JO Magazine

Crashing guitars, smashing keyboards, unbleeped expletives and standing ovations: reports from the first night of Crash of the Titans.

Words by John Lillywhite.

Images

CRASH OF THE TITANS

Purgatory
Methanol
The First Show
Cactus
The Second Show

IF ANYONE WAS IN doubt as to the popularity of rock music in Jordan, the packed theater at the National Orthodox School in Shmeisani should give them pause for thought. Friday, October 30, saw the first performance of the "Titans," 19 rock musicians, who have been arranged into four different bands to compete in Jordan’s first rock- and metal-themed talent show. PowerPoint video-slides introduced the four groups and the individual musicians, to cheers and chanting from a wonderfully supportive (and surprisingly diverse) audience.

CACTUS

The first band in the arena was Cactus, and be it due to faulty sound engineering or simply opening night nerves, their first track, "Black Sabbath," failed to do the group justice. It took some quick tampering with the equipment for the group to redeem themselves with their second number, Iron Maiden's "Children of the Damned."

Drummer Mazan Ayyoub came into his own on the second song, and singer Edgar's distinctive voice was now clearly discernable. Guitarist Abd Atari quickly a clear favorite with the crowd, and Bassist Nizar Saqqar exerted a clear presence on stage and gave quite a stunning performance.

Judge Zeid Amarin awarded the group a standing ovation, while Ahmad Nazzal called the performance "f--ing amazing," -- to a sharp intake of breath from the mothers in the room. But Cactus had certainly shown what they were capable of. Still, they had quite a lot of competition as the night wore on.

METHANOL

In an interview with JO, Methanol suggested that they chose their first track because it was one they enjoyed to play, and their second because it would be popular with the audience. That may have been a mistake. The band opened with "Closure" by the very-progressive metal group Opeth -- an exceedingly technical piece, well executed but a little slow for this crowd. It was a brave choice, but didn’t quite capture the mood in the theater.

The audience seemed most excited when the groups rhythm guitarist and vocalist Moh’d Madi shouted: "Do you like Metallica?" The answer was overwhelmingly in the affirmative, and the band's second number, an assured rendition of "Sad but True," seemed a marked improvement. George Durzi took it away on the bass, and by the final crescendo he seemed quite ready to smash his instrument against the stage in time-honored rock fashion.

Although Methanol had certainly won over the audience, the judges didn’t seem quite so impressed, and Tojan Naghaway outright questioned the group’s opening choice of track. Next time they may have to look for more crowd-pleasing material.

PURGATORY

The cheeky chappies in Purgatory took it away from the very first moment, opening with Stradivarius' "Black Diamond," followed by Metallica's "Fade to Black." Both tracks proved to be excellent choices, that had fans chanting through the entire performance. At one point Ahmad Ajjouri’s keyboard collapsed, but he recovered quickly, and played the second half of the second track sitting down -- if anything endearing the group to the audience all the more.

Vocalist Kareem became gradually more at home on stage, while Zaher Mdanat gave a solid performance on the bass. And of course, Tamer Bga'en certainly enjoyed himself on the drums. As a whole, it was clear that Purgatory was enjoying the night.

Despite being a definite hit with the crowd, the response of the Judges was a little more muted, with generally positive comments but no standing ovation.

CEREBERUS

The last act in the show started off strong and just got better. Cerberus, the only group with a female member, vocalist Zenah Haddad, opened up with "Wolke," by Pantera, followed by AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."

Haddad displayed an effortless presence on stage, connecting with the crowd and other band members in a natural, easy manner.  The choice of tracks proved astute and the execution masterful, particularly a flawless performance by Foad Azar on bass. Cerberus seemed much more than the sum of parts, playing more like an established act than a group hastily pulled together with only two weeks to practice.

They received a standing ovation from all the judges, not to mention the crowd, surely making them the clear favorites -- at least for the time being…

In September, dozens of musicians auditioned for spaces in Jordan's first rock- and metal-themed talent contest, Crash of the Titans. Nineteen were chosen and scrambled into four impromptu bands. The bands will compete again on Friday, October 6, after which two finalists will advance to the final rounds.

As the battle rages, JO will be following the shows and profiling the four competitors. You can follow the stories here, and go to Crash of the Titans to vote for your favorite band.