Anuryzm is a Progressive Metal band initially from Lebanon with John Bakhos on guitar and the main guy behind the project, Milton Kyvernitis on guitar, Imad Dahleh on drums, Rami Lakkis on bass guitar and Nadeem Bibby on vocals. With Martin Lopez (Ex-Opeth, Soen), John came up with a Masterpiece.

Band bio (official website)

After fermenting the music for more than eight years, Anuryzm released their debut album “Worm’s Eye View”, and it’s one of the finest wines of the Middle East to say the least!

With great production quality, the album is full of melody, aggression, moods and is in general very well orchestrated. Talking about balance, coherence and creativity, every instrument plays an interesting part to blend in smoothly with the others or to shine boldly in the mix.

Opening with “Fragmenting the Soul”, one can notice the layers of keyboard effects added in the mix and the carefully crafted opening guitar riff, followed by a blend of high pitch clean and low pitch growl vocals. Expect genius keyboard solos and soaring/speedy guitar solos. “Wide Awake” is the next track with a lot of emphasis on progressive drum beats. “Sintax of Trinity” is the third track , heavier than the previous two and the ultimate “headbang” track with impressive vocal work. “Skygazing”, fifth track seems as a heavier Creed track especially with the melodic clean guitar and the “rough” vocals, but this is Anuryzm and Skygazing is something else!

The album title track “Worm’s Eye View” opens with a scene in the background, an Arab leader talking about making a strong nation while an assassin is ordered to take his shot. The track starts with clean guitar melody reminiscent of Pink Floyd music, followed by more distorted guitars, aggression and anger. In “Killing Time”, the bass guitar plays a major part along the entire track, and with the keyboards’ 60’s and early 70’s effects, this track is a masterpiece. “Breaking the Ballot” is the second promo track and it is another pure “headbang” track on the album with a very catchy chorus that holds meaning for a change comparing to most American music; again the bass guitar plays an important part in this track supporting the guitar riff sometimes and going on its own path other times (the solo part of this track is not to be missed), but you can always hear it which is an indication that a professional guy is behind the mixer. “Where Mockery Falls”, the last track on the album, opens with a calm part and a simple playful bass line, the track seems as if it was recorded in the 70s at start until heavy music comes in with growling, one can easily associate this track to old Opeth music and also Opeth’s new direction. Let’s not forget that Martin Lopez (Ex-Opeth) worked on this album.

Another artist featured on this album is Uri Dijk from Textures who played synths on “Breaking the Ballot”.

I would recommend this album to all metalheads especially fans of Progressive music. Who said we can’t keep up with Europe?! Well, we can also compete!

The following interview was done with Anuryzm’s vocalist, Nadeem Bibby.

  • What were the major sources of inspiration for the album (music/lyrics)? Can you explain the concept of the album?

From a musical point of view, John is a true guitarist from the school of Classic Metal and Rock. He admires such virtuosos as Friedman, Petrucci, Romeo, Dimebag etc and I think his playing reflects a guitar style that is becoming lost to the metal world. He definitely kept this idea in mind while writing the riffs that have been floating in his head for years. As far as lyrics and singing styles, I wanted to incorporate my take on classic rock vocals but modernize the delivery to make it relevant to the modern day metal aficionados. Also having Rami Lakkis playing on the album was a Godsend as he is a real bass player who possesses a very keen ear for music and his interpretation of our songs was an eye opener to me and John as he really added much to their depth and dynamics.

Worm’s Eye View is a human-album in the sense that we write music keeping in mind the displacement of people in the region due to politics and broken dreams, but there is also a lot of hope in our music too.

  • What are your favorite tracks in the album? Are you planning to make a video for any songs?

My favourite tracks are probably “Sintax of Trinity” and “Worm’s Eye View” because of their seemingly simplistic and old school nature. For both those songs you cannot tell if they were written in 1995 or 2015! They possess a unique old school yet futuristic vibe about them.

We don’t have any plans for a video as of yet, but it will come around sooner or later.

  • Were all the tracks ready when recording started? What difficulties did you face while recording?

The vibe and the feel of the tracks were ready while recording, but as usual John and I butted heads over a lot of things and ended up forcing each other to try different ideas here and there. All’s well that ends well, haha! The difficulties we faced were mostly logistical because we don’t live in Dubai, where the studio was located, and as many other struggling bands are aware of, a lot of financial difficulties arose.

  • How did Martin Lopez know about the project? Why did he decide to join in and help? Can we expect a guest appearance in a future concert?

John asked him if he wanted to be involved, so he heard the demos, he really enjoyed it and was excited to be a part of the project. He’s currently focusing on his band Soen, but without giving out any details at the moment, I can only say that 2012 will be an exciting year!

I also want to add that another great musician appeared as a guest on the album. Uri Dijk from Textures played synths on the track “Breaking the Ballot”, and he did such an amazing job for the song. We’re really happy to have worked with him.

anuryzm-band

  • Who are your targeted listeners? To whom would you dedicate this album?

Everyone! …or at least anyone who can stand to listen to distorted guitars. We seem to get more of a response from people who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s listening to bands like Pantera, Soundgarden, Dream Theater, Symphony X, Megadeth, Testament etc and fellow musicians that understand the level of technical ability and how much of a bitch it is to sing in a certain pitch or play a certain riff etc.

The album is dedicated to Bernard Moussali, a good friend of John’s and original Anuryzm rhythm guitarist who was taken away before his time. I would also dedicate the album to anyone who enjoys it and who feels long lost good vibes from it.

Thank you for your time and for this interview. We hope you enjoy the album!