collected with different guitar riffs and basic ideas and as we try to expand each track, we write and try to continuously improve them.

How do you rate your performance on Walls of Death?

All the band members did their best on the stage as a first show and we partially delivered what we wanted.

If you have the chance to play with any band in the world, who would it be?

Mostafa Sokkar would choose to play with Hypocrisy, Ahmed Samy would choose to play with Acherontas, Shady Mohamed would choose to play with Decapitated and Mohamed Hany would choose to play with Opeth.

What distinguishes Bovem among other Egyptian bands?

We are trying to create brutal rich music that would just blast the listener’s ears. We are formed from different age range and different metal scene generations which gives us lots of different ideas with lots of different solutions to any problem that we come across.

What's your take on the Egyptian rock/metal scene? what is missing? and what's to be done to deal with this things?

It really needs more concerts and more venues to allow us to hold more concerts. The scene needs to stop the hatred between each and every different generation or sub-genre group. We all should be one family and have the same aims to make this scene a better scene than it is right now as lots of Metal music listeners in Egypt tend to totally avoid the scene due to the hatred and the many fights that happen.

Any message to your fans?

Keep rocking, keep it metal and expect us. We are Bovem and we bring you the apocalypse.

You can follow Bovem on Facebook to get all of their updates.

Jahr will continue the story that began in their first EP Jeremiad and it is expected to be released very soon in 2015.

Zander Adam - Vocals/Synth/Lyrics.

Lord Mist - Guitar.

Mohamed Tarek - Guitar/Synth.

Ammar Raad - Bass guitar.

Mohamed Assal - Drums.

I would like to start with digging into Hecate's origins. When and how did it all start?

Hecate started in 2014, mainly by Usama Also known as “Lord Mist” and Zander Adam, the idea of making Hecate a true band was totally unplanned it's all started with one track called Nazarean, a track that Usama Wrote and Zander put his vocals on it later and within few months the whole album "The Order of the Black Light" was written and finished. We thought instead of having it rot in our Computers why don’t we share it with people while it's still a 2 members project under the name of Hecate project. We released the album and started to get some nice feedback about it so we started to think big, why don’t we take a step and make another release with a full lineup band? Later we added Mohamed Assal, Ammar Raad and finally Mohamed Tarek "Mishmish". So it was all just a lucky shot that started with a track.

Do you all have the same musical influences or you come from different backgrounds and you try to mix all of it together in your music?

True we all came from different backgrounds however we all share the same vision. As for our individual influences: Usama "Lord Mist" Influenced by atmospheric dark and depressive black metal. You can easily get it from his work actually, his list includes a lot but he is not around to share his favorite bands unfortunately. Ammar is more into the sound of Anathema, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Opeth and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Assal is our back bone actually and his influences is very hard to be listed. He listens to various genres of metal but to name a few he truly likes Opeth, Tesseract, Animals as Leaders, Septicflesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse and Dimmu Borgir. Zander is totally into death metal and its sub-genres plus some black metal and groove. To name a few Hate, Behemoth, Septicflesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Dying Fetus, Dimmu Borgir, Immortal, Dark Funeral, Vital Remains, White Chaple and many many more. Regarding Mohamed Tarek "Mishmash" he is influenced by Opeth, Pink Floyd, In Mourning, Speticflesh, Riverside, Rush, Insominum, Marionette, Make Them Suffer, Arch Enemy, Amaseffer,  Suffocate and Whit chapel.

At first did you start playing some covers to define the band's sound or you started writing your music immediately?

No we actually started with our originals immediately.

How do you define your sound?

Gloomy and dark, with some atmospheric touches that's all based on blackened death basic sounds.

Tell me about "The Order of the Black Light". What's behind its music and lyrics?

The main concept behind the music is to take you through a journey of extreme riffs with atmospheric sound and dark theme to put you in a spiritual mood.The lyrics are very attached to our music, not playing its part as words only but actually the lyrics plays the true feeling of the music in different meanings. Each word in the tracks designed based on the riff and the feeling of it, so each word in its place explaining the riff played behind it and vice versa. The lyrical theme is hard to be understood by every person so you totally free to see it the way you wantedWe are not forcing our listeners to believe in anything at all, that's why the first 2 tracks we recently released came with lyrical videos to let the listener go into his/her own journey through the tracks. Sometimes it works and sometimes don't, and this is the taste of music that makes us different my friend.

How did you manage to get a deal with Sleaszy Rider Records?

