Myrath, “Shehili”

81 Shares

MYRATH: Live In Carthage

Interview conducted May 2019

2019 was a big year for the Tunisian metal band and pioneers of blazing desert metal Myrath! They wowed international audiences with their magical stage performances, for example at Sweden’s renowned Sweden rock festival or at Germany’s Wacken Open Air. Furthermore, the band released their brand new studio album “Shehili” – a beautiful collection of powerful metal choruses set against a backdrop of Middle Eastern melodies. Now in 2020, the Tunisian success story release the first ever live album of their promising career.

“Live In Carthage” includes stunning live recordings of the best songs from past Myrath albums with classics like “Believer”, “Dance”, “Get Your Freedom Back” or “Endure The Silence”. The songs on the album establish a contrast between rhythmic, uplifting melodies and well-developed, heart-breaking lyrics. The live video material transports the viewer into a magical setting with spectacular stage decorations and performances from an impressive belly dancer embedded in the powerful sounds produced by the band. To top this off, the CD includes a very special studio recording of the most popular Myrath anthem “Believer”, that none other than Deep Purple’s Don Airey contributed his skills on keys to.

“Live In Carthage” will be released as a CD+DVD Digipak and Digital on April 17^th, 2020 on earMUSIC. The pre-order is available now: https://myrath.lnk.to/Carthage

Band Members
Zaher Zorgati : Lead Vocals
Malek Ben Arbia : Guitars
Anis Jouini : Bass Guitar
Elyes Bouchoucha : Keyboards
Morgan Berthet : Drums

You are a progressive oriental metal band from Tunisia. Which formed back in 2001. How did you get together?

In fact, at the beginning we were a cover band. Young Tunisian friends playing music together. We wanted to do music for fun.

In 2001, Malek was 13 you, music was for fun. 6 years later we did our first album.
It was like doing a tribute to all our influences, but of course implementing our own Tunisian influences. We had no idea at this time that Myrath could be bigger.

How did you come up with your name?

The original name of the band was “Xtazy”. When we first met our producer Kevin Codfert, he asked us to change it for something else, something more. “us”
So, we ended with Myrath which mean “legacy”

What is the music like in Tunisia?

Lot of oriental music and rap music ah ah. But not always bad.
Radios are starting to understand that rock and metal music can also be interesting for peoples. Myrath is now on Tunisian radios so everything’s fine 😉

And what is Tunisia itself like?

Tunisia is a small country, full of joy and history. Several years ago, we faced the “Spring revolution”, has been hard, but for the good. Tunisia is a country open to the world with beautiful beaches, Romanian, Berber, Andalusian and French architecture. It’s a country to visit!!

What music influenced your sound?

A lot. You know, at the beginning you need to get your own sound, but it’s almost impossible to do it with a first album. Each time you release an album you give more and more of yourself.
At the beginning we were fan of bands like DIO, dream theater, Metallica, Symphony X.
Now, and for Shehili album, we defined a new music gender: Blazing desert metal.

How was it to open for Robert Plant? Tell me what it was liked?

It was fantastic. We were very young, first rock show ever in Carthage, 7000 people.
It’s something that we will never forget, never…
Also, this show given us the opportunity to meet for the first time our producer Kevin. He was playing just before Myrath with his previous French metal band Adagio.

You made your US concert debut at ProgPower USA XIV in Atlanta. How did the crowd respond to your style of music?

People were chocked, honestly. The first time we played at PP USA almost nobody knew Myrath.
PP USA re-invited again to play longer, just before Mike Portnoy and it has been a blast from the audience perspective.
But this is only the beginning, we want to come back, headlining, so we will have the opportunity to present the real Myrath Show, with belly dancers, fire, magicians and jugglers.

In 2017, you had the chance to play at the Carthage Amphitheatre, which was a Roman amphitheater constructed in the first century CE. Tell me about that how special that was.

In fact, headlining Carthage was a kind of accomplishment for us 10 years after supporting Robert plant in the same venue.
We also played in 2018 headlining and presenting a big show with screens, fire, dancers etc. We took this opportunity to shoot our first DVD. We will release it this summer.

Let talk about your new video “No Holding Back.” The first time I saw it I fell in love with your sound and the visuals of the video. The text in the description said another intoxicating track representing “Blazing Desert Metal” and MYRATH. Can tell us more about this mixture of music?

In fact, after listening Shehili for the first time, our record label told us: You are doing metal with prog, alternative, berberian, andalusian, Tunisian, French and classical influence, we have to define a new music gender, we never heard those kinds of things before ah ah.
So yes, we love listening all the music in the world and we always experiment a lot of things to be sure that we end with something new and fresh. So, if people ask what we are doing: BLAZING DESERT METAL 😉

Who did the special effects for the video?

This is a company from Serbia: I-code team. For me, they are the best for low budget production. Doing a production like this in France could cost 10 times more. It took almost 3 months of post-production for a 4 people team full time!!

I am going to ask you about some bands from Tunisia. I would like you to say something about each band.

Paralingua,Svengali, Persona, AlNamrood

To be honest, from those 4, I only know Persona, which are a great band. Our guitar player did the first video clip of Persona which reach more than 1 million views! They need to keep working and it will pay back at the end.
I’m sure Perilingual, Svengali and Anerood are awesome bands, but you know, it’s difficult for bands in Tunisia to do promotion, so maybe those bands are still under the radar.

How do you see yourself in 5 years?

Our objective is to be big ah ah, like every band, I guess. We work hard to achieve our dreams. We want to play in big venue and propose a real experience, not just a metal show.

Anything in closing?