Music like Mamaleek

Mamaleek is an experimental metal group from San Francisco, founded in 2008 by two anonymous brothers. The name supposedly derives from Arabic, and is the plural of mamluk, or "slave".

In 2011 the band was signed with Enemies List; that year, their album Kurdaitcha topped Leor Galil's "Best Free Albums of 2011" list. The band has released seven albums, and are signed with the San Francisco-based alternative label The Flenser.

Regarding the band's style and genre, Noisey wrote: "It's black metal, but then again, it isn't; there are massive electronic, jazz, and psychedelic influences, as well as pronounced Middle Eastern inclinations in melody and aesthetic". According to Stereoboard, they "are a band like no other....Portishead playing lo-fi metal might be somewhere vaguely near the mark". Galil said they "mix Middle Eastern song structures and samples, atonal experimental and avant-garde accents, guttural metal howls, accessible electronic breakbeats, sludgy doom metal guitar-work, nimble piano interludes, and plenty of pop panache to create an unrelenting, moving sound".