Part 2

Playlist meets some of the bands that are ensuring that heavy metal is acquiring a growing fan base in the Middle East.

Heavy metal and Islam are not often regarded as typical bedfellows.

Consequently for fans in throughout the Middle East, listening to the music is often more than a hobby – it amounts to a political statement.

"It's about being honest to yourself first and foremost and standing up for your rights and having a voice," says Barnaby Ribeiro from the Dubai-based band Nerve Cell. 

Nerve Cell are one of a group of bands that are beginning to make waves in the region fusing traditional heavy metal from the west with elements, instruments and lyrics from the east.

Metal first arrived in the Middle East in the late 1980s and early 1990s and has steadily grown in popularity.

"From there it really starts growing underground like the way it did in eastern Europe before the iron curtain fell," Mark LeVine, the author of Heavy Metal Islam, says. "It takes off really quickly and by the mid-1990s you have these mushrooming metal scenes."

The current phenomenon is not confined to Arabic countries; Israeli bands Orphaned Land and Betzefer are also in the thick of it.

Outlet

"It's like we bought a canvas in the USA, we brought it here, and we paint here, a painting which is like the whole painting of the Middle East and Israel," Kobi Farhi of Orphaned Land says.

The music is providing an outlet for an increasing number of youth in the Muslim world to voice their anger - a reflection of the turmoil and violence young people are often surrounded by in the region.

"I think the region actually lives the style of heavy metal, there are a lot of things happening in this region that make people attach themselves to this kind of music," says Rami Mustafa of Nerve Cell.

LeVine says heavy metal can have a cathartic effect.

"It speaks to a need of young people who are marginalised from their own cultures, they feel they need a sense of identity and community," he says.

"Catharsis is the first step to critique and then critiquing their society even if it's from a marginalised place is the first step to changing it."

But change, particularly in the Middle East, is often a slow process and senior religious leaders have often attacked heavy metal, branding it a threat to the ideals of Islam.

The stereotypes often associated with the music, such as satanic worship and drug use, have made it an even easier target and more difficult for those playing it.

Metal musicians in the Middle East face hostility from many angles including religious forces, governments and relatively conservative societies.

They feel they are often unfairly targeted.

Expression

"I'm sure that for some Muslim countries the authorities see metal as a threat and as some kind of revolutionary thing because of the way we dress. But at the end of the day this is just an [artistic] form of expression," Farhi says.

"There are millions of metalheads all over the world and I never heard of any revolution happening in a country because of metal [music]."

In the late 1990s, at the urging of religious leaders, several countries sought to ban the music altogether. There was a series of government crackdowns known as "Satanic Metal" drives.

"In Egypt in 1997 over 100 kids were arrested and a senior religious leader said they should be executed for apostasy if they don't repent," LeVine says. "Really serious stuff and this started spreading, to Lebanon, Iran."

The Lebanese band Oath To Vanquish has plenty of stories about their clashes with the authorities.

"We used to be arrested for having long hair, for walking differently, for wearing black for example, for listening to music in our CDs," Elias Abboud says.

"Army checkpoints and police checkpoints would probe us in the car for having certain tapes or bands and would questions us and arrest us on the grounds of listening to a list of names that was formed completely ad hoc."

Bands such as Orphaned Land are raising heavy metal's profile in the Middle East

Forced underground

The situation is even worse in Iran where metal fans and bands alike are forced underground by authorities and strict censorship laws.

Iranian band Tarantist fled to the US just so they could play their music their way.

"We left everything behind, we left our country, we left our parents, we left our friends, the boys and girls and even the streets, just for music," Arash Arahbary from the band says.

"So it is something important in our life."

Rock refugees

In contrast to more conservative states, Dubai has emerged as a refuge for musicians in the Middle East.

The city has opened it's doors and concert venues to allow metal in and hosts the annual Dubai Desert Rock Festival which has attracted heavyweight rock acts such as the UK's Iron Maiden.

Bilocate and Nerve Cell are among the bands now based there and can play their music in public.

"Dubai is more of an open market. It's difficult for bands in the rest of the region in the Middle East to be heard," Andy Constantinides of the Daxar record label, says.

"All the record labels in the Middle East are basically targeting Arabic music and pop music, so this sort of genre of music is seen as underground."

However the steps being made by bands in Dubai is indicative of a wider change in mindset according to Alexander Milas, the editor of UK-based magazine, Metal Hammer.

"It's impressive given the subject matter a lot of the bands are playing, lyrically, politically and so on," he says.

"If they're able to take the stage down there [Dubai] and express themselves in a free way then I think that calls for some kind of reassessment on the part of the West in terms of just how progressively people are thinking down there."

Despite all of the obstacles and struggles with authorities in the Middle East, metal bands are connecting with fans and each other in the region and forging communities.

For now, heavy metal music and Islam remain uneasy companions, brought together in a region where religion can be the rule, and the music can offer a release.

Playlist can be seen each week at the following times GMT: Monday 0530 and 1130; Tuesday 0130, 1400 and 2330; Wednesday 0630 and 1630; Thursday 0300 and 1430; Friday 0600; Saturday 1930; Sunday 1030