In Cairo, Dashiem works alone. By choice, by necessity, and by temperament. Since 2019, the project has been a one-person black metal operation built around a specific kind of atmosphere: ritualistic, book-bound, and deliberately steeped in the language of Middle Eastern witchcraft.
He tells AFRICA.ROCKS he went solo for a simple reason. “I didn’t find members with similar influences. I also love to have everything settled within a time frame, so I decided to launch this as a solo project.” Doing everything himself, he adds, means the concept stays intact from start to finish. “Doing everything alone helped me execute my own vision and concept for my musical theme.” When it’s time to play live, he brings in help. “I collaborate with live members when it comes to a live performance.”
That vision first landed as Invocation of Malfayosh, released digitally on October 13, 2023. A few months later it crossed borders in physical form, with Narbentage Produktionen (Germany) putting it out on cassette on February 23, 2024. For Dashiem, the tape mattered because it carried the music out of Egypt in a way a link can’t always manage. “That was an opportunity for me to have my music spreading outside Egypt as a physical release, especially Europe.”
The EP’s title comes from a specific source: “Malfayosh is the name of a mared (demon) from a witchcraft book titled Diwan al Afarit al sab’a (Manuscript of the Seven Demons). Malfayosh is the fourth demon invoked for defeating and causing horror to enemies.”
He sets the tone immediately with the opening piece, “Introduction from the Book of Ifrits.” It’s there to place the listener inside the world he’s drawing from, right from the first seconds. “I wanted to frame Dashiem around Middle Eastern and Egyptian witchcraft, so the EP had to open with something epic that sets the theme and puts the listener straight into the atmosphere.”
“Not many people realise Egypt has a strong history of witchcraft. And I’m not talking about ancient Egypt, that’s a whole other subject. I mean the period from the 1920s to the 1990s.”
Even the way he writes follows the same instinct: start wherever the door opens, then shape it until it feels like a rite. “Sometimes I start with the riffs, sometimes with the concept. It depends on the mood I’m in.” Once it’s recorded, the final push is all about how it feels in the room. “But after the mixing and mastering, it’s all about the atmosphere.”
There’s another point he keeps coming back to, because he knows what people expect when they hear “Egypt.” He isn’t leaning on the usual ancient imagery, and he isn’t interested in turning local culture into background decoration for outsiders. He tells AFRICA.ROCKS that most people miss a whole chapter of the story. “Not many people realise Egypt has a strong history of witchcraft. And I’m not talking about ancient Egypt, that’s a whole other subject. I mean the period from the 1920s to the 1990s.”
He also says he isn’t making this up just to sound dark. “Most of my themes are based on real events and real practices that already exist, not only in Egypt, but across the Middle East and Africa too.” He plans to take that further on the next record: “I’ll represent that in my upcoming album, which will be released soon.”
Stream Invocation of Malfayosh full below.