We just submitted our new material to them and we had a 3 years deal for 3 albums including the upcoming one "In Nomine Artem Blackium". 

How does your music writing process usually go?

There is no fixed process to be honest, we all come up with ideas regarding music.

Are there plans for more live performances after Walls of Death?

Can't say now as we are not 100% sure about it yet but hopefully yes.

What distinguishes Hecate among other Egyptian metal bands?

All musician here are doing their best and putting all their talents in their music, I think it's not something different that distinguishes us from any other band and same for others too. Except for putting all their efforts in their music to make it worth hearing. We think all Egyptian bands are talented and got their own touches and sounds that make them different in a good way among other bands, so by the end of the day we all came from the same land to prove we got a scene that needs to shine. Maybe we still have much to reach and learn but who said anything about stop making music !? and it’s the same thing if you asked any other band around I guess. ..It's just how bad you want this !!

If you have the chance to play in any band in the world, who would it be?

Indeed as for Mohamed Tarek he would love one day to share the stage with Opeth, Pink Floyd, Anathema or Septicflesh. As for Ammar he never had a dream to share the stage with a person because, when it comes to sharing a stage he think chemistry is more important than how talented or famous are you. That's why he always prefer to play with musicians that he can have fun hanging out with but if he must pick then he'd go for Cavanagh. He is a joyful person. Assal would love to share one day the stage with Septicflesh, Dimmu Borgir, Opeth or Obscura. As for Usama or "Lord Mist" his not around at the moment to give us his list however it will definitely include Behemoth, Emperor, Murduk and Dark Funeral. As for Zander definitely Septicflesh, Dimmu borgir, Behemoth, Hate, White chapel and Shade Empire.

What's your take on the Egyptian rock/metal scene? What is missing? And what's to be done to deal with these things?

This is a huge topic to talk about but I guess what we all agree on is basically a spot lights on our scene and bands getting more support from the media if possible, to show the right positive side of our metal scene and show people here and all over the world that we have a solid scene, talented musicians and true metal lovers. How can this happen that is a bit hard to figure out because, it always seem like there are those who want you down to get a good story to tell like talk shows and media and that's in general. Taking a look inside the scene I guess all we need is to stick together support each other bands and audience and try to make a good example of ourselves first, as good people that just happened to have a different taste in music so we can gain people's respect but first we have to respect ourselves, otherwise we will be doomed.

Any messages to your fans?

We worked hard to deliver good material to you to rise among others, we are going continue delivering and coming up with new things, write good music and keep on learning while we still can. we just started with one album in our history now what we introduced is just the beginning and greater things is yet to come. We will do our best to deliver a high quality unique performance and music so stay around coz we need your support. keep the Egyptian metal scene's flag up high and see you all in Walls of Death.Cheers

You can follow Hecate on Facebook, Youtube or thought their own website http://www.hecate-egypt.com/ to get all of their updates.

Ismaeel Attallah - Vocal and all guitars. Amr Mokhtar - Drums. Moanis Salem - Bass Guitar. Youssef Saleh - Live sessions guitar.

Photo courtesy: taken off the band’s facebook page. 

At first we better go back about a decade or something and ask you. When and how was Crescent born?

Born in 1998 during high school, started as a black metal band with different members and different name then it took more of a serious approach when we planned on composing/making the first official Crescent EP “Edgar Allan Poe's Dreamland”, Amr Mokhtar and myself (Ismaeel Attallah) would be the founding members. 

What are your influences? how does it help in shaping Crescent's sound?

Our influences were music at the beginning (when we were younger). You definitely get inspired by your favorite bunch of bands, then you start studying the structure of rock and metal songs and seek your sound until a point where it comes naturally out of you, simply expressing your own self through music. At this stage the influences are basically our surroundings from the day to day life experience.

How do you define Crescent’s sound?

Majestic and epic as Egypt's old civilization.

How does your music writing process usually go?

Composing music with a determined imagery and have an initial title for it, then writing the full lyrics for the written music.

You’ve been working on some new material. Can you tell us about it? How different will it be from “Pyramid Slaves”?

It's still processing but, we are almost done with most of the compositions. It will be in the same vein of “Pyramid Slaves” yet darker and more straight forward, lots of head-banging and groovy parts with endless melodies. 

Will the lyrics still be derived from ancient Egyptian history?

Absolutely, and it will be mainly about the myths of ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses.

When do you expect it to be done?

 It’ll be done in 6 to 8 months from now we hope.

Photo courtesy: taken off the band’s facebook page. 

Besides Wacken and Inferno, what is the performance that you remember the most?

