JEDDAH: Saudi melodic death metal band Immortal Pain have been a pioneer in the Saudi metal scene since 2005 and are the first to perform heavy metal at a large public event.
The band, who sing original songs in English, performed in a concert on the second day of Comic Con Arabia at the Jeddah International Exhibition and Convention Center.
The band members include Emad Ashoor, rhythm guitarist and vocalist; Rasheed Attar, lead guitarist; Moayad Al-Shammari, drummer; and Anan Al-Sabban, bassist.
“Immortal Pain started late 2005, with Rasheed and I joining together to start the band, and it took off from there throughout the years,” the vocalist told Arab News.
“We played a lot of shows here in Riyadh and in Dammam. We’ve released a couple of songs, and we are planning to release more,” he added.
Contrary to popular belief, the band members say, there are more metalheads in the Kingdom than people think.
“The heavy metal scene is huge. It’s kind of an underground scene, but we have a lot of great bands around such as Wasted Land, Kaizer, and it’s still growing,” Ashoor said.
Al-Shammari, the band’s drummer, said the Saudi metal scene has been waiting for opportunities to hold public concerts.
“It’s been quiet for a while, but now practicing music is supported by the country. Immortal Pain are actually one of the pioneers in the metal scene in Saudi Arabia, and I’m so thankful to see the growing number of bands,” he told Arab News.
Expressing his excitement at the opportunity, Al-Shammari added: “It feels so welcoming. People cannot believe that we posted on social media that we are playing at Comic Con Arabia; they said it’s like a dream come true.”
Alternative Hejazi rock band Ana N7n also performed at Comic Con Arabia.
Band members include Saif Mufti, Shaher Karkashan, Saleh Binsaif, Abdulmalik Zubilah, and Maan Balila.
Bassist Mufti said Ana N7n came together in 2019, and the band’s members had all been musicians since 2006.
“We have all played in different bands, and the experience of playing with other bands led us to create Ana N7n,” Mufti told Arab News.
Vocalist Zubilah explained that they sing in a Hejazi dialect because they want to directly reach their community.
“A huge goal we wanted to achieve when we started Ana N7n was to have an open dialogue with the people we feel close to and relate to,” he said.
“The only way to communicate clearly is to speak to people in the same dialect, so that’s why we decided specifically on the Hejazi dialect to sing our songs,” he added.
Ana N7n uses an unconventional instrument in rock, the tabla, which Binsaif plays along with the keyboard and synth.
“I’ve been playing the tabla ever since I was a kid, and when I joined Ana N7n, I listened to a solo that Said created. It had a strong Arabic tune, and that’s when I thought the tabla needed to be added,” Binsaif told Arab News.
“We tried it, and it created a great sound. It also added that Hejazi note in our material; it gave us our own sound,” he added.
Saudi heavy metal band play in large public event for the first time
https://arab.news/pjukx
Saudi heavy metal band play in large public event for the first time
- Contrary to popular belief, the band members say, there are more metalheads in the Kingdom than people think
- Al-Shammari, the band’s drummer, said the Saudi metal scene has been waiting for opportunities to hold public concerts.
Saudi Arabia led green building performance regionally in 2025: Report
- Saudi Arabia achieved the highest regional score of 76.31 points and certified more than 1.03 million sq. meters of sustainable building space
- Results reflect measurable efficiency gains across 6,662 projects completed since 2010, marking a new regional benchmark for measurable sustainability progress
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia led the region in sustainable building performance and environmental impact in 2025, according to the Saaf index developed by the Saudi Green Building Forum.
Saudi Arabia achieved the highest regional score of 76.31 points and certified more than 1.03 million sq. meters of sustainable building space, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday.
These results reflect measurable efficiency gains across 6,662 projects completed since 2010, marking a new regional benchmark for measurable sustainability progress and institutional excellence.
The achievement underscores Saudi Arabia’s growing influence in advancing sustainable construction across the Middle East and supports the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 objectives for cleaner growth, resource efficiency and climate resilience through data‑driven environmental performance.
Faisal Al‑Fadl, secretary‑general of SGBF, said that 2025 represented a major turning point toward a measurable, institutional sustainability strategy that united policy, technology and practice.
He added that the approach extended beyond renewable energy, clean water and eco‑friendly materials to embed sustainability in economic planning and public development programs, made possible through integrated efforts with regional governments and public institutions.
The Saaf index provides a specialized regional framework for measuring efficiency and resilience through the Sufficiency and Resilience Composite Index, or SCI, enabling precise performance assessments.
Findings show that the sector has evolved into a cohesive strategy integrating project delivery, professional capacity building, market innovation and climate action.
According to the SGBF review, Saudi Arabia’s achievements reflect its ability to combine quality implementation, institutional maturity and scale.
Environmentally, green building projects achieved an estimated 62,800 tonnes of carbon‑equivalent annual reduction and earned 29 professional recognitions, reinforcing growing international acknowledgment of Saudi leadership in sustainability.
The data also underscore SGBF’s role as a professional partner in advancing methodologies, applications and impact measurement within non‑governmental frameworks that link policy and practical execution.
More than 7,300 professionals across 22 Arab countries engaged with the Saaf platform in 2025, alongside numerous business‑driven initiatives expanding the region’s sustainable‑development footprint.
Al‑Fadl said that the period from 2025 to 2026 would act as a bridge toward Vision 2030, strengthening a model in which sustainable buildings were managed by impact, measured through indicators and implemented via lasting partnerships.
SGBF serves as the Kingdom’s leading platform for advancing sustainable construction and green design. It unites experts, innovators and practitioners dedicated to building environmentally responsible and high‑performance structures.
Through continuous education, certification and collaboration, SGBF drives the transformation of Saudi Arabia’s building sector — minimizing environmental impact, promoting resource efficiency and improving overall quality of life for communities nationwide.
