I just put he monumental ORPHANED LAND album behind me, with my freshly created style description of Oriental Metal and right away I get the next band with KENITRA that basically only could fit into this drawer, even though they have got absolutely nothing to do with the Israelis’ sound.

KENITRA hail from the French speaking part of Switzerland and are the brain child of guitarist and song writer Jalal Marhani, who already formed the band in 1997. Early 2001 Jalal went to Morocco to study the music there and he also recorded violins and Eastern percussion and shortly after his return he met the second integral part of the KENITRA sound, singer Reda Redjati, formerly based in Nepal’s capital Katmandu.

So you see that KENITRA (the little Arabic bridge) is not the typical band, but has a lot more to offer. I here have a 5 track promo with five songs and five roundabout one minute video sequences, everything apparently recorded live, in that case, though, in front of a not too enthusiastic crowd.

At the beginning I had mentioned that the music has got nothing to do with ORPHANED LAND, but still almost perfectly fits into the just created category. Well, the music of KENITRA (also an Algerian town) is relatively complex, with pretty uneven rhythms and also not too easily digestible guitar work, but the definitely defining element is the vocals of Reda Redjati, which will most probably let many listeners’ hair stand on end, because above this sound he puts traditional Arabic melody and vocal lines, which one definitely is not used to in this kind of music and absolutely are not suited for everybody’s taste, especially as they are staying pretty close to each other.

To describe the music really is not too easy, because Rock and Metal meet unusual structures, which do not have much to do with the two styles and which leave a few question marks with the reviewer, who is not too familiar with this culture. The guys definitely master their instruments, no question, but not everybody will be able to get along with this style, especially the vocals should be a decisive factor.

The best thing will be, if you listen to the mp3s yourself and find out yourself, it KENITRA are compatible with you. I like it, even though I could not listen to it every day… (Online March 7, 2004)