https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/rock-music-iraq-extreme-metal

Like other forms of extreme metal, it is characterised by its cacophonic combination of growled vocals, warped time signatures, rapid-fire tremolo picking and lyrics that deal with the profane, visceral and often downright obscene.

And yet for some Iraqis, the genre’s violence and abrasiveness is the perfect outlet for their generation, a howl against the stifling social restrictions and rampant injustices that have afflicted the country during recent decades.

In March, State of War, the latest video by Dark Phantom - a death-thrash metal band from Kirkuk - showed images of the months-long protest movement, including young men throwing Molotov cocktails while tear gas flooded the streets.