Arkan - Salam

\r\nMulticultural and different. These are the first words that came to my mind when listening to "Salam". After the album was over I realised the first impression given by the french outfit was more than correct. The soundscapes of the album outrun most of the so called masterpieces most labels want to shove down our throats. Arkan ,to be precise, plays a strange yet successful mixture of eastern/arabic music with death metal in the vein of Orphaned Land(whose singer also does a guest appearance here!). Now, who would expect such a thing from a french band?
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\r\n Grabbing arabic music by the hair, adding traditional instruments, heavy guitars, female vocals and anything you can imagine Arkan achieve their goal without being ridiculed or dumb wannabies. This whole "operation" is extremely hard to pull through, you see the factors are too many and too varied to be blended but the musicians in this band know their way around things and manage to offer us a unique fresh sample of limitless music. The songs are not afraid to expand, to stretch with no fear of the clock and the vocals make sure they express every human emotion with passion. It feels like a huge painting is turning into notes and melodies, a painting drawn by many artists sharing a common vision. A murky description yet a crystal clear outcome.
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\r\n Fredrik Nordstrom’s production is top notch of course, the dude knows how to do things the right way. The album’s artwork completes what we call a complete art package, worthy to be added to your cd collection like a valued piece. What I enjoyed the most is that after having listened to "Salam" so many times I realised that you cannot get tired of it, instead you see different aspects of it emerging each time. The album will be of special interest to the ones who know even little about arabian music. Familiarity due to rhythms and aesthetics but the metal element is present too and the listener will come to terms with the fact that the musicians behind Arkan are open minded people. So, a few levels above "remarkable" the band’s second full length awaits open minds and free thinkers to find its new home. Dare it.\r\n

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\r\nGiannis rem3dy Nakos \r\n

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