An interview of Muhannad Bursheh,a Jordanian bassist living in Amman. "Phex" is his solo project besides his band "Morgoth": "They arrest us and throw us in jails instead of being proud of us, musicians who work harder than hell to reach what pleases us, and why do we work really hard? Because there is no understanding at all, nor there is any support."

We'd like you to give us a fast overview about your band and what style you play?
I began with the idea of "Phex" in 2001 when I wanted to do something buy myself, to express my own feelings and mentality. Sometimes I get some help from my band mates and cousins, like the first song on my album features my cousin Basil on keyboards, the 8th track features Omar N. on guitar and Saeed A.J. did the vocals along with me. The next album is going to feature different people like Tareq F. on vocals, Zaher S. and Walid K. on guitars. In the beginning I just wanted to do the music for me and the people around me, but when felt that the music deserves to get a bit known locally I decided that I should put myself on MP3.com, and that's what happened, and I'm really satisfied about everything that is happening now, so I'm gonna keep doing music until I have enough. Talking about style, I consider "Phex" a Doom/Death Metal Band.

Tell us about your music journey?
Yes, when I was about 9 I really wanted to play music, so I took a couple of lessons on trombone in the National Music Conservatory in Amman, but my parents didn't like trombone at all "They said it was noisy", haha… So I moved to piano, but this time I didn't like it myself, so I tried the flute and I really liked it so I'm a flutist until now. I'm playing flute with the orchestra of the conservatory and its great!!!
When I got into metal the most thing that kept my mind busy is the Bass, so I wanted to do it instantly, and that's what I am now, a bassist.

Can you tell us about your music influences?
Metal and Classical music!!! When it comes to metal, I listen to all it styles, but to make it into favorite bands: Children Of Bodom, Old Man's Child, Opeth, Manowar , Kreator, Judas Priest, King Diamond and many many more. My favorite styles of metal are melodic death and black, 80's metal in general and sad metal like doom and gothic. Its always hard to say which or who is best.

What are your lyrics about?
I'm totally into mythology and history, I really like the middle ages. I also like to right about sadness and misery, darkness and aggression. In "Spirits And Devils" I wasn't so much into lyrics about religion, but in the next album there are going to be a lot about religion. Talking about politics, I'm not into writing lyrics about politics in the present time, but maybe in the future.

You told me about your band "Morgoth", tell us about this band and the members and if you released a CD or a demo?
Morgoth is maybe the most important thing in my present life, we play melodic death/black metal similar to bands like, Kalmah, Throne Of Chaos, Children Of Bodom, Old Man's Child,…
The members are: Tareq Fayyad (Vocals), Saeed Abu-Jaber (Guitar), Omar Nooreddin (Guitar), Me (Bass/Backing Vocals) and we have my cousin Basil Bursheh as a session Keyboardist. Until now we haven't recorded any demos or albums, the problem is that we have no drummer since the first one left, but we have three completed songs and ready to be recorded in anytime. We are supposed to record them in December to make a demo when the two guitarists get back from England.

What's the meaning of your band name "Morgoth" and "Phex"?
Morgoth is the name of a dark lord, it also has another meaning which is "The Black Enemy", and this is one of our songs' title. Phex has no meaning; I used it as a name of my band because it was my nick name.

"There is a cult band called Morgoth from Germany, why did you choose this name?"
Well, when we chose the name we didn't know that there was another band called "Morgoth", when we heard about that we were confused a bit, but didn't intend to change the band's name at all, but now we don't know, maybe we'll add a word to it or something, but not in the present time, maybe when we record a demo or a CD.

Can you give us some info about "SPIRITS AND DEVILS" CD?
A Brutal, dark, heavy and melodic mix of doom and death metal with bits from other styles like hardcore and heavy metal,… In this album each song has its unique taste, the first track "Chords Of Demise" is a dark horror/fantasy classical instrumental song, some songs are sad like "Black Vision" and "Watching Your Death", others are really evil and aggressive like " Llama's Odyssey" and "Burgor", but when it comes to heavy metal, the song "Phex" is a pure instrumental heavy metal song. Althrough the album you can hear a mixture of aggressive riffs in a melodic way.

How did you record your CD ?
At home using Cool Edit, simple.

What about metal in Jordan and how are the bands there?
In the past metal in Jordan was much better that what it is now, there was sort of freedom, but its really dieing now, if it is not dead already. We read silly articles about Satanism and worshipping devils and stuff, that really gets on our nerves, because here in Arab countries, not only Jordan, governments cannot differentiate between metal and Satanism, they should consider metal as a style of music and they should know that not all people think in the same way as they do. They arrest us and throw us in jails instead of being proud of us, musicians who work harder than hell to reach what pleases us, and why do we work really hard? Because there is no understanding at all, nor there is any support. I think the problem is very hard to be solved and maybe impossible, because Arabs lived in this way from the start, and its hard to change half way through life.

Did your band perform in any concert in Jordan?
Yes, as "Morgoth" in the gigs that used to take place before.

What do you say about the problem that happened in Jordan?
Pitiful and truly unfair, many talents are being wasted here all because of a none sense system. All the articles in newspapers are written in a way that shows you that the writers had not any single idea about what they were writing "Group sex, golden chains, nasty clothes, head banging,…" this is really foolish, don't you shake your head when you listen to "Um Kulthum"? Other articles had the silliest thing I've ever read which is about a GREEN INJECTION which Satanists (i.e: Metal heads) take and it makes them play guitar like professionals. As I said before, we live in a poor nation that can never be straightened.

How do you see the metal scene in Arabian Countries?
What is truly clear is that Arabian bands are really talented because of all the stress that is set on the music they like. There are lots of expressions in the music and each band has its individual feeling of metal which is all great, but if only there is support, Arabian bands would be a great part of the world's metal scene.

What's your favorite album ,which band?
This is a really hard question, but the most album that can affect my feelings is Children Of Bodom's first album "Something Wild".

Is there any band you would like to play as support act for?
Of course, many bands: Old Man's Child, Manowar, Opeth, Kreator,…

Any message for Arabian underground?
Stay real to yourselves and work hard for metal, don't surrender to all the pressure that you get for being a metal head and always remember what metal serves you. Be proud of the music you love. And there is that one more thing is that its not a law that you should be a Satanist to listen to metal, infact that's wrong, its better to worship God and listen to metal.

Thanks for the interview, we wish you good luck, any famous words for our readers?
Thanks a lot for this interview, I really appreciate this and anyone who works for metal, especially in Arabia, for this is the only support that we get. Hailz to you all metal brothers all over the world, keep up true metal.

Interview by DeathCurse

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