Mark Levine's Heavy Metal Islam book got mixed reviews in the metal community - many people acciused him of only having a superficial understanding of metal. My feeling was that, while the title of the book pomised something it didn't really deliver, the book did provide an interesting insight into youth culture in the Islamic world and the possibilities that rock, metal and other music hold for creating a culture that resists both Islamic fundamentalism and western hegemony.
Levine has put together a compilation album of Middle Eastern rock, metal and hip hop called 'Flowers in the Desert' . It should be out pretty soon. He's also making a documentary based on the book that will doubtless provide an interested contrast to the Heavy Metal in Bagdhad and Global Metal films.
In the meantime, here's a trailer for Flowers in the Desert:
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