Myrath - Hope
Brennus Music
Progressive Metal
8 songs (51:50)
Release year: 2007
Myrath, Brennus Music
Reviewed by Goat
Archive review

Apparently the first Metal band hailing from Tunisia ever to be signed to a label, proggy five-piece Myrath (originally named Xtasy) play with a passion and power that some of their peers in the European and American scenes have been lacking for ages. As you'd expect, there is a significant ethnic sound to their music, but it's very well implemented, using wailing and percussion to great and carefully considered effect, and their sound is ultimately a perfect meld of the modern and the classic, crunchy riffs and instrumental mastery combining to form music that fans of Prog Metal should be weeping tears of joy over. Dream Theater relocated to the band's home country is one possible comparison, but it's doing Myrath a disservice to pigeonhole them as a mere clone band. They sit comfortably between genres, at once Power and Prog and something else entirely, using their background as part of the tapestry rather than the music's integral focus. Tracks don't really belong to one style or another, as the band match emotional singing and catchiness in the title track, and crunchy Metal neck-exercises in Last Breath with ethnic percussion and backing orchestration. First track proper Confession alone contains more variety than on plenty of band's entire albums, for example, a lengthy blissful instrumental section more than proving Myrath's skill.

It's actually rather incredible that Myrath haven't been snapped up by a major Metal label, as this is exactly the sort of Prog Metal that it's easy to find a wide audience for, from Nightwish fans looking for something more expansive and complex to Orphaned Landies wanting a little more spice in their Metal, and of course, veteran Dream Theater and Symphony X Progheads are sure to appreciate this. The band's instrumental skill is impressive without being overriding, and it's just as easy to enjoy vocalist Zaher as it is keyboardist Elyes or guitarist Malek. Songs don't differ from each other to a great extent, the basic elements running through the album, but all are enjoyable without exception, from the short (the four-minute Last Breath) to the lengthy (the eleven-minute Seven Sins). Hope does have its faults - Zaher's vocals can be rather melodramatic at times, for one. In general, too, it's notable that Myrath's songs are more good than great, making listening to the entire fifty-minute album in one sitting rather dull by the midway mark if your attention isn't fully focused. For a debut full-length, however, this is pretty excellent stuff, more than enjoyable in small bites, and more than enough reason to check the band's follow-up release, which should have been released by the time you're reading this.

MySpace
Killing Songs :
Confession, Hope, Last Breath, All My Fears
Goat quoted 80 / 100
Other albums by Myrath that we have reviewed:
Myrath - Legacy reviewed by Alex and quoted 95 / 100
Myrath - Tales of the Sands reviewed by Alex and quoted 87 / 100
Myrath - Desert Call reviewed by Goat and quoted 87 / 100
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