There are a lot of heavy metal fans in Israel, and the scene there is growing. Dozens of unsigned bands sent in demos wanting to be part of this compilation, and 15 were chosen for inclusion. There are many genres featured on this CD, including death metal, power metal, progressive metal, hard rock and more.
As you'd expect from such a compilation the quality of artists varies. Some of the standouts include Distorted, a band with melodic female and harsh male vocals in the vein of Lacuna Coil; Xenolith, who plays progressive death metal; the thrash metal/death metal combination of Epidemic and the bagpipes infused Xamavar, which features excellent female vocals.
There are more good songs than bad on Israel Unleashed, with only a couple marginal hard rock tracks bogging things down. It's also worth noting that there's no stopping the epidemic of generic metalcore. It has made its way to Israel as well. This compilation features some excellent bands, and I predict at least a few of them will draw some interest from record labels.
