Review of Lelahell - "Al Insane...The (Re)birth of Abderrahmane"

INDEPENDENT INSANITY

By: Geoff Teach

Algeria is not known as a hot bed for heavy metal. The North African country is normally known for its vast expanses of desert and rich natural gas deposits; not for its extreme, blackened death metal. Three musicians from the capital city of Algiers, however, are aiming to rise above the obscurity of their homeland and to spread their heavy, aggressive music around the entire globe. This past August, Lelahell released “Al Insane...The (Re)birth of Abderrahmane” through Philadelphia’s Horror Pain Gore Death Productions, and the backing of the American label may be precisely what the Algerian trio needs to realize its goal of international acclaim.

Comparable in sound to such contemporaries as Origin, Decapitated, and “Evangelion”-era Behemoth, Lelahell’s newest effort is steeped in blistering death metal, brimming with black metal leanings, and awash in Arabic mythology and history. Marrying modern, Western metal with essences of Arabic and Middle Eastern song arrangement, “Al Insane...The (Re)birth of Abderrahmane” comes across as mainly abrasive and pummeling, yet the album also has its moments of acoustic jams and doomy, down-tempo introspection. Songs such as “Al Intissar”, “Voices Revealed”, “Hypnose”, “Am I In Hell?”, and “Black Hands” stand out as the choicest cuts on the ten track effort, but, to be honest, the entire release is compelling and highly accomplished.

Consequently, Lelahell’s “Al Insane...The (Re)birth of Abderrahmane” is hard as nails, and although the band’s location may not be one that initiates long discussions among the metal heads of the world, the group’s music is more than capable of setting tongues to excitedly wagging from the shores of the Mediterranean to the coasts of the United States and beyond. Do not miss out on this phenomenal release.

Keep It Metal! \m/

To check out “Voices Revealed” and “Hypnose” off of “Al Insane...”, just press play below!