NERVECELL guitarist Rami H. Mustafa, hailing from Dubai, is featured in a new interview with UK-based Music-News.com. An excerpt is available below:

MN: Now in your 12th year, what do you think has been key to your success and longevity? Being a metal act from a place with a very pop-heavy market, has that given you an edge?

RM: "It definitely feels great standing our ground being a metal band for this long in a market where commercial music is pretty much dominating. With us constantly touring and releasing albums, we became the only band in the region who are active internationally. The bond between us as band members is really strong, and we are all dedicated 100 per cent to what we do. The music comes first, and the rest is basically promoting our music predominantly being on the road touring.

We’ve done lots of great tours and appearances with bands such as SEPULTURA, MACHINE HEAD, MOTÖRHEAD, SUFFOCATION, MORBID ANGEL and DEICIDE. We’ve appeared at many major festivals around the world. Our passion and dedication to our music with the support of our fans is definitely what kept us going."

MN: One of your 2011 highlights was opening up for METALLICA in Abu Dhabi for a 25,000-strong crowd. How was that and what did you take from it?

RM: "It’s the biggest milestone in our career! Metallica playing in the Arab world was a very important event and for us to open for the biggest name in metal was such an honour. Metallica is pretty much why me and the rest of the guys in the band are playing metal right now. For us to share the same stage was simply mind-blowing! It was the first time for us to see Metallica live as well, so that was very exciting. The show was in our home country, which only made it better for us.

After that we toured for a full month in Europe and the UK alongside legendary death metal act Morbid Angel, which was another big tour in our career. It was an excellent tour. We have toured Europe and the UK a numerous times, and this was definitely a special tour for us as we are huge fans of Morbid Angel, who are one of bands that established the genre as well a major influence in our sound. Watching them perform live every night was such an experience and to be with them on the road was simply great. The fans were awesome and supportive. Our friends from BENIGHTRED were on the same tour and we had so much fun together sharing the tour bus and partying every night! We played some new cities, which is always exciting. Lots of great memories for sure!"

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Nervecell recently released their official video for the song 'Shunq (To The Despaired...King Of Darkness)' featuring Karl Sanders of NILE on guest vocals. The clip, which can be seen below, was shot in the city of Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates, directed by Shane De Almeida and edited by Ahmad Al Sharif.

Nervecell commented: "This particular song is special to the band as it will mark the first extreme metal track ever to include both Arabic lyrics mixed in with English lyrics, and who better else to have come on board and collaborate on this theme with us than the legendary Karl Sanders!

The word 'Shunq' in Arabic has two meanings: to choke or to be hung by the neck. The song consists mainly of ideas and knowledge gathered from sources that speak about Lucifer and the demons that serve him. The song speaks about the battle of us humans and these demons in reality, in the end Satan himself brought forth to justice."

'Shunq (To The Despaired...King Of Darkness)' is taken from Nervecell's latest album, Psychogenocide, which was released last year via Lifeforce Records and Spellbind Records.