The Metal Apocalypse tour with Hirax, Bonded by Blood and Nuclear, it's an unforgettable experience. We toured 5 countries (Most of Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, The Netherlands and Belgium). We drove 6000 KM over 10 days and we had the time of our lives. This wasn't an easy task, being able to drive 800 KM to reach a venue and to be deprived of sleeping, assemble your equipment with the bands and be able to deliver 100 percent on stage afterwards. Then dismantle the back line and get off the road again. People here don't understand the effort done to be able to do so and I personally had the help of a dear friend that helped me a lot throughout the tour and without her, it would have been impossible. The bands were more than wonderful, so friendly and very helpful also we had the sound engineer (Miquel a.k.a Mega) who works with many amazing bands like Alice cooper, Cryptopsy, Blood Red Throne, Psycroptic and lots more. So, it was basically one hell of an experience.

What is the difference between the Wacken experience and Inferno?

Wacken is huge, too huge yet extremely organized. It's like Disney Land of metal. Just a grim version of Disney Land. Inferno has a very intimate atmosphere. And very well selected bands that can perform there and we were proud that we were picked up to perform there and for this amazing experience as well. We would love to go back there again. 

What was the hardest thing you had to face during your European tour? And what was the best moment?

Not to sleep while driving and risking other people's lives. I remember I had to pullover at a toll free parking lot to catch a 3 hours sleep to be able to get on the road again. Of course punctuality is extremely important, depending on the venue you get into if they have nice showers or not. Sometimes you would yearn for a good warm shower and Munich’s venue was the best, they even had a washing machine. The best moment was happening everyday with this bunch of crazy bastards from the other bands. We were/are one big family.

Did you have the chance to market your music among professional bands and labels while playing in Europe?

Somehow and that's the main purpose of touring. You have to perform regularly and to be seen and heard.

What is your favorite song to play live?

Pyramid-Fucking-Slaves

Photo courtesy: taken off the band’s facebook page. 

Are we going to listen to any of your new material in Walls of Death?

Yes one teaser.

What distinguishes Crescent among other Egyptian metal bands?

Our way in mixing melodies with aggression and speed. Music speaks for itself after all.

If you have the chance to play in any band in the world who would it be?

Crescent

What's your take on the Egyptian rock/metal scene? What is missing? And what's to be done to deal with these things?

It's missing originality and character in music. Although it's quite hard to have a peculiar sound of your own in 2015 but lots of bands need to focus on how to compose smart and think of ideas. Also the scene is missing musicianship between the bands and that doesn't require such pseudo fake support but, it requires genuine support in spirit. We felt how bands abroad supported us and we tried our uttermost to give this support back. It's very genuine and real. We wish the bands here would learn this and elevate above any negative comparisons, a competitive spirit is definitely good as long as it's implemented in a positive manner. As for the gigs organizers we personally think they are doing a great job. We just need to perform in venues other than Sakya for a change if that's ever possible which will also open up the competition between Sakya and other venues to provide hopefully better service and quality which will develop the rock and metal scene immensely. Also webzines like Moshpit Maniacs, RockEraMag and Jorzine are all contributing a lot in the scene which is just great.

Any message to your fans?

Thank you for supporting us, we are nothing without you. Stop downloading music because it's a crime against art. Support the local bands and cheers to all. 

You can follow Crescent on Facebook, Myspace, Soundcloud or through their own webside www.crescentband.com to get all of their updates.

Mohamed Atef- Vocals. Mohammad Sherif “Mafia” - Lead Guitar. Hatem Sayed - Rhythm Guitar. Abdelrahman Al Dewainy - Bass Guitar. Mohamed Al-Assaal - Drums.

Photo courtesy: Lina Elgohary and taken off the band’s facebook page. 

Well I would like to start from the very beginning. When and how did it all begin?

Mohammed Sherif: It all started in the beginning of 2009. I knew a bassist from Al-Mansoura called "Mohammed Tarek". We started sharing ideas about a band that we both could implement our ideas in and we started jamming soon after. It was just me and him until we were joined by the keyboardist "Mohammed Nazem" followed later by our ex. vocalist "Zak Hassan".

At first did you start playing some covers to define the band's sound or you started writing your own music immediately?

Mohammed Sherif: We played different genres just to get the feel of how different things played out. later I suggested a name, concept and genre for the band, Al-Azif that's how I named it and everyone in the band went nuts. The whole concept behind Al-Azif was to talk about mythologies and horror tales from writers like HP Lovecraft and Edgar Alan Poe. We decided that melodic death metal is the best way for us to go, so we started covering tracks for bands like Hypocrisy and Arch Enemy then we started writing our own material.

