One thing that all prog aficionados know very well is that the most extraordinary musical productions in the genre have often come from the most improbable places. After all, try to name other markets where music is classified by countries. Progressive music lovers know their geography and where to look for in order to find the cream. So during the baptismal journey that many of us make to get acquainted with the hallmarks of progressive rock, we inevitably realize that astonishing, often extremely defiant albums were born in countries we could barely locate on a map before we had heard of such prodigies. Who else than amateurs of prog can proudly associate top notch music to countries such as Armenia (e.g. Oaksenham, Artsruni) or Turkmenistan (Gunesh Ensemble), just to name these two? The desire to transcend the boundaries of endemic music into something universal has led to the ever richer melting pot into which progressive or modern music is transforming itself. When the Beatles and other creators of art rock realized that rock music can easily conjugate itself to most other musical genres to generate interesting hybrids, experiments of ever increasing complexity were conducted, first in Great Britain, and rapidly all across the world.

But to describe the surprise one might have after listening to Abrahadabra, the first effort by Arashk, is rather difficult. First, Arashk (Salim Ghazi Saeedi, guitars, bass and keyboards/ Poojan Khajavi, guitars/Shahram Khosraviani, drums) hails from the Axis of Evil itself, and more exactly from Iran. And Abrahadabra is anything but world music. It contains in fact some of the juiciest, fuzziest and wildest guitar shredding album you will find anywhere. Simply for being so unashamedly heavy and metallic in a country where such things are not supposed to happen in the first place, these musicians could deserve our greatest admiration. But we tend to forget that Iran was one of the most modern Islamic nations before Ayatollah Khomeini seized power there in 1979. So a long tradition of rock music has existed and continues to do so in that large country, although it understandably had to operate in an underground fashion to survive. In fact, the Iranian government, through its Ministry of Islamic Guidance, which protects Iranian people from Western cultural demons, has officially approved a few rock bands, like Meera, for example. Thus, one has to realize that the Iran of the mullahs is fairly liberal in this 21st century, as compared with its Afghanistan neighbor, or even Saudi Arabia. And I know it for a fact, having Iranian relatives.

Tolerance and underground operations have thus contributed to allow a band such as Arashk, to emerge and manage to exist and make its music available on the web. Not only is Arashk admirable for its audacity, but Abrahadabra is simply a very imaginative and extremely energetic metal progressive album. Entirely instrumental, it features two absolutely astonishing guitarists, Salim Ghazi Saeedi and Poojan Khajavi, who rock the hell out of the Kasbah on the 9 tracks of that album. I mean, these two guys, and especially Saeedi, have plugged their guitars on the contained frustration of a whole generation of angry but astute young Iranians, and the electricity that it has produced will rip apart your most stubborn prejudices. From ‘Told to the Bird’ to the final track (‘Abrahadabra’), these two guitarists deploy awe-inspiring virtuosity and an inventiveness rarely seen in a genre (talking about metal prog here) that tends to repeat itself. The secret of these musicians is apparently the sum of a total lack of inhibition in their solos, the translation of Iranian folk accents into the most violent emotions that amplified guitars can express, and an absolute mastery of all harmonic scales. The intrinsic candor of these musicians, who have nothing and everything to prove at the same time, makes possible quite a number of little rock miracles on that album.

Most of the tunes are extremely furious, rapid and high-octane progressive metal shredfests that can leave no one indifferent. Of course, Persian scales and progressions are easily noted, but definite Spanish and Moresque flavors are clearly heard here and there. Another dominant stylistic influence on many tracks is progressive surf, a genre of which I am especially fond. On ‘Route’ (track 5), one can even hear Dick Dale’s blueprint for ‘Miserlou’, which makes plenty of sense knowing the predilection that Dale has for Oriental scales. The use of synthesizers to mimic Persian dance onomatopoeias on ‘Dance of Gods’ is also very clever and adds colors to the instrumental paintings.

Speaking of painting, one of the numerous beauties of Abrahadabra is the capacity of Arashk to surprise and sustain our interest throughout the album. Although the ebullient, pyrotechnical guitar shredding is ubiquitous, the album never gets repetitious nor boring, a pitfall that undermines too many instrumental metal albums. A testimony to the genius of the band’s leader and main inspiration, Salim Ghazi Saeedi, who composes what he calls ‘pictorial rock’: the trick is to guess what these painting canvases are. In Saeedi’s own words: ‘...I like exaggerated details and very subtle techniques of instrument and when I come across for composing a catchy part in one song I see no reason for repeating it. If someone liked that part, can rewind the song (sic).’ I love his candor.....

Although Steve Vai and similar shredders are obvious comparisons here, the reference that most quickly comes to mind is Pino Marrone, Crucis’ guitarist whose incredible guitar solos make ‘Los Delirios del Mariscal’ such a memorable experience. Abrahadabra is like the famous Crucis track ‘Abismo Terrenal’ on ‘Delirios...’ multiplied by five and extended over nine tracks of total manic fury but of a very exotic and refined type. Hendrix and Santana have also obviously instructed the phenomenal axe genius that Salim Ghazi Saeedi truly is.

Highly recommended for a hefty dose of extremely heavy yet highly melodic metal of a VERY special kind.