Tyranny Rising interview

Tyranny Rising is an upcoming death metal band from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Members of the band have been part of the metal scene in UAE for some time now. Last month, they released their debut EP ‘Prepare to Die’.

I spoke to vocalist Borna about the EP, recording at Haven studio and also their plans for the rest of the year.

United Arab Emirates is not a country known for its metal scene. How did the band get together?

It’s a really lost story. But to summarize, we all met when we were in school. Mon, our drummer, relocated between many schools, which was a blessing in disguise because that’s pretty much how he met all of us. Eventually, when he decided to start a band, he introduced us to each other and we formed a band called “Story of Grace”. When Story of Grace disbanded, Mon formed another band with Mark (his brother who was also in Story of Grace) and after a few months, they decided to ask Bassel and I to join as the Guitarist and Vocalist, respectively. We then contacted Crabz, who was Mon’s friend in his final year of high school, and he was happy to join us as the Bassist.

What made you decide to start a death metal band? What about the style appeals to you?

We all come from different backgrounds, different cultures, and although we love Metal, our tastes in specific genre differ. For example, I’m more into Melodic Death Metal, which influences my style of Vocals. Marco and Bassel are into Death Metal. Mon is into Nu Metal, and I’m not really sure what Crabz likes. It doesn’t really matter, because he’s the Bassist anyway. And we all have our influences of Thrash Metal.
To sum it all up, basically, we love all types of Metal and we love the music we write. We don’t aim to make it sound like any genre, really. We just put our minds together and write what we want to write, and what we think sounds good to us.

Your debut EP ‘Prepare to Die’ released last week. What are the songs on the EP about?

The title of the EP says it all, really. Go for the Throat, Power Overwhelming and Burn them to the ground are pretty much about change, and fighting back through Power and Hatred. But, Venture is my personal favorite in terms of lyrics. It tells a story. I’m not going to go to anything specific, because the story may differ depending on the readers’ perception. We have lyrics out with all songs on all stores and streams, so everyone can check it out for themselves.

The EP was recorded by Hand at Haven studio. What was the recording process like?

Working with Hadi Sarieddine was the best decision we’ve made in this band. Amazing producer, amazing personality, and man is the guy talented. Just a great experience over all. The process of the recording and mixing was rather quick, but we had difficulty with the timing of our release. We had a lot of other issues on the side which we had to deal with before releasing the EP. And we apologize for the long wait. But it’s out now, and even though donations are welcome, it’s completely FREE to listen and to download.

What are your thoughts on the metal scene in UAE?

The metal scene is a really touchy subject, unfortunately. A lot of hate. A lot of cancelled shows due to phony complaints, which just ruins everything for everyone, including the reputation of the people working hard to host gigs. On the bright side, there are more bands coming in from outside the Gulf area, which is a good thing. But the biggest issue, in my opinion, is that there aren’t enough all age shows. Gigs in Dubai, are MOSTLY in the same place, with the same set of bands taking turns to play every week or so, with the same faces showing up to support them. A lot has changed over the past decade, and it’s getting worse and worse. Hopefully we will see a change for the better.

Do recommend bands from UAE and the Arabian Gulf region that we should check out.

There is massive talent out there. A lot of amazing bands. We have played a lot of grindcore gigs, alongside great bands like Gates of Gomorrah, Project Skvll Fvck, Maticrust, In Times of Despair and many more. Apart from the grindcore scene, you should definitely check out Alpha.Kenny.Buddy, Voice of the Soul, and Benevolent.

What are your plans to promote the EP? Do you have any shows planned?

Unfortunately, we do not have any booked shows at the moment, we are busy writing some more music and working on hopefully getting some merch out there. We’ve had a lot of requests for merch, so we will have something coming up in the near future.

Do you have any final words?

Support, support, support. You don’t need to go to every single event in order to be a fan or a supporter. We hear a lot of complaints about people not “supporting the scene”. The sad truth is that the same people refuse to attend other events apart from their own, so how can you expect any different from others. And lastly, support new upcoming bands and give them a chance.

Listen to ‘Prepare to Die’ below