Ahead of the Metal Gathering event on February 11th at Beirut's Metro al Madina, organized by Metal bell Magazine and headlined by Nader Sadek: In the Flesh, as well as Voice of the Soul and Within Destruction [Lebanon], our managing editor Habib T chatted with all-female Lebanese Thrash band Slaves to Sirens about their upcoming performance at the event as well as the band itself. Habib: How was the band formed? And why the name Slave to Sirens? What inspired it? It all started when Lilas (rhythm guitarist) wanted to do something new, which led to the idea of an all-female thrash band! After a long time searching for members she met Shery, who is now our lead guitarist, at a protest against the government regarding the garbage crisis in late 2015, and later on the girls joined to form S2S (Slave to Sirens).
We chose this name because first, we liked the way it sounds, and the second reason would be the meaning – In Greek mythology, Sirens were beautiful yet dangerous creatures that lured sailors to their doom with their enchanting voices and music, causing ships to crash on the reefs near their island, capturing some as slaves - and that is what we are trying to convey through our music.
How does it feel to be sharing the stage with some of the top acts from Lebanon and the region?It’s pretty exciting. We are always looking forward to sharing the thrill of the stage with bands from our local scene and the region, as well as establishing new friendships along the way.
What are you bringing us next after this gig? Can we expect any original material or an album release soon?Well, there will be a video released soon from our first performance during Phenomy’s album release night, which was on November 1, and of course new originals will be added to our upcoming gigs. Something will definitely be coming by summer, so stay tuned!
Tell us about your sound, and your musical and lyrical influences.S2S members have different musical backgrounds, so our music is a mix of all our influences from Progressive metal to Death or Black metal, but of course we mainly focus on the almighty Thrash. As for the lyrics, they are always dark, angry and criticize human nature, but we do leave some space for our listeners to interpret them the way they want to.
What are your favorite recent metal releases?Lilas: Among the recent releases in 2017, Kreator’s new album “Gods Of Violence” is my favourite so far, also there are bands I'm anticipating like Overkill’s “Grinding Wheel” album out on February 10th.
Being an all-girl band and I hope this isn’t a question you get too often, what advice can you give to rocker and metalhead girls in Lebanon and in the Middle East in general? Just never give up on their dreams; let their voices break the walls of silence and social oppression.
What about advice for up-and-coming bands in the scene? We don’t really find ourselves in a position to give other bands advice, considering the fact that we are still relatively new, but one thing that we always tell each other is to focus on the music, focus on the material and forget everything else!
We look forward to seeing you at the Metal Gathering at Metro al-Madina on February 11. Any words for Metality readers?First of all we’d like to thank you, Metality, for taking the time to interview us, and to the readers: Let’s make this metal scene we have great again! February 11th will be “the day we wreck havoc on the ships of your hollow minds; be there, be many and become a Slave To Sirens!”.
You can find Slave to Sirens on Facebook here.You can find the Metal Gathering event on Facebook here. 
