Carthagods (Tunisia)

Carthagods are from Tunisia and the current line-up features the talents of Khemakhem Mehdi on vocals, Ben Sassi Tarak on lead guitar, Ben Salem Houssem on bass guitar and Ben Hamed Aymen on drums. The band was formed in 1997, but played mainly cover songs of acts such as Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica and Pantera. They began to gravitate towards original material around 2001, but suffered a double blow when one of the original guitarists, Wassim Kileni left and his replacement died. They have shared the stage with singers such as Paul Di'Anno and Tim 'Ripper' Owens and regularly feature at the 'Rock Tunisia' event.

Here's "Memories of Neverending Pain", which shows a slightly softer side of metal out of Africa

And the second video shows Carthagods doing an Iron Maiden cover with Paul Di'Anno and Marcel Coenen...

Sand Aura (Egypt)

Right. After a pause that was longer than anticipated due to some connectivity problems, I'm finally back to share some more metal out of Africa with you. This time, north to Egypt for a prog metal band by the name of Sand Aura, who are based in Cairo. The band was formed in 2007 and feature the talents of Muhammed Hassany on vocals and Shung and Mo'men Reda on guitars. The style is progressive folk metal, but with a decidedly Middle-Eastern flavor. They have one full length release, 'Elegy of the Orient' (2012) to their name. They also appear on the Metality 'Sounds of the Middle East Volume 2' compilation. The videos are audio only. Here's 'Aljahelia'...

and 'The Orphaned Child' parts 1 and 2...



Visit this link for a detailed review of their debut album.