The sophomore album from Tunisian progressive metal band, Myrath is a breath of fresh air. There is so much going on here within each track, it’s difficult to grasp it all on first listen. The production team of Fredrik Nordstrom (In Flames, Dimmu Borgir, Dark Tranquillity) for mixing and Jens Bogren (Opeth, The Devin Townsend Project, Soilwork) for mastering and producer Kevin Codfert (Adagio) does a phenomenal job blending the multitude of instruments. The use of strings and percussion (especially on Sour High, Braving the Seas, and Merciless Times) adds a blast of progressive originality that separates Myrath from their peers. Each song has a metallic crunch combined with the use of middle-eastern scales and rhythms courtesy of lead guitarist Malek Ben Arbia, while keyboardist Elyes Bouchoucha creates a melodic landscape to accent the heaviness of rhythm section Anis Jouini (Bass guitar) and Piwee Desfray (drums). Lead singer Zaher Zarguatti has a very charismatic, pleasant, and melodic voice (with excellent soaring harmony vocals provided by Bouchoucha ) and if he has a Tunisian accent, you can’t detect it on many of the songs except when used intentionally on “Beyond the Stars”.With “Tales of the Sands”, Myrath have created a unique style all their own. All hail “Oriental Metal”! 

Rating: 8.5