Do you all have the same musical influences or you come from different backgrounds and you try to mix it all in your music? 

We all have a common ground and that is melodic death metal. Hatem has doom influences, Mohammed Hisham and Abdelrahman both have some Technical/progressive death metal taste, Mohammed Atef has some deathcore influences and Mafia has a lot of blackened death/technical death metal influences.

How do you define your sound?

We use down tuned guitars for heavy riffing and mellower tones plus a lot of harmonies and melodic licks in our music. As for our lyrics, they are very dark and have a lot of certain horror vibes in them and our songs' structure depends on the "Tell tale" progression.

Photo courtesy: Lina Elgohary and taken off the band’s facebook page. 

What was your very first performance?

Our first performance was back in 2011 at Heavy tune Vol.3.

What is your favorite song to perform live?

From our first album we love to play "Al Hazred" and "I shall Prevail ". As for our upcoming album there is "Mutilated Assembly”, “Cull the meek” and “Raven and Berserker"

Listening to “Claiming the Sand Throne” I noticed the songs names and the band’s name of course all revolve in H.P Lovecraft’s world. Will you stick to this theme or it was just a concept for this album?

"Claiming the sand throne" was a concept album telling the tale of Abdulla Al-Hazred and his journey to write the book Al-Azif. In later albums we will be telling other stories.

How does your music writing process usually go?

We usually come up with a concept for the album, then Mohamed Sherif and Hatem start Writing some music and with the help of Mohammed Hisham we start writing lyrics.

Are there any plans for a new album soon?

That’s for sure. We are in the process of recording our second album "Singularity" and we can't wait to release it. It's going to be great that’s for sure.

Are we going to listen to some new material in Walls of Death?

We will be playing all new songs from our new album "Singularity" 

 What distinguishes Al-Azif among other Egyptian metal bands?

We Really have this good mix of melodic death metal mixed with some atmospheric and sometimes even oriental riffs. We are one of the few melodic death metal bands in Egypt and we really love where we are going with our music.

Photo courtesy: Lina Elgohary and taken off the band’s facebook page. 

If you have the chance to play in any band in the world, who would it be? 

Mohammed Hesham would love to join Fleshgod Apocalypse, Abdelrahman Aldwainy would like to join In Mourning, Mohammed Atef’s choice would be White Chapel, Mohammed Sherif would love to join Bloodbath and Hatem Samir SepticFlesh.

What's your take on the Egyptian rock/metal scene? What is missing? And what's to be done to deal with these things?

Our metal scene has really struggled in the past few years. The underground scene is really trying to work with what we have and those are the true heroes who keep the metal scene alive and kicking in Egypt. What we lack the most is proper recognition from our media and society, sponsors to hold big events and We need to start inviting some international juggernauts to play in Egypt. Also we need our metal fans to behave, Show them what we really are and what our music is really about.

Any messages to your fans?

To our fans we say, thank you for your support for all these years. We really apologize for the last year when we weren’t active. We promise you a great experience with the release of our new album and we are really looking forward to seeing you all at Sawy Cultural Wheel This 5th of September we promise you its gonna be one hell of a ride. 

Go see Al-Azif perform in Walls of Death festival on Saturday the 5th of September and support the scene.

You can follow Al-Azif on Facebook, Youtube and Soundcloud to get all of their updates. 

You can download their album “Claiming the Sand Throne” for free from this link: http://www.mediafire.com/download/7c5m5bu4c7qqwwj/Claiming+the+sand+throne+Al-azif+%5B2012%5D.rar

“Chaos. Hatred. Tyranny” was released in the 27th of July. It has 8 tracks taking you in a trip with the three elements “Chaos, hatred and tyranny” that leads to the end of everything. The songs structure were kept really tight with interesting arrangements. Guitar riffs were dark and heavy but sticking to the melodic touches adjusting the albums direction. The album has some killer bass lines but they are lost in mixing and mastering process, they are very low that you can hardly hear them which is a very big loss. Vocal lines are brutal as they need to be, Perfectly delivering the mood and lyrical theme.

The band made a clear statement about the album’s theme on Bandcamp.

“CHAOS . HATRED . TYRANNY is an ideological album. The album discusses the notions stated in the album name… Notions that are predominant over any political stage worldwide. The album is a mere musical interpretation of the beginning of the end… The end of dreams of prosperity, the end of equality, the end of reason… The end of all. It is a cry for the chaos and eternal night that have started and that are destined to rule.“

So let’s start our track by track journey through Chaos, Hatred and Tyranny.

