MYRATH - Tales Of The Sands CD Review

ARTIST: Myrath
TITLE: Tales of the Sands
LABEL: Nightmare Records
YEAR: 2011
REVIEWED BY: Trystan MacDonald

Oriental Metal has earned, in my opinion, the right to become a legitimate genre. After the release of the Heavy Metal documentary, “Global Metal”, Oriental Metal has established a very small foothold in Heavy Metal around the world. This small foothold has continued to grow and expand, leading to more and more bands adopting the sound as their own, despite the genre not being old enough to really determine its founders, and who the masters of it are.

Myrath started in 2001, and released their first album, “Hope”, in 2007. It is now 2011 and Myrath has released their third album: “Tales of the Sands”. From what I’ve heard of Oriental Metal, I personally view “Tales of the Sands” as one of the greatest albums created in this genre. I will even go so far as to say that this release could possibly put them at the top of Oriental Metal. Until now, I haven’t heard a sound that truly united Heavy Metal and Oriental music into harmony. Where many other bands have used Oriental samples throughout their songs and albums, they failed to successfully merge both types of music. Myrath has succeeded where others have failed. The entire atmosphere of the album captures the Oriental roots of the music while producing the power and attention that Heavy Metal creates.

If Myrath stay the course and continues to grow their sound with their current formula, they will no doubt become the greatest Oriental Metal band to date.

TRACKLISTING:

01. Under Siege
02. Braving the Seas
03. Merciless Times
04. Tales of the Sands
05. Sour Sigh
06. Dawn Within
07. Wide Shut
08. Requiem for a Goodbye
09. Beyond the Stars
10. Time to Grow
11. Apostrophe for a Legend