Scarab - Blinding The Masses [Review]

Blinding The Masses is the debut full length album from Egyptian Death Metal band Scarab (formerly known as Hate Suffocation).

The album starts off with the instrumental opener "Into The Dunes" which creates a great build up to the first track on the album "Valley of The Sandwalkers" a deathly thrashed metal song with a very oriental vibe. Vocalist Sammy Sayed has some of the best guttural growls in the Middle Eastern scene, which really helps add an extra layer of intensity.

Blinding The Masses is a traditional death meets thrash metal album with oriental elements, highly influenced by the likes of Nile. The 3rd track on the album "Ankh" is one of the band's most popular songs, being part of the recently released "Planet Metal" compilation CD (included in the March issue of Metal Hammer) the song shows off the band's technical side. Leaders of Agony has one of the most haunting riffs on the album, with blast beats to aid the chaos, along with Sammy's growls that turn this song into a mammoth of a track. The title track "Blinding The Masses" has pounding drums all around, with old school death metal riffing.

"War To End"
While Scarab are still perfecting their structures, they are still very capable of executing brutal death metal music, with an Egyptian vibe that will easily be familiar for fellow countrymen and something fresh and new for global listeners.

The album runs around 38 minutes, and includes 8 tracks. In an overall deal, this is a killer debut release for Scarab. The band did a good amount of touring to promote the album by winning the "United We Rock" online competition that was held prior to Dubai Desert Rock 09 to determine the winner, who would perform at DDRF 09 as well as With Full Force Festival (Germany).

Scarab shared the stage with Dubai based death metal juggernauts Nervecell on those shows. The band also inked a deal with Osmose Productions for the European release of Blinding The Masses.

Conclusion:

Blinding The Masses is a raw, brutal, death metal record, highly recommended for fans of Nile. Scarab have managed to put their own touch on the formula and this is just the beginning for the band. Recently Scarab announced work on their follow up to BTM, dates are not slated yet though.

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For readers in Egypt, you can purchase the album and Tshirts at a discounted price for a limited time.Click Here for more information