An interview with Mohamed.B the Drummer of Melmoth, the heavy/black metal band from tunisia : "MELMOTH is an ethnic extreme Metal band from Tunisia, Constituted of five members Since the 1st of October 2001 , we Finished our first demo "Dream Of The Dead" in the 4th of January 2004 "

Hi, please give us a short introduction of your band, saying something about the music and maybe adding a few hints about the history?
Hi, MELMOTH is an ethnic extreme Metal band from Tunisia, Constituted of five members Since the 1st of October 2001 , we Finished our first demo "Dream Of The Dead" in the 4th of January 2004 .

Why the name of MELMOTH?
The name of "MELMOTH" was original From the Roman Of C.R.Marturin, is a booking of the character "MELMOTH" , his life , his way of thinking , his originality , by the way our band is independent in his style in our country and our lyrics .

What topics do you consider in your lyrics?
Our lyrics are taking too many subjects, death and life, psychology and some histories from our civilisation made in general by Hichem(vocal) and Mohamed(drum) .

How could you define the style of Melmoth?
The style of Melmoth is melting between our oriental (ethnic) music and the extreme metal (black, death…) somehow original in our composition made in general by slim abida (bass).

"Dream of the Dead" is the first demo; can you tell us where did you record it?
We tried a lot to record our first demo in a professional studio, but in Tunisia we don't have a studio with a drums or a studio made For the metal and in other side cost a lot to record it in a Professional studio here, so we've been fond to record it by our way in the house of Hichem (vocal) with the computer.

You have used the darbouka in this demo, is this a promotional choice or just artistic?
As we said our music is an Ethnic Extreme Metal , so by the way the darbouka is our artistic touch , our Ethnic Touch and in the next album we are going to make something like that as "MELMOTH" made it every time , the origin is our advantage in the MUSIC AND LYRICS .

How's the metal scene in the country? Can you recommend us any band?
Our Metal scene is very Poor , we don't have so many bands , but there're some bands that we played with them in so many concerts as (Out Body Experience , Occulta , Myseria, ...) and so many others who are progressing .

How you see the metal scenes in Arabic countries at this time?
The Arabic Metal Scene had very evolved than before , we have so many bands in Morocco (killer zone , Nekros ,Aljahilia, ...) In Algeria (Litham , Plutonium, ...), In Syria(nuclear dawn, ..), in Jordan , ... , we hope that they continue in this way .

How many concerts you played in Tunisia?
We played a lot of concerts in Tunisia , Almost in Tunis our first concert was with "Out Body Experience" in "Bardo", Then There was a succession of too many concerts, Miami the 20/06/2002,rades the 17/07/2002, pyramide du lac the 08/03/2003,17/04/2003,20/06/2003, Mad'art de carthage the 22/08/2003,... .

You also played in Algeria for the second edition of the lelahel festival, what motivated you to come? And what are your souvenirs with the Algerian audience?
We had received an invitation From "litham" to play with them in this Festival and it was an opportunity to introduce our band as a representative of our country and The Tunisian "Extreme" Metal scene, it was an international Festival we had not to refuse such chance, but we were so stupefied from the Algerian Audience we were so satisfied from our concert and the public's reaction.

The gigs in Algeria were with the band litham and plutonium, what are your relations with them?
We know Litham since they invited us to a concert in 2002 (but we weren't there because of some problems), concerning plutonium we knew them in the second edition of lelahel festival and they are a very good persons and band, we are so glad to know them.

How does the Internet help you? What can you tell about this global web?
the internet is very fast, the fastest way to make contact with different bands and several labels, webzine, magazines.... and to take news and other info (about lyrics, music.....)And it help us by introducing our band

Is there any band you would like to play as a support act for?
Yes, there are so many bands that we would play for as support act. Like old man's child, death, Judas priest, the kovenant, the crown, testament, kreator....

What are the plans for the future? New material out soon?
Yes as we said we're going to begin the record of new titles, other melodies, other velocity, some originality in the air, something special as we said, and in add of some concerts.

Message for the Arab underground?
We hope that all bands continue progressing in their music and their attitude toward the metal scene . And good luck for all Arabic extreme metal bands, fuck the rules guys

Thanks for the interview, any last comments?
Thanks for you, for all the people who supported us and good luck for your zine and the Arabic underground metal scene. See you soon....

Interview by Lelahel

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