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BELNEJOUM “Dark Tales Of Zarathustra”
BELNEJOUM “Dark Tales Of Zarathustra”
By Dr. Abner Mality
The two most powerful forms of music are heavy metal and classical. It’s no wonder that many creators have tried to merge these two styles to create something mightier yet. There have been varying degrees of success with that endeavor. Now we have a new project called BELNEJOUM that is one of the most ambitious attempts yet because it also throws exotic Middle Eastern tones into the mixture.
This is a pretty heavy duty conglomeration of talent, with George Kollias of NILE, Francesco Ferrini and Fabio Bartoletti of FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, Rich Gray of ANNIHILATOR and Serbian female vocalist Tamara Jokic all taking part. But the guiding light of BELNEJOUM is an Egyptian/American composer named Mohammed “Aswad” Baligh. He is the lead male vocalist as well as the writer of all music and lyrics. So this band is starting with a lineup as technically gifted as any in metal.
The concept of the album is pretty grim. Zarathustra, also known as Zoroaster, is a powerful ancient prophet who is turned to the dark side by the evil god Ahriman. He eventually causes the destruction of the human race and then kills himself when he realizes what he has done. So we won’t be hearing much in the way of breezy singalongs and uplifting tunes.
Indeed, the whole album has a dark and extremely melancholy feel to it. With BELNEJOUM, the classical music parts outnumber the metal parts, so be aware of that right off the bat. If you like orchestration with a Middle Eastern bent (and I do) and somber piano melodies, you will be enchanted by what is created here. The metallic style is generally black as pitch, with Aswad’s vocals being raspy croaks. There’s also overtones of symphonic power metal but few of those bands have the darkness and density of what Aswad and his friends create here. Some tracks like “The Day Zarathustra Turned Dark” and “Elegio” are entirely symphonic...and often heart-breakingly sad.
There is really no track here that escapes the symphonic/Middle Eastern sounds. But when the black metal is merged with those sounds, the result can be spectacular, like “On Aeshma’s Wings” and “Upon the Mortal Blight”...these match the best of THERION or old DIMMU BORGIR. I wish I could say every track was as great as those. Opener “Prophet of Desolation” is over 10 minutes and gets somewhat tedious while “In the Darkest Aquarium” sounds rather typical. But even on these cuts, the instrumentation is never less than top notch. The last two songs “The Flames, the Prophet, the Tears” and “Zarathustra’s Last Requiem” are almost heart-breaking in their sadness.
Keeping in mind that this is BELNEJOUM’s first time out of the box, “Dark Tales of Zarathustra” is pretty impressive. I personally wanted a bit more metal, but your mileage may vary. This band may be capable of greatness...if they can stick together!
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