Thank you very much to Hani & STUDIO 77! @HaniTaqi77
In this interview Hani talks about the metal scene in Bahrain and the compilation albums "Metal! Live In Bahrain Vol.2" and "Metal! Live In Bahrain Vol.1"
Recorded by Hani from STUDIO 77 BAHRAIN @ 2021.06.22
Edited by Milady Noise Monterrey, México @ 2021.07.28
METAL! LIVE IN BAHRAIN Vol. 2 (HELLIONIGHT, RYTH, LUNACYST, NECROSIN) [2021, Studio 77] Label: Independently released Release Date: May 16, 2021 Studio 77 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/studio77bahrain Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studio77bahrain @HaniTaqi77
Recorded live and mixed by Hani Taqi at Studio 77, Bahrain Mastered by Alan Douches Cover Art by Hamad Alnajjar
"The project was put together by Hani Taqi of Studio 77 Bahrain who recorded and mixed all the songs. The album contains 73 minutes of live music from 4 bands loud and proud, recorded both before and during Covid in 2019-2020, and represents the best of the underground metal scene in the region. Metal is alive and thrashing in Bahrain.".- STUDIO 77
More information about METAL! LIVE IN BAHRAIN: https://metalinbahrain.com @HaniTaqi77
00:00Hi, my name is Hani. I'm the owner of Studio 77 in Bahrain and today I want to talk to you
00:17about the live compilation album Metal Live in Bahrain Volume 2.
00:30In case you don't know much about Bahrain, we're a small island in the Persian Gulf, you can hardly find us on the world map but for some reason we have a lot of metal musicians, we've got a lot of metal fans and some killer metal bands.
00:58And the point of this compilation is to expose these bands to the rest of the world and hopefully you guys can check them out and maybe you'll be surprised.
01:09The idea for the album came from me organizing a lot of local shows and a lot of the times I was in charge of the sound so I thought, you know, why not record some of these bands live and maybe put it on a record.
01:24And that's what happened. We came out with Volume 1 in December 2019 and Volume 2 just came out in May 2021.
01:34The reason I chose to do a live compilation album instead of a studio compilation album is because I feel like metal is all about the live performance.
01:45If you want to know what a band is about, you should check them out live and I wanted to capture these bands doing what they do best, which is playing live in front of their hometown audience and having fun on stage and just get that energy and that spontaneous feeling on this record.
02:03And I think that's a good way to introduce some of these bands to the rest of the world, show their live performance.
02:09So I want to talk about the bands on the compilation.
02:13There are four killer bands from Bahrain on this compilation.
02:17Hellunite, Riff, Lunacist and Necrosis.
02:22The first band on this compilation is Hellunite and they play 80s, old school style, thrash, speed metal.
02:32They're influenced by Sodom, early Slayer, all the early 80s thrash stuff, Venom, Motorhead, stuff like that.
02:41So if you like that style, if you like that 80s speed metal style, I think you're going to like Hellunite.
02:46The songs are very catchy, awesome riffs, they're a three piece, so very stripped down and raw, and I think you should definitely check them out.
02:56They have an EP they released in 2016, and on this album, there are some new songs that are not on that EP, so you've got to check it out.
03:05The great band, Hellunite.
03:07The second band on this compilation is Riff.
03:09They've been playing in the Bahrain scene for a long time.
03:12They used to be called Rain in Hell, they changed their name this year, and they're starting a new chapter with some new songs.
03:18Even though they've been around for a long time and they've played a lot of shows, they don't actually have an official release.
03:24So the songs on this record are their first release.
03:28They're a great band, they play progressive death metal, kind of like Gojira, a little bit of like Opeth in there as well, and Dark Fortress.
03:38There's black metal in there, there's death metal, there's a bit of melodic metal, too, with some clean vocals.
03:45So I think this band, you know, covers a lot of subgenres in metal, and they're killer.
03:51Their original songs are really good, you should check them out.
03:54And their debut album will hopefully come out by the end of this year.
03:58The third band on Metal Live in Bahrain Vol. 2 is a band called Lunasys.
04:02They're basically a brutal death metal band with some progressive elements.
04:06Their influences are like Cannibal Corpse, The Faceless, Cattle Decapitation, bands like that.
04:13They're excellent musicians, and they've been around the Bahrain scene for a long time.
04:17They're very tight on stage, and I think you can hear that on this album.
04:20And they released their debut in 2019, and you should definitely check that album out, too.
04:26So those three bands were recorded at the same show for this album.
04:29And that show happened in December 2019, just before this pandemic started.
04:35And I wanted to add another band called Necrosin on this compilation.
