Band:	Myrath
Album:	Hope
Style:	Oriental folk metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	2007
A review by:	Jeff

01. Intro
02. Confession
03. Hope
04. Last Breath
05. Seven Sins
06. Fade Away
07. All My Fears
08. My Inner War

In Arabian, Myrath means legacy but I can tell you that until today, it will also means "oriental killers of progressive metal". Myrath comes from Tunisia and they will probably be the first band from Maghreb which will have a famous international career. Leaded by Malek BenArbia a young talented guitarist who has finished his formation at the famous "MAI School" of Nancy (France), the band is for me the surprise of the year 2007. Between Symphony X, Adagio and Dream Theater, their first real official album "Hope" is an amazing release of Progressive Metal. If you pretend to like such kind of music, then you'll not have the right to miss this album.

At the first listening, you'll probably understand that Myrath is influenced by Symphony X. That's right, the members of the band are all fans of the American combo but even if we have a lot of influences which comes from the music of the Americans, I can tell you that it's a bit different and not like a simple copycat. If you want to understand how can sound Myrath, I should say that it's aggressive Progressive Metal with really heavy riffs (a bit like SX yes!) but with a radical difference with the music of Symphony X. Here the "symphonic and classical music" influences, are replaced by oriental sounds. This is really great because it gives a lot of charm to the music of Myrath, and a bit of originality too. But that's not all, like all the good Progressive releases, we have height really long and complex songs on this album with a multitudes of breaks, piano or guitars soli in addition of the amazing voice of Elyes Bouchoucha.

The performances of the musicians are extremely good. All the guys, are amazing musicians and doesn't suffer of any comparison with the famous musicians of the genre. Also, Elyes Bouchoucha is an exceptional singer with an original voice which fits perfectly to the music of Myrath. As I know, Zaher Zorgati (known as one of the best singers of the Tunisian Metal scene) will rejoin the band for their next album. I don't know if it's a good idea because really Elyes is just amazing but I don't know the voice of Zaher so if he is better than Elyes, the best will come then! Produce by Kevin Codfert (who also performs some keyboards soli on the album) of Adagio the sound of the album is perfect and even the artworks fits perfectly to the spirit of the release. It's a must for all the ones who like Progressive Metal with "balls"!

Intelligent, well written and with a ton of great riffs and melodies, "Hope" is a damn impressive beginning. I'm sure that the band will quickly become famous and will be signed by a major as soon as possible because definitely this album is one of the best releases of Progressive Metal that I had the chance to listen to lately. Now, all the Metalheads from the north of Africa will be able to show to the world that they know what great Metal is. Thumb up to Myrath for this exceptional release? this band will become really big and famous you'll see, I will not be wrong!