Bilocate is a dark Oriental metal band from

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, founded in 2002 by Ramzi Essayed, Waseem Essayed and Hani Al Abbadi. The band's style combines

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

and

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

with Oriental elements.

History

The band was founded by the brothers Ramzi and Waseem Essayed and their friend Hani Al Abadi, and got started when they were joined by guitarist Baha' Farah, and later by guitarist Rami Haikal. Their first full-length album, ''Dysphoria'', was released in the winter of 2005, and received significant airplay on the local governmental radio station ''Jordan FM'', with a 5-hour show being dedicated to the band and the album on October 27. They released a music video for "2nd War in Heaven." A second video, for "Days of Joy," was produced by Jacknife Video Productions. Bilocate added a new drummer, Ahmad Kloob, in late 2006, and started preparing for a new album. In July 2008, ''Sudden Death Syndrome'' was released, mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren (

Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. The band incorporates folk music, folk, blues, classical music, classical, and jazz elements into its usually lengthy compositions, as well as strong influences from deat ...

Bloodbath Bloodbath is a Swedish death metal supergroup (music), supergroup from Stockholm, formed in 1998. The band has released six full-length albums, two EPs and two DVDs depicting their performances at Wacken Open Air (in 2005) and Bloodstock Open A ...

Katatonia Katatonia is a Swedish Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström. The band started as a studio-only project for the duo, as an outlet for their love of death metal. Increasing popularity ...

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...

, and others). The album received positive reviews from magazines and websites such as ''

Decibel The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a Power, root-power, and field quantities, power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whos ...

'' and

Blabbermouth.net ''Blabbermouth.net'' is a website dedicated to metal and rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. It is run by the website's founder Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001. In October 2001, the rec ...

. The album was self-released and is now distributed in the United States via The Omega Order, the distribution arm of

The End Records The End Records is a record label in Manhattan that specialized in rock, heavy metal, indie, and electronic music. History Early years (1998–2005) The End Records was founded by Andreas Katsambas in Pasadena, California, with the goal of ...

. In December 2008, '' Terrorizer'' reviewed ''Sudden Death Syndrome'', calling it "a tasteful and sophisticated piece of work that determinedly puts the Jordanian metal scene on the map." The album has led to extensive coverage for the band in the West in the heavy metal media online as well as in print, such as interviews with ''Terrorizer'' and ''

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...

''; the latter praised their "rich, doomy sound" and called ''Sudden Death Syndrome'' a "stunning, heartfelt metal album."

Metal Storm Metal Storm Limited was a research and development company based in Brisbane, Australia, that specialized in electronically initiated superposed load weapons technology and owned the proprietary rights to the electronic ballistics technology ...

nominated the album for its Best Doom Metal Album Award; Bilocate's album finished in sixth place (of ten). Heavy metal music is still controversial in Jordan, as suggested in a brief interview with '' Terrorizer'', December 2008, in which Rami Haikal said, "We have even been told to dissolve the band and to stop publishing our music by any means." In an interview with ''Metal Hammer'', Waseem Essayed said, "We are facing a lot of pressure and a huge rejection from security, religious authorities, and the community." The UAE newspaper '' The National'' reported in October 2008, in a series of articles called "Young in the Muslim World," that a Bilocate concert in Jordan was canceled by authorities, "citing unspecified 'security reasons.'"

Band members

Current members

*Ramzi Essayed -

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

(2003–present) *Hani Al Abadi -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

(2003–present) *Waseem Essayed - keyboards * Baha Farah - guitars (lead) (2003–present) * Rami Haikal - guitars (rhythm) (2003–present) *Ahmed Kloub -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(2006–present)

Past members

*Ibrahim Al Qaisi -

(2006)

Session members

*Ala' Faraj -

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s (2008–present)

Discography

Albums

* ''Dysphoria'' (2005) * ''

Sudden Death Syndrome Sudden death syndrome (SDS), a disease in soybean plants, quickly spread across the southern United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North Ameri ...

'' (2008) * '' Summoning the Bygones'' (2012)Bilocate Reveals New Album "Summoning The Bygones" Artwork
/ref>

EP's, Demos and Singles

* ''Dysphoria'' (Demo, 2003)

References

{{Authority control Doom metal musical groups Death metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2002 Jordanian heavy metal musical groups 2002 establishments in Jordan