Dubai-based death/thrash metallers Nervecell are still reeling from an incredible 2011, which saw them play with two of their heroes and scoop a couple of best-selling awards. Music-News.com asks guitarist Rami H Mustafa, pictured far left, how they can follow all that
Music-News.com: Congratulations on being recently crowned ‘All-time Best-selling Metal Band’ and ‘Top Three Best-selling United Arab Emirates Artist (International Repertoire)’. What did those awards mean to you?
Rami Mustafa: Thank you! The band is extremely happy to be awarded those titles. It’s astonishing to be the biggest-selling band in metal out of the international metal bands sold in the UAE. I guess it only proves that we have supportive fans. Another fact is this actually proves metal is alive and well here and in the Middle East as a whole. We are thankful to our fans first and foremost for their dedication, our label Spellbind Records and Virgin Megastore.
MN: Was there a ceremony? Is there now a plaque on display at the Mall of Emirates among others, like the Hollywood Walk of Fame?! And how did you celebrate?
RM: We received the news after returning from our most recent European/UK tour. There was a ceremony at the Virgin Megastore presenting two plaques for each title, which took place in Mall of the Emirates branch, the biggest one in the region. TV and press were there. Virgin received a plaque to display as well.
We hung out at the mall and had a big feast with our management and label. Later on, we had a night out with some friends. It was a fun night!
MN: Now in your 12th year, what do you think has been key to your success and longevity? Being a metal act from a place with a very pop-heavy market, has that given you an edge?
RM: It definitely feels great standing our ground being a metal band for this long in a market where commercial music is pretty much dominating. With us constantly touring and releasing albums, we became the only band in the region who are active internationally. The bond between us as band members is really strong, and we are all dedicated 100 per cent to what we do. The music comes first, and the rest is basically promoting our music predominantly being on the road touring.
We’ve done lots of great tours and appearances with bands such as Sepultura, Machine Head, Motorhead, Suffocation, Morbid Angel and Deicide. We’ve appeared at many major festivals around the world. Our passion and dedication to our music with the support of our fans is definitely what kept us going.
MN: One of your 2011 highlights was opening up for Metallica in Abu Dhabi for a 25,000-strong crowd. How was that and what did you take from it?
RM: It’s the biggest milestone in our career! Metallica playing in the Arab world was a very important event and for us to open for the biggest name in metal was such an honour. Metallica is pretty much why me and the rest of the guys in the band are playing metal right now. For us to share the same stage was simply mind-blowing! It was the first time for us to see Metallica live as well, so that was very exciting. The show was in our home country, which only made it better for us.
After that we toured for a full month in Europe and the UK alongside legendary death metal act Morbid Angel, which was another big tour in our career. It was an excellent tour. We have toured Europe and the UK a numerous times, and this was definitely a special tour for us as we are huge fans of Morbid Angel, who are one of bands that established the genre as well a major influence in our sound. Watching them perform live every night was such an experience and to be with them on the road was simply great. The fans were awesome and supportive. Our friends from Benighted were on the same tour and we had so much fun together sharing the tour bus and partying every night! We played some new cities, which is always exciting. Lots of great memories for sure!
MN: How can you top all that… or how would you like to top that?
RM: I cannot think of anything bigger and exclusive for us after opening for Metallica to be quite honest. We definitely have more goals to achieve: touring countries we haven’t been to yet such as Japan and America, releasing more albums, and maybe touring with Slayer would just drive us insane!
MN: Your current album is Psychogenocide. What does that mean?
RM: It’s basically refers to the destruction of the human mind or psychology. The album addresses how the human mind is being controlled by lots of tools around us. Listeners need to check out the album and read the lyrics to get the whole concept.
MN: You recorded a track with Nile’s Karl Sanders last year. What was that for and what are your recording plans to follow up Psychogenocide?
RM: Karl Sanders featured as guest vocals on the song Shunq (To The Despaired… King Of Darkness). It was mainly written in Arabic, which James (our vocalist/bassist) wrote and sang, and we wanted to have somebody else sing the English parts. The first person that came to mind was Karl Sanders as we’re big fans of his work in Nile. We also thought his singing style would fit perfectly. So we worked on it and it turned out great! We filmed a video for the song as well, which will be released officially this month.
In regards to new music, we have spoken a little bit about the new album among the band and we have some ideas musically, but we have not started writing officially. We will be announcing once we start the writing process for the follow-up of Psychogenocide.
MN: What are your 2012 plans, notably gigs and festivals?
RM: We would like to come back to Europe/UK as soon as possible. We may be doing some festivals this year but nothing is confirmed yet. At the same time this year we will be busy writing our upcoming album, so we’ll see how it goes in terms of touring and festivals. We also wish to tour the US by the end of the year.
Psychogenocide is out now
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