Interview with RYTH

Hello! Congratulations on the release of your debut album “Deceptor Creator”! Can you tell us about the creative process behind the album, and how you approached writing and recording it?
Thank you! It has been a long journey throughout recording the album, the writing approach was the smoothest as we came together and put an idea into sound. We follow an intuitive writing process with shifting dynamics that feel right and best express the mode we are on at the time. The recording process took a while as we struggled to make time for it from work, and with Covid… but here we are and we are very happy with the outcome.

RYTH has been active in the Bahrain metal scene since 2008 (previously as Rain in Hell). How has the scene evolved over the years, and how have you seen metal music being received in the Middle East?
The metal scene in Bahrain is great, and it has been developing in terms of quality rather than quantity. Although there is a decent amount of metalheads in the middle east, there aren’t as many bands as there used to be in early 2000s. It’s probably because of the regulation of home-studio musicians and the digital era of music… But we will always love the live metal scene and how it brings us all together between the middle eastern countries mainly: Bahrain, Saudi, and UAE.

Your style has been described as blackened death metal with a technical and progressive edge. Can you talk us through how you developed this unique sound, and which bands have been most influential in shaping your style?
I wouldn’t pin-point on the exact genre or style of the band, we are mainly going with our own unique flow as humans based on our feelings and understandings put together. We are inspired by everything around us and all types of genres even outside metal, we find that a lot in bands that outgrow their starting genre and expand to a softer or cleaner sound or style. But for us we tend to love both the ying and yang, so our blend is unique in that sense but we will not be limiting ourselves, ever.

“Deceptor Creator” was mixed by Hani Taqi and mastered by Alan Douches. Can you tell us about the experience of working with such renowned professionals in the industry, and how they helped shape the final product?
Hani has done a tremendous job shaping up our sound and vision and keeping us on track, the album wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for his amazing contribution and solid sound work. And all the more, Alan has excelled with the mastering of the album giving us a proper final product with quality that lives up to the hard work put into the recording and mixing processes.

The album cover was designed by Lucas Ruggieri. How important is visual art to the band, and how did you go about choosing the right artwork to represent your music?
The artwork meant a great deal to us, if we had a chance we would do more sceneries that span throughout certain parts of the story of Deceptor Creator. We approached Lucas with the lyrics alone focusing on a certain part of the unfolding events in ‘Facade’ and how the spiral flood was occurring and numerous factors that were building up just exploded in rapid fashion to a point of annihilation.

You’ve mentioned that the album represents years of hard work and overcoming the challenges of being an extreme metal band in the Middle East. Can you talk us through some of these challenges, and how you overcame them to finally release your debut album?
Metal music is not well regarded or viewed by the masses in the Middle East, just like how christians would say it is the devil’s music in the US; we have a local version of that here as well… we were surrounded by such a thing and we couldn’t be as open as we should have with our music and certainly didn’t have support to pursue it fully until we completely took it upon ourselves to. The number of metalheads has grown and people have a more open mind, and it still poses a challenge when it comes to financial or an opportune scene… but the love of metal music keeps us devoted.

“Deceptor Creator” features innovative song structures incorporating clean and aggressive vocals with progressive and dynamic elements. How do you balance these different elements to create a cohesive sound, and what do you hope listeners take away from your music?
As mentioned before with the ying-yang state of mind, the extreme cannot exist without the sublime, our sound is similar in that sense and our dynamics follow a natural course in which there can be a calm before the storm… or a drought before a heavy rain. We always hope for the listeners to listen sensually to feel the balance and get absorbed in our modes.

The album has been received positively by critics, with many praising its technical prowess and unique sound. How do you feel about the reception so far, and what are your hopes for the album’s success?
We are honoured by the feedback we got and it definitely motivates us to get back in it and put in more work to reach a bigger international audience.

Your music incorporates both traditional metal elements and experimental sounds. How do you strike a balance between paying homage to metal’s roots while also pushing boundaries and creating something new?
We would follow our own vision to the composing process, we focus on the best delivery and what would best compliment the sound that conveys a message without need for words.

The Bahrain metal scene is still relatively underground, with few opportunities for metal musicians to perform or record their music. What do you think can be done to support the scene and help it grow?
We need development of the metal market in Bahrain, there are talents and there are crowds and there are opportunities, but we do not have the business side of it set up yet.

What’s next for RYTH? Do you have any plans for future releases or tours, and how do you see the band evolving in the coming years? Thank you!
Thank you for the interview and your kind words! We are hoping to release more music and to tour as many places as we can get to, we will continue being us and to evolve continuously as we always had without limits.