Zvindiyar – Six Rites
Release Date: 3rd September 2026
Label: Independent
Bandcamp
Genre: Atmospheric Death Metal
FFO: Maat, Cruciamentum, Necrosin, Cemetery Reign, Morbid Angel, Cemetery (Germany), Amon Amarth, Dark Tranquillity, Starwraith.
Review By: Malte Brigge
Bahrain isn’t known for its metal scene (yet), but the tiny island country is working on it, with bands like Hellionight (thrash) and Necrosin (death) among a couple dozen toiling away in the underground to raise a mighty noise. Enter Zvindiyar, who appeared out of nowhere in 2026, released three massive singles which are now collected as part of a six-song, twenty-eight minute EP called Six Rites that explores Persian and Arabic mythology. They call what they do “atmospheric death metal”, which, I’ll admit, was a new one for me. The promo material didn’t provide much information, and Metallum only lists Mohammed AlMeshkhas as the player of everything, but their Facebook posts and the booklet you get with a digital Bandcamp purchase (early release, and worth getting for Ani Artwork’s artwork alone) indicates two other members, PJ on guitars and Ryan on drums. Six Rites officially releases on 3 September, and though it be little, it is fierce.
Zvindiyar intend to make a statement, and don’t wait to do it. Anqa (a mythical bird that either is, or is similar to, the Western conception of the phoenix) starts the album off with a thick and meaty riff and a vocal “eeauughh” that has a sense of the 90s Swedish scene to it. Meshkhas’ growls are miasmic and soupy, sometimes plummeting to gurgling sinkpits (Shadhavar) but capable of rising to strained screams (Fell), landing in the center of a Venn diagram between Steve Tucker, Baal and Johan Hegg. He handles the job with aplomb, anchoring the vocals to the rhythmic foundations and guttural instincts of the songs. Zvindiyar writes with the dense, swampy weight of D–G-era Morbid Angel but has an accessible, rhythmic drive that recalls Amon Amarth, latter Dark Tranquillity, and Starwraith. Atmospheric sweeps make it tempting to think of the structural qualities of less obvious acts like The Ruins of Beverast or Cruciamentum, minus the blackened, doomy edges.
Meshkhas introduces clean harmonies on the choruses of Anqa and again on closer Shadhaver against the aggressive growls, which create excellent melodies and catchy hooks against the thunderous riffs and slavering roars. This is part of Zvindiyar’s writing quality overall, in that they are expansive and not reliant on a constant wall of distortion. There’s almost a search for spaciousness throughout the album as nearly every song shifts into clean, reverbed chords and picking at some point. Meshkhas fills in these spaces with mellifluous bass solos that highlight his musicianship and are each wonderful in their own right, but it’s quickly apparent that these openair mood shifts are endemic to Zvindiyar’s process. Though not unwelcome, neither do they always feel necessary. Sometimes there is a little too much reliance on such rise-and-fall dynamic, and there isn’t always enough to tie it into the surrounding riffbursts. Hex of the Frenzied Shadow has multiple aerie passages, for example, but credit to Zvindiyar for not getting too absorbed in them and having the sense to keep them brief. The fifth track, الهمس الأول, serves as an “intro” to the final song, but I think it would serve better as an outro to the whole EP, with its synthy atmosphere and melancholic guitar lead fading out as if this part of the story is told.
Zvindiyar can attack with plenty of aggression, though, to balance out their penchant for chasmic soaring. The Soaring Enigmatic climbs high with a weird, melodic, triplety riff that falls into a fun chugfest, which itself builds steam before falling into a well-placed, pit-friendly mosh. The way it builds back into the blasted melody introduced at the top of the song is a good showcase of Zvindiyar’s potential. The solo that closes the song enters the discussion slowly, as if having taken the time to think about what it wants to say before speaking. You have to admire that kind of restraint in a band trying to make itself known to a broader, international audience, and it suggests a very exciting future for this trio.
With time and development, I can imagine Zvindiyar growing into a very unique band with a voice like few others in death metal today. Six Rites is fun to listen to and presents a band that is ready to do the work. I heartily recommend each and every one of you make good use of this Bandcamp Friday to add these songs to your collection and lose yourself in the booklet while listening to this prologue to great things to come.
(3 / 5)
