CARTHAGODS was one of the first metal bands to emerge from Tunisia in the late 1990’s. Undoubtedly, they are the pioneers of heavy-metal scene in Tunisia. Now they have released the album The Monster in Me. To know a bit more about them we asked the drummer and founding member Aymen Ben Hamed a few questions.
Is your bandname a play with your hometown?
Nailed it! At the time the band was created, all the band members were from the region that used to be the historical center of the city of Carthage. Carthage was a powerful kingdom that ruled the region for many centuries, being proud of our origins the name of the band is a tribute to that area and to the legacy left by it.
Carthagods was one of the first metal bands to emerge from Tunisia in the late 1990’s. What made it take so long after NWOBHM you Think?
Laziness? , just kidding!!
We have started as a cover band playing our favorite metal band songs. We have started to work on our proper creation around 2003. We have had a lot of material that was only played during live performances and never put into an album or EP .2 main reasons, the constant change of the line up making it difficult to maintain a good pace in the creation process and being constantly chasing the sound/style that can define the band. We believe that with ”The Monster in Me” album we can say that we definitely found the style that matches with the band which will allow us to be in a more comfortable zone for providing new material.
Some tour in Scandinavia?
We would love to! And it is one of our objectives in the near future, we hope that the fans in the Scandinavian countries will love the album and hopefully we can work on some dates very soon.
Can you hint anything about next record?
Big sound, great melodies! We will start working on the new album very soon, so stay tuned.
You have been playing whit giants as Judas Priest, Slayer, ever feeling starstruck?
Being a fan of those giants, we will always feel star-truck no matter what. We grew up with bands like slayer and Judas Priest and we will always jump as kids anytime we will have the opportunity to attend shows for those bands. During the Judas priest show we had the opportunity to meet Rob Halford and we were stroke by his kindness and humbleness , a great memory !
How long have you played togheter?
For certain members since the creation of the band , with the actual line up we have been playing together for roughly 4 years now , this is the first album released with the actual line up , the next will be too.
Do you remember the first record you bought?
Nativity in Black , a great tribute to black Sabbath. Once we heard it we knew that Metal is the music that we want to play.
