AL IBLIS (Philippines)- Reviewed by STEEL MADNESS Hasmadat Goyem Davao Death, 2003
I kept my promise. You will find the interview with them here. In my hand is the EP which we spoke in the interview. Some bands evolving and improving from time to time and so did A Iblis. This release is a bit better than the demo tape. 3 tracks are in this EP-CDr (9+ minutes); "Al Nakbah", "Gulbuddin", and "Schindler's Lie". The last track is like an outro, with guitar on the background of the sound of gunfire. I traded my zine to get this EP but the label didn't give me the cover so I can't tell more about this release. About the music, they still playing raw sounding brutal death metal. Almost all vocals are using deep-type growling unlike in the previous tape. I don't like the sound. They need to use proper studio for the recording.
AL IBLIS (Philippines)
I received another copy of the EP together with the cover. I feel a bit strange receiving the same release twice. Then I found out that there are tracks here. Weird though, I guess they have several versions of this EP? 6 tracks (including the there tracks above) with the playing time of 18+ minutes. "Al Nakbah" starts the CDr (I like when they say "…there's the bomb in your office…" and also the 'oriental' feeling in it) and continued with "Schindler's Lie". Track 5 is an interesting grind/death track and so does the Obituary cover on the last track. About the sound, read the previous review.
AL IBLIS This is savage death metal from the Philippines. "Righteous Hegemony" features tracks Eretz Israel, Pig Speech, Al Qassam, Ayat Al Akhras, Goats Of Sheba'a, Parasitic Enzyme, Sacrificial Suicide (Deicide cover) and Ahwak. The music is raw and barbaric brutal with phlebotomized vocals, murderous riffs and intense drumming. This is music to my ears. The band dwells on the social side of things and is focused on human rights violation. Quite a change from the usual death and gore themes of death metal but it's interesting. My only complaint with this release is the production other than that this is a killer effort.
AL IBLIS-HASHMADAT GOYEM demo Review by RGMORES of TRIPALIUM ZINE Here's the latest demo from Southern Philippines death mongers Al Iblis. I think this is their most original shit so far. The songs are very well written; there is a lot of originality in terms songwriting, which as usual features a massive dose of eastern influenced guitar riffs and the aggressive execution of the songs. The major flaw in this recording though has nothing to do with the studio as the sounds was more better this time than their previous demo but I think what they did here was convert this normal taped audio files into MP3 and then convert it again into normal CD audio files. All those annoying pops was mainly due to ripping the songs. I wish they remedied this problem as it really annoys me as I listen to it in full blast. Other than that, the music is highly enjoyable. And yes this demo includes a cover of "The End Complete" which was done really well.
Review by CULT MONGERS Al Iblis 'Righteous Hegemony' This tape contains 9 tracks of death metal fused with a middle eastern sound. Their style is similar to Floridian Death Metal acts like Deicide and Nile with a very raw production but lyrically it was swamped with political shits. The dual vocal attacks are compatible to Glen Benton and speaking of Benton there's a cover of Deicide's Sacrificial Suicide. By the way i got this from Davao Death Org. http://al-iblis.cjb.net / [email protected] |
ADVANCED COPY OF RIGHTEOUS HEGEMONY -REVIEW BY BAKALZINE:AL IBLIS "Righteous Hegemony" Demo/Davao Death What I got here is the advance tracks of the demo (Original has seven tracks) of local Death Metalers, IBLIS now known as AL IBLIS. Abdullah (Guitar) helps me with some layout works on my hellpage and may I say he's a partner of mine in demonik cyber world, but its not necessary means I'll be bias with my review. Anyway, a very bad impression draws into me upon seing the packaging of this demo, well its the music that matters most but its very important to leave an evil impression in the eyes of the listener.I always believe that professionalism is a key to any success. There are six tracks written in the sleeve but I only heard 3 originals, a DEICIDE cover and a sample thus missing one trackIm not quite sure of the correct title tracks of each songs except for DEICIDE's "Sacrificial Suicide" which they executed furiosly with a great live ambiance. AL IBLIS creation is in the old Death Metal vein, no wonder Limmah and Abdullah grew in this breed of Metal. Songs has simple arrangement, short-in your face onslaught, raw sound and a guttural vocals. Their pacing ranges between mid-fast paced with break prescence and crunchy bass lines. Their 12 yr. old (If I got it right) drummer seems to be an insane warfreak terrorist behind the kit, he samashes the skin with pounding energy and precise blast beats. The biggest dissapoinmentI have is the hidden guitar solos, Its very hard to catch up. Im looking forward to hear some dosses of razor assault but the studio sound fucked it off. A fine start. |
KILLER SHIT! - RIGHTEOUS HEGEMONY
Alex Zepeda
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RIGHTEOUS HEGEMONY: AL IBLIS REVIEW BY ROEL MORES OF TRIPALIUM
AL IBLIS- DEMO TAPE
Once again the southern city of Davao came up with another great band in Al Iblis. I guess the sudden rise of Korihor and Decapitated (now Fatal Desaster) drove all this Davao bands to started writing original materials and saving some money for studio to show that they do have something to offer in the international underground circuit. Al Iblis stayed away from the usual death/gore theme of death metal but turn into a more social side to their lyrical and band concept. None of them are muslims but they adopted muslim names and showed their hatred on Zionist. Musically, their music is full of hate as well and although I never liked the old arabic chant and their call for prayer, which they added here, the rest of the metal tracks and their live in the basement cover of Deicide are trully a good example of how they can make some contribution in the local and international scene. There still a need for more polishing but I can already see the lustre underneath the rough cut in this demo. I wished I'd be able to see them live sometime.