I got my headphones on, coffee in my hand and started playing "Beginning of the End” and Honestly, I did not expect this start at all. A soothing, melodic instrumental piece that made me double check I’m playing the right album. But when “Needful Lies” started I knew that was just the calm before the storm. It’s melodic intro with this groovy bass line will get you right into the mood, then to the verse that’ll keep you banging your head. “The End of All” starts next, a dark, heavy song that will make a perfect live opening track. Got a perfectly produced break between minute 3:00 and 4:40 plus some awesome solos and serious screaming. As mentioned before one of this album’s weaknesses-in my humble opinion- is the really low bass lines. listening to “Parasites” which is one of the best songs on the album, made that very obvious. Through the whole song, you can hear this really good bass line from far away and you wish if it is a little bit louder. Though the verse is pretty catchy plus the long slow part at the end with all these solos. “Of Hatred and Tyranny” is kinda the least track that grabbed my attention. A little bit standard and lost after the three previous songs except for the outro. Moving to the 6th song “While Empires Rust in Chaos” this was a whole new level. The song’s structure will keep you hooked on it through the whole four and half minutes. The band’s melodic touch is clear and maintained. It wrapped what Finis Omnium is all about. “Blinded by the Wreckage of Reality” is a special one. Not only because it has Crescent’s vocalist Ismaeel Attallah as a guest, but it also has some of the album’s most significant bass and guitar lines and solos and one of my personal favorite lyrics. “Tyrants dwelling in tyrant towers. Mass hypnosis. Our shadows long gone. Within this tyranny”. The 8th and last track on the album is “Oblivion”  which is the album’s outro. I like to picture it as a trip into a tyrant’s sick mind leading to total chaos. And it’s a little bit scary.

At the end “Chaos. Hatred. Tyranny” did no disappoint me. A brutal album that I really enjoyed listening to and I recommend you give it a try. Waiting to see it played live.

Tracks list:

Beginning of the End.

Needful Lies.

The End of All.

Parasites.

Of Hate and Tyranny.

While Empires Rust in Chaos.

Blinded By the Wreckage of Reality (Feat. Ismaeel Attallah/Crescent).

Oblivion.

You can listen to “Chaos. Hatred. Tyranny” on  Bandcamp.com:

https://finisomnium.bandcamp.com/album/chaos-hatred-tyranny

Finis Omnium’s Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/finisomnium1?fref=ts

Finis Omnium released two promising singles “The End of All” and “While Empires Rust in Chaos” which were included alongside 6 other songs in the album as the list goes:

Beginning of the End.

Needful Lies.

The End of All.

Parasites.

Of Hate and Tyranny.

While Empires Rust in Chaos.

Blinded By the Wreckage of Reality (Feat. Ismaeel Attallah/Crescent).

Oblivion.

“Chaos. Hatred. Tyranny” is now available of the bands Bandcamp account for free accompanied by the lyrics and and interesting statement about the album:

“CHAOS . HATRED . TYRANNY is an ideological album. The album discusses the notions stated in the album name… Notions that are predominant over any political stage worldwide. The album is a mere musical interpretation of the beginning of the end… The end of dreams of prosperity, the end of equality, the end of reason… The end of all. It is a cry for the chaos and eternal night that have started and that are destined to rule. “

You can follow Finis Omium on Facebook, Youtube and Bandcamp.

Finis Omnium are:

Sayed Ragai - Vocals.

Tarek Brery - Guitars and Arrangements.

Moanis Salem - Bass and Programming.

CHAOS . HATRED . TYRANNY by Finis Omnium

Bahaa El-Kresly - Vocals. Ahmed Mustafa Abdulaziz - Guitars. Hatem Samir - Guitars.  Mohammed Leo - keyboards. Ahmed Yassin - Bass. Youssef El-Qushairy - Drums.

Read more about Metal Grinders Vol II: The Rampage and the participating bands in our previous article Meet the Grinders here. Now let's dig deeper into The Reapers' roots.

       Photo courtesy: Lina Elgohary and taken off the band’s facebook page.

Since Segadoras means “The Reapers” in Spanish, what made you go with that certain translation?

Bahaa: Well the main concept behind the band’s music and lyrics is reminding people of death and how near is it through the reaper character. The translation- added Youssef - came from one of the band’s founders “Sherif Tarek” fascination with the Spanish language.