04:39Unfortunately, their show got canceled because of COVID, and so I decided to record them live in the studio instead.
04:45And I guess that's the next best thing to recording them live in front of an audience.
04:50Necrosin are a newly formed band, and they basically play 90s-style death metal.
04:55Straight to the point, and very brutal, and they kind of remind me of maybe like Old Morbid Angel, or Bolt Thrower, stuff like that.
05:08They recorded three songs for this compilation, and this is basically their first official release.
05:13They're working on their album. Hopefully it will come out sometime soon.
05:16But if you like old-school 90s death metal, you should check out Necrosin.
05:21Also, I want to mention that most of these performances were filmed, and you can find them on YouTube, on my channel, Studio 77 Bahrain,
05:29and also on Facebook, on the page, Metal Live in Bahrain.
05:35And so if you want to check out the visual and watch these bands play live, just check out those videos.
05:41So there are 17 songs on this album. It clocks in at around 73 minutes. It's a pretty long album.
05:48I wanted to fill up the entire CD with songs, and that's what we did. So you should check it out.
05:55I also want to talk about the bands on Volume 1, Metal Live in Bahrain Volume 1.
06:01They're great bands too, and you should definitely check out Metal Live in Bahrain Volume 1 and these bands.
06:06And they are Bloodshell, Motor Militia, Smoldering and Forgotten, Must, Creative Waste from Saudi Arabia as well.
06:16And I think that will give you a great idea of what the scene here in Bahrain is all about.
06:22And hopefully you'll be into it, and you'll support these bands because we definitely need your support here in Bahrain.
06:28Also, I want to talk about the artwork. It was done by my friend Hamad Al-Najjar, and he has an account called Art of Geed on Instagram.
06:40And you should check out his artwork. He can do some killer art for you.
06:44And the artwork on this album is definitely humorous, I guess you could say.
06:48There's some things in there that only people from Bahrain will understand.
06:54But basically, the point of the art was to show the metal scene in Bahrain with the more traditional elements of Bahrain,
07:03all combining and clashing with each other, and just to have fun, and just to have a laugh really.
07:09Nothing serious. No skulls and monsters or any garbage like that.
07:13Or it's more punk rock, I think.
07:17And it's a great drawing, and I think it captures the fun spirit and the energy of this compilation.
07:24So I'll talk a little bit about myself and Studio 77.
07:29Studio 77 is a recording studio in Manama, Bahrain.
07:34And we record all kinds of music.
07:37But the music that I love is obviously metal, and anything aggressive, really.
07:44Punk rock, hard rock, anything with loud guitars and some attitude.
07:51I love that kind of music. Real music with real instruments.
07:55And that's what I like to record.
07:57So I've been into metal since I was like 10 years old.
08:02I grew up listening to thrash metal and all kinds of 80s metal.
08:05So that's where I started, and that's what the music that I love the most.
08:11So I always wanted to support the scene here in Bahrain,
08:13because I've seen a lot of bands in the past just disappear,
08:18because they don't have any support, they don't have any place to play,
08:21they don't have any international attention.
08:24So they just give up.
08:25And I don't want that to happen with these bands.
08:30So I try my best to support them as much as I can.
08:33And I hope you guys will support them too,
08:36and check out Metal Live in Bahrain, Volume 2.
08:41So future plans.
08:42I mean, who knows what the hell is going to happen after COVID
08:45or when the shit is going to end, but hopefully soon.
08:49And we want to get back on stage.
08:53We want all the bands to get back on stage and have fun
08:55and get back to what we had before
08:58and keep making the scene bigger and better
09:01and keep producing quality music
09:04and putting Bahrain on the map.
09:07Who knows?
09:08Maybe there'll be Metal Live in Bahrain, Volume 3.
09:11So, yeah, I'm going to keep supporting Metal.
09:14All the bands are going to keep going.
09:16And we're just going to keep going.
09:17Those are the future plans.
09:19Just staying Metal, always.
09:22So I want to say thank you if you're watching this
09:24and thank you for supporting Global Metal.
09:27That means a lot to us.
09:28And big thanks to Holy Noise in Mexico for their support.
09:34It's very awesome that they wanted to know about our scene.
09:37So much love and respect to them.
09:41So keep supporting Metal.
09:42And the underground is what it's all about.
09:45And I hope you like our scene here in Bahrain.
09:48Check out the website metalinbahrain.com.
09:51You'll find a lot of info about metal bands in Bahrain,
09:54about the scene, past and present.
09:56And you'll be able to buy Metal Live in Bahrain, Volume 1 and 2,
