(Note: This is my fourth entry in my series on Middle Eastern black metal. Previous posts have centered on Iran, Israel and Lebanon.)
A search on the Encyclopaedia Metallum reveals only a single Syrian black metal project, BLACKSPELL. A Google search for “black metal syria” isn’t any more helpful. Perhaps there’s a good reason for this. In his article on African and Middle Eastern metal for the webzine Chronicles of Chaos, QUENTIN KALIS writes:
“Although Syria is not nearly as oppressive as Iran with regard to official attitudes towards metal, SKEETER [vocalist of Syrian heavy metal band, SLUMPARK CORRECTIONAL] claims that ‘[government authorities] make it really hard to get the go ahead and have a concert, and this inhibits the growth of metal.’ THE HOURGLASS echo similar sentiments: ‘Any place that gathers more than one hundred metalheads will be under suspicion.’ ABSTENTATION repeat the famous urban legend that ‘some think that we are Satanic, but we are not’ — but it does seem to be one that has a lot of currency in the region.”
Kalis continues:
“Skeeter also suggests that the low number of musicians is also a factor which prevents the emergence of more bands. ‘We do not have a lot of qualified instrument players and vocalists, which makes it hard to form a band and stick with it. Instruments as well are on a shortage, and the prices of pretty good guitars and drum kits are normally out of the range of the middle-to-low income, average Syrian metal fan. Even if we try our best, we are still hampered with the zero support we receive from anyone who’s anything in the music industry in the Middle East.’”
With that in mind…
Blackspell – Dark Winds from Black Sky (Thorn Laceration)
Lone band member, DEMON OF DARKNESS, is credited with doing “everything” for Blackspell, which could explain the particularly lo-fi, raw production on his first demo. In all honestly, though, there really isn’t anything special about Blackspell’s music. While there is an evil ugliness to the songs, the riffs are a bit generic and the musicianship is extraordinarily inept at times. The best song is probably “Lies Blocking Your Eyes,” a blistering, in-the-red attack that clocks in at just under a minute-and-a-half. “Screams of Horror” and “In the Dark Cold Woods” are both ambitious, but, unfortunately, Demon of Darkness lacks the musical chops to pull them off. The remaining track is a cover of BURZUM‘s “The Crying Orc,” which is passable at best.
As much as I want to sit here and rave about this release because it’s the sole representation of Syrian black metal, I just can’t. It’s not very good, plain and simple. You can hear all four songs, plus an okay cover of DARKTHRONE‘s “Under a Funeral Moon,” on Blackspell’s MySpace page.
