Lelahell (Algeria): the stubborn will to play metal!!

Lelahell (Algeria) In this short interview Lelahell gives a brief history lesson about metal in Algeria and for that alone, it makes an interesting read.

Actually, here we learn about the circumstances in which the band plays death metal.

The history behind the band, its motivation to keep going fuels their passion for making metal music. Death metal is in some ways an ugly, violent art form that turns off a lot of people from the moment they hear the growling.

“This is just stupid”, some people say. Lelahell has had to deal with a lot of that, and more.

Nevertheless, here is Lelahell and they have recorded music that you should definitely check out! The name of their most recent recording is “Al Intihar.” The contact information is given at the end of the interview. ---

What’s happening with Lelahell? You are based in Algiers, correct? Have you played shows there?

Lelahell is an Algerian death metal band formed by me (Lelahel) in 2011, started first as a one-man band. In January 2012 Nihil (bass) and Slaveblaster (drums) from Barbaros joined the Lelahell’s team. Yes, we are from Algiers and we haven’t made gigs yet but it is in our plans. We are rehearsing every week, and when we’ll be ready we’ll start to invade the metal scene!

Tell us about the song “Emperor“: what are the lyrics about?

It’s about the emperor Nero, and his 14 years of reign. The history repeats itself, right? It’s the most brutal track of this Ep and the new ones have the same brutality! I think that it is the song that represents the future sound of Lelahell. How did they idea for the song “Hermanos” come to be? I don’t know if the lyrics are in Spanish. This song has a nice, catchy guitar solo. Who does the guitar solo? A story of friends who are at the beginning like blood brothers, but as life goes, well, things change...Yes some lyrics are in Spanish, I just only know few words in Spanish the idea is to use one foreign language in each release of Lelahell, maybe we’ll use Italian or Portugese in our next release. Thanks for the compliment, I made the solo it is melodic but will Lelahell will not go in this direction in the future; we’ll be less melodic and more brutal!

Are any of your songs in Arabic? Are there metal bands in Algeria with lyrics in Arabic?

Most of our songs are half in English and the second half in Arabic. The bands here don’t want to use too much Arabic because they think that it doesn’t sound metal! But I don’t agree with that opinion because there are some letters in Arabic that are really suited for metal! We are the first generation of the extreme metal bands in Arabic countries and we used Arabic in my old band called Litham, it was so strange for the audience to hear metal with Arabic!

What does “Al Ihtiqar” mean? That song is heavy, like some of the heaviest death metal you have done. At the same time, it’s only a bit more than 2 minutes long. Why is this song so short compared to your other ones that are 5-8 minutes long?

Al ihtiqar means “The despise” it is very slow tempo death metal song and very short. Contains Just few words and some riffs to describe despise because it don’t need more! Try to listen to it; it is impossible to add more riffs everything concerning despise is present here!

How is metal music viewed by your family? When you walk in the streets with an Iron Maiden or Morbid Angel shirt, do people think you are crazy?

It’s been more than twenty years that I’m into metal music, so they don’t have any choice than to support me and support metal! Lol And when I walk on the street the people don’t pay attention to my shirts because they simply don’t understand what it is!

How did you all get into metal music? When were the first metal bands in Algeria formed? Were there metal bands in the 80s? Did some bands start in the 90s?

Everything began in the early 90’s (1992) when I met Salim, who was a singer in a heavy speed metal band called Rascass (Rascass was formed in 1992). We had the same passion for death metal, so we rehearsed together to from a band, but it never happened. Some months after, I was contacted by a friend Mehdi (who was a drummer) to play bass in Neanderthalia. Neanderthalia was a typical 90’s sounding band formed by Samir. He was searching for musicians to complete the lineup of the band. After that we were searching for a second guitarist and we found Yacine who was a student in the same university that I studied. This was the first complete line up of Neanderthalia. In 1995 Sabri joined the band as drummer (Mehdi was replaced by Kamel, and Sabri replaced him) and recorded a 3-track demo. After that we had many problems of communications with Samir the front man of the band, so we decided to leave the band and form Litham in July 1996. There was hard rock bands in the 80’s most of them where only cover bands, I heard about Khindjar and Ouechma, but never had chance to see them live.

What do you have planned for 2012 and 2013? Is there a possibility of Lelahell playing shows in other parts of Africa, like Egypt? What about Spain and France?

First we are planning to release a full length, and after we’ll make a lot of gigs all around the globe to spread the music of Lelahell! After that another full length and more concerts and after a third full length and more concerts ….. Yes, I have many contacts in all around the world so just wait and see!

“Into the Past” has some black metal and death metal vocals. Is that the same person doing vocals? This song is good for headbanging!

I’m doing all the vocal in this Ep. Into the past reminds us all the evil mankind has done throughout its existence: destruction, murder, lies, disasters, etc. ...and we continue to do it. The music is blackened thrash with local melodies, the main riff is catchy, and as you said for headbanging!

What is the best way to contact you or get shirts?

We haven’t made shirts yet, but maybe after the first album we’ll make some merchandising!

If you want to contact us by email: lelahellband@gmail.com, myspace: http://www.myspace.com/lelahellband www.myspace.com/lelahellband

facebook : http://www.facebook.com/Lelahell www.myspace.com/Lelahell THE END.