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 Mezarkabul (a.k.a. Pentagram) - Unspoken [Noise Int./Sanctuary - 2001]As a long-time listener to both heavy metal and Turkish music I was very interested when I read about an İstanbul-based band combining the two traditions. The bands name was Pentagram. Soon I was the owner of their 1997 album Anatolia, released under license in Europe in 1998 by Century Media. Hell, even without the Turkish elements this was an excellent heavy metal band! Situated somewhere inbetween Savatage and more recent Metallica, they added an occasional Turkish intermezzo and instruments. The ney (end-blown flute), baglama (stringinstrument) and various percussion instruments were used and the song Gündüz Gece was almost a Turkish folksong in a metalversion. Various riffs had subtle references to their background.Because there are already two Pentagrams in the metalscene (one from America and one from Chile) the band changed their name for Mezarkabul. Only for the Western world though, they kept their original name in Turkey. The fourth album Unspoken has more influences in riffs, vocal melodies and the ney is more incorporated in the songs. Sometimes subtle like in In Esir Like An Eagle but other times more prominent like in Lions In A Cage. This time they also used a zurna (reed-instrument) in the last song For Those Who Died, too bad it gets faded away! Excellent conservatory-trained singer Murat sings only in English this time but the more philosophical lyrics (as opposed to the more political ones on previous albums) aren't printed in the booklet. Century Media fucked up in the typesetting of the Turkish lyrics on Anatolia but I don't know if this is the reason. Personally I wouldn't mind if all the lyrics were in their native language but I guess they fear that it would narrow their market. There are plans of a Turkish album though, but solely for the Turkish market. Let's hope it'll be available as import or at (hopefully) upcoming liveshows. I also hope they'll bring the first two albums and the live-record along, now unavailable in Europe!A massive production, good songwriting and excellent performance makes Unspoken an album that deserves the attention of the melodic powermetalfans outside Turkey. The oriental influences are subtle enough to not scare away people from the West, although I personally wouldn't mind even more them. More info can be found in this interview. 
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|  | | Mezarkabul (a.k.a. Pentagram) - U... | As a long-time listener to both heavy metal and Turkish music I was very interested when I read about an İstanbul-based band combining the two tradition...
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| | | Cliff Twemlow On Severin - Mancun... | One of last year’s real big surprises in the world of Blu-ray box sets was Bloody Legend: The Complete Twemlow Collection, as it was a wholly entertain...
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