Octum
Fighting For Freedom

The internet gives us the opportunity to see, hear, and learn things that we would otherwise never come into contact with; DeBaser is an example of this. Many search among the reviews for a good or bad one, some look for their favorite albums or bands, others (myself included) browse to find something new, a group never heard of, an unintelligible genre, an album never found in stores or stalls.

This is probably one of those albums. Octum is a quartet hailing from Saudi Arabia, specifically from the city of Jeddah, and "Fighting For Freedom" is their first demo, released in 2008, a couple of years after the band started their activity.

5 songs of classic thrash, decently recorded and well-played. The arpeggio introducing the first "Illusions Of War" is beautiful, where you can hear the American '80s thrash influence, even more complete is the next track "In 60 Fire", supported in the middle by a long yet good guitar solo (Sultan Ridwan). The composition of the pieces is certainly not brilliant in originality, but the skill, especially of drummer Mohammed Kumkumji, is appreciable, and the title track is also a piece that stands well among many US-labeled thrash groups.
The only sore point from my perspective is the voice of singer/guitarist Faisal Al-Alamy: too dispersive in some places, completely out of place in tone in others, even though the choruses aren't bad, for example in "The End".

But in the end, why listen to thrash from Saudi Arabia? Well, everyone has their own answer, I like finding music in distant places we know little about, and I think that rather than yet another collection of 6 CDs with 1 unreleased track and 4 Metallica posters, listening to the self-produced demo by these Octum might be worth it.