RIGHTEOUS HEGEMONY: REVIEW BY ROEL MORES OF TRIPALIUMAL IBLIS- [CDR Promo]
This is basically the same demo transferred on CD-R but there are only four songs here. The instrumental tracks (Muslim call for prayer and the sample) are gone and I think that's a good move.. It's a bit disappointing though that the Deicide cover was dropped as well. It was a great track. Anyway the tracks here include Eretz Israel, Parasitic Enzyme, Ayat Al Akhras and The Goats Of Sheba'a. Aside from the lost of the Deicide cover I think dropping those filler tracks is a nice move. Anyway I think this is the demo that they are officially distributing so I suggest you look for this one instead. They already have a new demo out so better get in touch with them. [email protected]
AL IBLIS REVIEW BY STEEL MADNESS
AL IBLIS (Philippines)
Righteous Hegemony
Davao Death, 2002
10.02.02
A cool name for band but the band’s member name in Arabic sounds weird for a metal band. Maybe perhaps I am used with English or Malay words? Even some of the songs title in Arabic. The demo consists of 9 songs including excerpts and samples and also an interesting Deicide cover. Brutal death metal with growling and black metal grunt and with (I guess) anti-Jew/Zionist/Israel theme. Listening to this tape is like listening to old Malaysian/Singaporean death/black metal demo released in early 90’s due to its sound and a bit of black metal passage present in its songs. The outro of the tape sound stupid though (an Arabic folk song). Now Philippines death metal have an interesting scene with Al Iblis around and I think there are lots of good bands like them exist there. They only need a good studio with good sound. If Al Iblis live long enough, you will find an interview with them in the next issue of Steel Madness.
c/o Abdullah Al Iblis [email protected]
3.5/5
RIGHTEOUS HEGEMONY [Demotape]
Review by Chris of Impaled Fanzine
NILE's successor to the throne of the ancient wisdom via death music has arrived!., thru the sole effort of Davao Philippines Iblis. If NILE's topic is Egyptian mytho's then Iblis is pure Arabian Knight's!... The vox is a closed resemlance to that of DEICIDE's 'Amon Feasting the Beast", early opus. Abdullah [this should be Limmah, not Abdullah hehehe - Saithanail] being on bass/vocals has a similar growls on that of Glenn Benton's early work w/. w/c i mentioned. - the drums are somewhat of a low-fi acharged to the guitar/bass/voc., buried beneathe both. i mean it is punchy alright but the sound is clearly old school in nature, similar to early 80's thrash/Death/Black metal bands.
Songs like "Rival to the Empire, "Pig Speech"., & "Erotz Israil" has a bunch of good 'Ol blast beats, punchy guitar and bass tunes (w/c is actually the main point that i noticed in this piece of demo's that they send!)
Their cover of DEICIDE's "Sacrificial Suicide" is tight & well rehearsed with!..., good timing & execution on both ends. A good cover version that i heard in a death metal band. & oh the intro on each song is also quite good in terms, it provokes WAR? WAR, WAR!. On either side. accoustic parts is also, should i say good!?. Oh well enough talk now. if you all out-there wants to, sample there piece, go contact the band & inquire bout there opus mundi.