When and how it all did begin?

Bahaa: It all started back in 2006, Sherief Tarek and Abdallah Al-Nagar started Segadoras. They covered songs for Epica, After Forever and Horrified then the band went on hiatus in 2008 for a whole year. In 2009 Nour Azmy brought Segadoras back and that’s when I joined. I took the manager’s duty and we started playing some heavier stuff taking the band into the “death metal” direction, that’s when we started thinking about writing our own songs. After that Nour left the band and since then I’m doing my best to keep it alive.

When was your first live performance?

Bahaa: The very first performance for Segadoras’s first line up was in 2007. They played covers for Epica, After Forever and Horrified at the Kermesse. The existing line up’s first performance was at the Metal Grinders festival in 2012 playing original songs.

How mainly the writing process go?

Hatem: Mainly Ahmed writes about 70% of the guitar lines, then we all start working together adding more lines and modifying.

What is the driving force behind your lyrics and music? Is it personal issues, current events or what?

Bahaa: About the lyrics, Doaa Hamza writes Segadoras’ lyrics, I give her the main idea and she works on it. Some lyrics are based on personal stuff like “My Existence” which is about special needs children, or you’ve got something based on historical events narrated by the reaper like “Undefeated” which is about Sallah Al-Din’s battles. But still our main concept is death and reminding people of it using the character of the reaper.

Ahmed: Music should reflect the lyrics’ mood so you’ll find most of our music sad and angry. It all starts with an idea of a riff or a line then you keep on building and working on it till it is done.

What are your musical influences?

Leo: Progressive rock and metal.

Yassin: Brutal death metal.

Hatem: Doom and black metal.

Youssef: Black metal.

Ahmed: Progressive rock and metal.

Bahaa: Death metal and core.

Watching your live performance I sensed a lot of energy. What are your pre-show warm ups or rituals?

Bahaa: We just try to stick together before the show starts and keep calm. If we are going to wear some make up or costumes we start preparing them early because it takes a lot of time to get these stuff done.

      Photo courtesy: Lina Elgohary and taken off the band’s facebook page.  

What is your favorite song to perform live?

The entire band: “My Existence” and “Undefeated” then Youssef added “The Rise” to the list.

Which of your performances do you consider the best so far?

Hatem and Bahaa: Our last performance in the “Walls of Death” festival 2014.

What is the worst situation you had to face before or during a gig?

Hatem: When our ex-drummer Michel Khater fell off the stage during the sound check of our last gig  in the “Walls of Death” festival. He was badly injured that we were about to cancel our show and lose all the effort made through the past months.

And what was the funniest situation?

Ahmed: People’s comments while we were getting ready wearing the reapers costume and make up for our last gig. Me and Hatem were standing in our reapers costume next to the stage – Bahaa added – and people where staring and wondering who are these guys.

If you have the chance to play with any band in the world, who would it be?

Leo: Porcupine Tree or Opeth.

Yassin: Any 70s funk band.

Hatem: Septic Flesh.

Youssef: Limbonic Art.

Ahmed: Dream Theater.

Bahaa: Fleshgod Apocalypse or Septic Flesh.

Do you have any plans to release an EP or a full length soon?

Bahaa: Yes we will start recording our first full length album right after Metal Grinders and we hope that it will be done within about two months.

    Photo courtesy: Lina Elgohary and taken off the band’s facebook page.

What is your take on the Egyptian rock/metal scene? And what do you think is missing?

Yassin: Some bands are not as supportive as they are competitive. They just wants to be better than every band playing with them.

Youssef: People just don’t appreciate the effort behind the music, they only judge according to the output which sometimes might be ruined by some sound difficulties or bad engineering. We also lack something that is very important which is constructive feedbacks. But overall some bands are doing all their best to support others.

Hatem: There are two important things missing. First the venues because so far we have no where to play in except El Sawy Cultural Wheel , and second the producers as the recording process is very hard and costly.

Bahaa: A lot of people only support their friends. Not because they are good, only because they are their friends and that is not right, even some of the metal scene’s media does it. And the worst part is when you help a new band and then they show you no respect or gratitude.

Ahmed: The positive thing is that there are a lot of bands who are making really good effort and some beautiful music.

Any message for your fans?

Youssef: We have a lot to offer and you are going to listen to some good stuff in Metal Grinders and our record. We would love to thank everyone who supported us. Keep on supporting Segadoras we really need your support and feedbacks.

Go see Segadoras perform in Metal Grinders festival on Friday the 8th of May and support the scene.

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