The album starts off with a folky drumming tune, which turns into proggy death metal in “Inevitable Death”. The harsh vocals verge on black metal (slightly reminiscent of the Saudi Arabian AL-NAMROOD) in that they remain fairly non-melodic and raw-sounding. Meanwhile, the guitars are where the band really shines as they drive the song forward with a fast, melodic tempo, revealing influences from modern melodeath as well as classic progressive death metal bands such as OPETH.Read the full review at tuonelamagazine.com
Clean vocals are utilised much more on the second track, “The Man Who Rides Through the Fire“, a calmer song that gives a feeling of introspection. The standout song on the album, however, has to be “Gates of Ctesiphon”, a ten-minute behemoth wherein the band showcases all of their skill, spearheaded by proggy guitar passages, which then progress into a softer, dreamier part.
Mavara plays a form of modern progressive rock that is punctuated with heavier moments, silky keys, and lots of grooves and guitar solos. The band hails originally from Iran (though they live in the States now), and this heritage is at work on this album, possibly more than on anything else they have done. From the opening dialogue that feels like it is taking place in the wilderness to the obvious Middle Eastern vibe to Ashkan’s vocal melodies, “Consciousness” shows us that the band is truly aware of who they are, and that is so comfortably appropriate.Read the full review by Jason Spencer at theprogmind.com
Their influences range from older Opeth to doom metal. Musically, Heterochrome are VERY tight and the production on “Melancholia” rivals anything on any major label.Read the full review by Rob Pociluk at progressivemusicplanet.com
United Ubiquity of Flesh (2017) is an instrumental prog rock album by Salim Ghazi Saeedi, reconciling sonic and conceptual contrasts of his last decade of life. Energetic hard rock guitar and drums are balanced by rhythm-free solo guitar parts - similar to traditional Middle Eastern players.Media/Samples
United Ubiquity of Flesh (2017) is an instrumental prog rock album by Salim Ghazi Saeedi, reconciling sonic and conceptual contrasts of his last decade of life. Energetic hard rock guitar and drums are balanced by rhythm-free solo guitar parts - similar to traditional Middle Eastern players.Media/Samples
They certainly have a foundation of neo-prog, but they also feature a hefty portion of dark post rock and also heavy prog. "Season of Salvation" never rests on its laurels: It is quite impressive in structure, style, and overall atmosphere, too.
The one word that comes to mind when I hear this album is "lush". The album feels so whole, and it even seems to pull off a sort of oceanic vibe, though I'm not sure how in so many words. This is no technical album, as the expertise is shown more in excellent structure ("Period of Innocence") and dark, soothing ambiance ("Endless Illusion"). There is a certain amount of maturity here that is apparent throughout the entire album.
Read the full review by Jason Spencer at progarchives.com
An instrumental avant-prog and prog metal album, namoWoman hires microtonal Persian music influences while introducing a newly constructed language (conlang) named "l3abEl" (pronounced Babel) in which the album's booklet is written.Also read the review by Rok Podgrajšek at therocktologist.com
Salim is the man of extremities while always seeks reconciliation and harmonization among the most remotely contradictory elements. So developing as a rock/metal artist in a rock alien environment in his hometown or expressing himself by personalized mediums like a conlang of his own, all comes natural to his lifestyle. In his 2012 album, Salim has hired an expressionist microtonal approach toward art rock/metal that he describes himself as "empty spaces filled with occasional wild electric guitars and expressive melodies while having oriental dance elements undercover".
About the concepts behind namoWoman composition, Salim says "I have always found the assumption of impossibility, an important trick against my mind - a human mind that usually prefers patterned and inductional methods of cognition." Salim adds: "As an artist, creating and experimenting yet unexplored mental realms has always fascinated me and in order to trick my mind into pushing toward new possibilities, I like experimenting around fundamental concepts like human sexuality. Ideas like considering human sexuality beyond its dualistic nature let me to enter a new mindset and fascinations about worlds of non-Carbon based life, gradually fed my creativity for namoWoman. Maybe I can say this mindset forced my mind to respond on vital levels and challenged its own existence..."
Here, Persian music quarter tones are coming in between western music intervals. While quarter tones harmonize namoWoman album's musical language, the l3abEl conlang accompanying its booklet tries to establish the harmony in realm of words.