Israel, 4th of January 1992.
Israel, January 1992.
It has been raining for days and parts of Israel are flooded. My best mate and I are in Tel Aviv, making a stopover in the Israeli capital on our way from our kibbutz to Cairo.
British death metal troupe Cancer are supposed to play at a club called Opera this evening. As we wait outside, we exchange names of metal bands and experiences with an American-Israeli soldier called Josh who informs us that he gurgles salt water every morning because he thinks that it’ll make his voice hoarse and thereby his growl more fierce. Alrighty then…
Anyway, it turns out that the interior of the Opera club hasn’t changed much since it was a gay club, and, paradoxically, that the two local support bands, Salem and Morgue, won’t play tonight due to the fact that they couldn’t get through the water masses. But Cancer who come all the way from England play their set in these slightly weird settings, and the Israeli punters, although few in numbers, go berserk, starving for live metal as they are.
And isn’t that just the thing, ladies and gentlemen; few Israeli bands have made it into the headlines around these parts. Orphaned Land being one of the few exceptions.
Does that mean that there is no metal in Israel? No, of course not. There’s even good metal.
Prey For Nothing is an example of a band that European and American metal audiences could say Shalom to with great benefit.
Their brand of technical death metal is close to the qualities of the late Chuck Schuldiner’s Death. ‘The Sound of Perseverance’ comes to mind when listening to ‘Violence Divine’. Yotam Avni’s vocal performance is so obviously inspired by Schuldiner, and whereas some would probably say ‘sad clones’, I have to beg to differ and say that Chuck is no longer here, and this is probably the best substitute I’ve heard to date.
‘Violence Divine’ is a piece of multi-facetted death metal art with a progressive element that allows you to hear and experience new details every time you listen to it – without losing the groove and moving into the grey field of pure showing off. And, that, my friends, is true quality.
Thumbs up!
