Al Nimrood- Diaji Al Joor (2015)

Al-Namrood- Diaji Al Joor (2015)

“Let me say this loud and clear. There is a world of difference between terrorist acts and the Islamic Shari'a. Islam is not only a religion, but a way of life. And at its heart lie the sacred principles of tolerance and dialogue.”

King Hussein I

By: Ghost Writer

Talking about middle east these days is no easy thing, the recent events in Paris and the mow heavy incursions of the allied countries into Syria makes the matter even more difficult, but as Antoine Saint de Exupery expose on his monumental, The Little Prince: "Its madness to hate all roses because you got scratched with one thorn", on a more silly side, glam metal band Poison had a song called Every rose has it's thorn, the case might be applicable to the Muslim world, in which we get some crazy extreme fundamentalists and you normal peaceful Muslims who simply want to exist in piece, generalizing that all Muslims are terrorists is as Exupery exposed, simple madness.

We have experienced great music from Syria, thanks to the great Omar Souleyman, and I'm fully convinced that there is more to explore in the deep culture of the middle east, and writing about extreme, as much as you get fundamentalists taken on power and establishing sharia law in places like Saudi Arabia, you also get those rebel that even riding the lives are fighting for what they believe, for individuality, freedom and music.

Al-Namrood is that type of band, imagine naming your band "non-believer" in the middle of a place where religion has taken over government and over every aspect of daily life, even establishing brutally strict sharia law and even evocating wahabism, an extreme sort of religious brand that advocates violent fight to counter act western culture influence in the Arab world.

Al-Namrood's newest Diaji Al Joor is a powerful Musica document of music in a hard place, as rebellious as Fela Kuti's music in military dictatorship ruled Nigeria, or Egor Letov punk rock career in KGB strictly monitored USSR, Al-Nimrood is pure rebellion and no conformism at the risk of losing one's life, you can play Slayer, death metal or black metal in almost any western country and the only complaint may come from your mother, but try playing black metal in a Islamic country and you might end whipped, impaled, stoned or your head chopped off.

The amazing thing about this extreme band is their ability to fuse native middle eastern music within their brutal attack, just a few seconds into the monster theme Zamjara Alat and you realize that there is nothing subtle about this band and that is impossible to escape from the whirlwind of sound they are capable of creating, next theme Hawas Wa Thuar is another horrid trip featuring beautify elements of oriental music, a slow epic that shows the band love for the ancient musical tradition of the Middle East, and an excellent excuse to put in full display the strength of their powerful growler.

A tune like Ejhaph could be just like the perfect excuse for a collaboration between the incredible Omar Souleyman and this amazing band, as both acts are able to extract the best of the musical tradition of their countries and projecting it into the future with singular talent, Adghan is another crushing example of this great music featuring and intro that soul make advanced metallers Celtic Frost realm proud.

Epics such as Hayat Al Khezea and Ana Sl Tughian ate quite engaging, the band playing at the top of their powers and creating a dense and burning attack just like the millenary sands in their homeland, proving that Diaji Al Joor is another astonishing document in the formidable career of these heavy metal men, risking their lives to spread a message of freedom and individuality, and reinforcing my continuous thought that great music can appear anywhere.