The battle raged on with the 5th heat of the GBOB 2011 competition. That night saw some talented local bands in the melodic death and progressive Metal local scene. Up on stage were Tormented, followed by Nocturna, and finally Al-Dahaka. Having only attended heats 1 and 3, I must say that night was more gripping than the other ones. Competition was clearly high since all 3 bands delivered similar and good, yet not great music. Even the jury awarded low points compared to other heats. Us at LebMetal.com held a draw in which participants had a chance of winning Kaoteon’s new CD “Veni Vedi Vomui”, an Iron Maiden The Final Tour 2011 giant poster, and all 3 available “Hourglass” CDs.
Starting off with Tormented, I was impressed with this band as a first-time listener. They played a progressive Metal sound with some melodic death influences. The energy was there, the crowd enjoyed the show, and cool riffs were played. Yet there was repetition in some drum lines and guitar riffs from what I could make of their originals, but they were well played. The problem was with them not delivering a new sound; it was a kind of déjà-vu. But the band surely has a potential.
Up next was Nocturna. Everyone is mainly familiar with this great band who began as a gothic band and later on changed to melodic death Metal. From what I’ve seen, all hell broke loose on Nocturna’s turn. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the show and what stroke my ears the most were 2 sounds: the fiercely sinister growls engulfing the pub and the colossal drumming. The latter saw variations and some killer lines. Their songs had a gloomy atmosphere which was well delivered to the crowd, but there should’ve been some more emphasis on the guitars probably. The jury awarded Nocturna 3 individual member awards at the end of the night: Best Vocals, Best Drums and Best Bass Guitar, so they obviously earned their way to round 2.
Last in round 1 was Al-Dahaka. Quoting their vocalist, they play “Progressive Power Metal”. Now I personally didn’t find it that much of a purely progressive power sound, it was more melodic death mixed with some progressive power. Not that they weren’t good players, but their originals lacked some captivating feel to my opinion. They did manage to get many votes, and their skills also aided them to get the jury’s attention. All in all, thumbs up for this band whose guitarist was named “Best Guitar Player” in Heat #5. I guess a few new compositions from their side would strengthen the band’s music and reputation even more.
As aforementioned, the 2 bands who made it to round 2 were Al Dahaka and Nocturna. And I might say choosing the winner was a hard choice since both bands had it in them. Yet in my opinion, Nocturna was better since the track they played, “Frozen Sun”, was one full package of harmonies, clean solos, and good band cooperation.
To some, Al Dahaka should’ve been the winner, but the way I see it, experience on stage should also be considered in choosing the winner so eventually, the jury named Nocturna as the winner of GBOB 2011 Heat #5 due to that criteria.
Finally, congratulations to the winners of the LebMetal draw:
Iron Maiden’s The Final Tour 2011 poster won by Elie Aoun. The Hourglass’s Ancient Hope won by Khaldoun Karssi. The Hourglass’s To the Land of the Free won by Johnny Francis. The Hourglass’s Resurrection of the Horrid Dream won by Samir Kayyal. Kaoteon’s Veni Vedi Vomui won by Roy Lteif.
