Iraqi metal band navigates long road to therapy
“We didn’t want to carry weapons and go shoot people. Violence was never the solution, really,” said Marwan Hussein, the drummer and lyricist of the band Acrassicauda.
Metal, instead, provided a “passive aggressive way that we could let our voices be heard,” he said.
Acrassicauda was at the forefront of Baghdad’s fledgling metal scene as social restrictions loosened following the US invasion in 2003, appealing to youth whose causes of angst were considerably more intense than those facing middle-class fans in the West.
Yet, like so much in Iraq, the path forward was painfully slow.
The band fled Iraq after its practice space was bombed. But this April — resettled in New York and nearly 15 years after the original lineup formed — Acrassicauda has finally released its first full-length studio album, “Gilgamesh.”
Singer Faisal Mustafa, clad in a leather jacket and with a salt-and-pepper goatee, said that heavy metal was “therapeutic.” He can vent feelings of rage, but in a socially acceptable way.
“You can express them through music, through your soul. And once you unleash that anger onstage, you define who you are –but you’ll be known as an artist, (not like) in real society,” he said.
– A nod to Iraqi heritage –
“Gilgamesh” shows the influence of Acrassicauda’s thrash metal heroes such as Metallica, Slayer and Testament, whose guitarist Alex Skolnick co-produced the album.
Marked by minor-key buildups and high-octane solos by guitarist Moe Al Hamawandi, the songs are carried forward by power chords and Faisal’s sweeping voice, which ranges from a deep growl to a rich vibrato.
“Gilgamesh” is only obliquely political. The album title is a reference to the ancient Mesopotamian epic that is often considered the first work of literature — a nod to Iraq’s rich past, and to continuity.
The lyrics — in English, which the band members speak flawlessly — delve into themes of rebirth and the quest for freedom, but all cast in the imagery of mythology and not modern-day politics.
The members of Acrassicauda — whose own name comes from the Latin for a black scorpion common in Iraq — insist that the music speaks for itself and decline to offer opinions on Iraq’s latest troubles.
“We always said that we don’t want to be a political band, but I think that’s kind of an understatement,” Marwan said.
“Because politics — I wouldn’t say it ruined our lives — but in a way it ruined so many people’s lives.”
Source: www.yourmiddleeast.com