When guitarist Tomer Pink formed Subterranean Masquerade in 1997, Israel’s metal scene wasn’t just underground – it was practically non-existent. The emergence of Orphaned Land at the start of the 90s had helped kick-start a trickle of local metal bands, but the country’s offering was few and far between, and the few bands that did exist operated almost entirely in obscurity. Salem, quite possibly Israel’s first metal band overall (having formed in 1985) gained some traction with tape-trading networks (including catching the attention of Mayhem’s Euronymous), but otherwise Israel was a barren plain.“There was a big underground metal scene in the early 90s but it didn’t last,” Tomer explains. “Lots of the listeners and musicians who were making that music at that time went out to India and got into electronic music… and magic mushrooms! The guys who came back from tha