Lista de Bandas Progressive Metal Khepri Bellymetal

Overview:

If I could give the award of most interesting and innovative album this year, Khepri's album Bellymetal is it. Dubbed as gothic belly dance metal / rock music, it's certainly a niche style however it falls into the broader category of oriental metal of which all lovers will enjoy (and all lovers of metal in general can appreciate).

Khepri's previous albums are different in particular as they contain vocals whereas Bellymetal does not. Being a completely instrumental effort, minus the bonus track (vocals ahoy!). Losing the vocals is something that I feel solidifies the music here as whether the song is in a lively or minimalist section, it's easier to dance to, more consistent and has a general better aesthetic and appeal.

The music itself more or less follows the format of tribal and Middle Eastern percussion drumming away alongside arabic sounding metal guitar riffs. I'm adamant there is not one hit of a single 'standard drumkit' here. It has moments of nice orchestration (a symphonic edge) and seemingly melds these together extremely well!

The Tracks:

The album begins with Hellfire, the track is deceiving as it starts with a slow build but quite quickly kicks into a fast paced, Middle Eastern riff-fest of coolness. There's a lot of nice melodies here and the whole song is furious and interesting from start to finish.

After this song enters Valley of the Kings which has a really catchy hook and some nice overlaying of guitar melodies. What can be said except it's as catchy as the album opener. Around 2 minutes and 40 seconds is a really great interlude with quite a spooky ethereal clean guitar lead. It's a shame this section was so short as it's awesome enough to be expanded into its own song.

After this is the first chilled and mellow song on the album arrives. Tormented Soul is one of the better songs of the entire album and has some irresistable melodies riding across its beautiful chords. It's very emotional and haunting, it will connect you to a part of your life and to a place of sadness.

The album continues in this manner, a barrage of several heavy, fast, rockin' tracks dispersed by the occasional floaty or orchestral interlude. One highlight is Serpent's Eye. Part I is simply an orchestral track whereas Part II develops the melodies and themes into a metal backdrop.

Lastly, there are some hidden treasures in Frailach and Sherele, clearly heavily inspired by Hebrew folk music. I wouldn't be surprised if Khepri even just lifted a few melodies here, very fun to hear this kind of stuff used in metal.

Album Art:

The album art is slick and minimalist. The artwork and booklet is a white-ish grey with hints of stars and galaxies in the background. Over these are imagery of Khepri and a gothic bellydancer.

Summary:

The album is overall a very good listen and with 17 songs it literally fills all the usable time a CD can handle. This makes it good for repeated listening where songs you first thought were pretty good but not the best ones start to leap forward as your favorites. It allows you to discover all the clever little nuances and moments within the music.

I highly recommend buying Bellymetal. It's a great, innovative, interesting and very different metal CD. I like the fact the music is almost a 'diet metal' where I'm sure even fans of general rock or guitar music could appreciate the music yet there's still some killer riffs and guitar leads.

A brilliant album, and a definitive masterpiece of any form of rock / metal mixed with bellydance music (if this has even been done before at all?). I look forward to seeing what Khepri puts out next!