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Black Metal knows no boundaries... Zurvan were originally from Iran, but later relocated to Germany, obviously because it's forbidden and punishable to play Metal music in such a highly religious country as Iran.

The band claims to play Persian Nihilistic Black Metal, which means nothing to me really (all those silly subgenre categories... Please give me a break!) To the band's credit (two guys named Nâghes and Taromad are behind the music of Zurvan), however, the band's Black Metal sounds well executed. What's even more important is that it differs slightly from the majority of today's Black Metal bands with its relatively unique approach. The music often varies from mid-tempo-ish rhythms to faster tempos, not showcasing anything spectacular in terms of original songwriting that would make them stand out from the rest of the pack. The music flows well though, and Nâghes' vocals aren't your typical, croaked sandpaper-dry Black Metal snarls either. Rhythmically, Nâghes sounds more like Mike Browning (ex-Nocturnus) in the vocal department than, let's say, Proscriptor McGovern (Absu), to give you a better idea.

What this album truly suffers from is its length. 67 minutes. Simply said, this is too much for one album, especially for this type of album as one may begin to lose focus very easily. An optimal length for this type of Black Metal should be somewhere around 30-40 minutes, but not much more really... Unfortunately, the album got a bit tedious towards the end.

If you haven't heard any extreme Metal bands coming from Iran before, you may want to start from this one?