Review Summary: Remember the fist time you heard/read a description of Nile’s music? The sounds that you imagined were probably something like this.
Ashmedi: Lead Vocal, Lead, Rhythm Guitars
Proscriptor: Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Moloch: Lead & Rhythm Guitars
Al'Hazred: Bass, Backing Vocals
Getting it’s start in Jerusalem(!) Melechesh describes their music as “Sumerian thrashing black metal,” it’s a mixture of several types of metal with a heavy middle eastern influence. But it’s not just a slight middle eastern tinge, there is a constant Egyptian feel throughout.
When discussing Melechesh, the lines between metal subgenres are completely blurred, there are noticeable elements of death, thrash and black metal with an Arabic vibe that doesn’t just pop in from time to time but is continous and brings an element to their music that separates them from the pack. For “Of Mercury and Mercury,” vocalist/guitarist Ashmedi piles riffs on top of riffs creating a great, memorable song to open the album, with “Triangular Tattvic Fire” they take a different approach, with only a couple of riffs that come and go and it’s done in such a way that it keeps the listener interested. The drumming, provided by Absu’s Proscriptor, is amazing but not overdone, using just the right amount double bass for maximum effect and further enhancing the middle eastern feeling with his rhythmic grooves best displayed on “Secrets of Sumerian Sphinxology” that really highlight but don’t overwhelm the guitar work. Although it’s a somewhat restrained performance as compared to Absu, Proscriptor’s drumming is excellent with many creative fills that complement the music perfectly but he doesn’t try to cover every space with blast beats (unlike another middle eastern themed band that I won’t mention).
Tracks like “Incendium Between Mirage and Time” and “Apkallu Counsel” offer a dizzying array high speed time changes done expertly while keeping a sense of melody between the complex song structures. Lyrically, “Sphinx” deals with Mespotamian/Sumerian mythology and occult themes, done in a high-pitched black metal shriek that is somewhat intelligible and wears thin over the course of the album. . In a tribute to an influential, early metal band, the last track is a cover of Celtic Frost’s “Babylon Fell.” The production is outstanding courtesy of one time King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRoque (who also contributes a face melting guitar solo on “Purifier of the Stars”) the mix allows the superb all-around musicianship to be appreciated
An excellent effort by a very unique band that manages to stand out in an increasingly cluttered genre where it is getting more and more difficult to find a band that doesn’t sound like everyone else but Melechesh has done it. Like the pyramids in Egypt, Melechesh are hard to miss in the desert of sameness that is the metal genre, they might not tower over everyone else but they’ve definitely created something that is truly their own.
Recommended tracks:
Secrets of Sumerian Sphinxology
Of Mercury and Mercury
Incenduim Between Mirage and Time
