Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Top 5 Middle Eastern Metal Albums of 2013

At some point in the early ’90s, folk metal acts from the Middle East received the decidedly un-PC neologism, Oriental Metal. The term, implying a heady mix of thrash guitars, throaty vocals and maqam-inflected scales, fell into disuse but the relevant bands did not. In a year when the Middle East was marked with military coups, ongoing sectarian civil wars, and one of history’s largest refugee crises, metal bands stood at the vanguard — distilling chaos into chaotic music and writing some of the best albums of the year. Here are five of them:

“Let Us All Unite” (Syria)
By Anarchadia

Out of civil-war-torn Damascus, thrash metal Anarchadia opens their debut full-length album with the sound of automatic weapons and former President George W. Bush intoning a warning against terror. Nour Sabbagh’s death metal vocals underpin an album full of political awareness and hope for a better future. While “Narchaotic” bemoans narcoleptic despair in the wake of turmoil, instrumental “Elevation Call” is a gorgeous progressive ascent into transcendence.

“All is One” (Israel)
By Orphaned Land

Scene godfathers Orphaned Land open their fifth album with a twisty Arabic guitar riff and then a feel-good series of concepts about friendship and peace in the Middle East. Tracks “Let the Truce Be Known” and “Our Own Messiah” are as prog-epic as anything since their breakthrough “Mabool”; closer “Children” asks “How can we live with this horror that we bring to this world?,” lyrics laser-focused on a tribe of orphaned children living in a broken land.

“Arabic Rock Orchestra” (Palestine)
By Khalas

While we don’t normally expect metal bands to personify transnational cooperation and peace, Khalas and Orphaned Land did just that this year with their 18-date tour together in Europe. Orphaned Land’s Kobi Farhi and Khalas guitarist Abed Hathout are long-time friends and music outlets throughout the world picked up the story of an Israeli and Palestinian band playing together. What they missed were the amazing jams the band kicked out on their sophomore record: hard rock packed with Middle Eastern sounds.

“Anti Quran Rituals” (Iraq)
By Seeds of Iblis

It’s hard to know what is true about Seeds of Iblis. They claim to be an underground, anonymous Iraqi band of two men and two women dedicated to desecrating the principles of Islam. Anti-religious sentiment is not new to black metal — anti-Christian themes have been a continuing source of lyrical inspiration in Europe — but anti-Islamic themes carry their own risk in a sectarian post-Rushdie world. In dark, pulsing techno-metal swirls, “Anti Quran Rituals” targets terrorism, holy war, and even closes with a Nietzschean “Allah is Dead.”

“The Devil Went Down to the Holy Land” (Israel)
By Betzefer

Israel’s premier stoner metal band’s third album eschews obvious regional politics for groovy licks and and blasts against consumerism, as on the mid-album track “Yuppie Six Feet Underground.” Not quite as geopolitically aware as some of the other albums on this list, Betzefer brings more of the nihilistic rage we’ve come to expect from metal, with just a touch of the holy land.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version