Uhh Melechesh, even though i was going to review this, still someone had to tell me i HAD TO REVIEW THIS ONE, so ok… here it goes, Melechesh hails from Jerusalem but its actual headquarters are in the Netherlands, playing a self titled “Mesopotamian Metal”, well i don’t know about the self titled genres… a bit more and well see a bunch of bands saying ohhh no we play “Manhattan Death” or Amazoniancore hehehe, so for everyone that finds that silly, we’ll just call it a fusion of Black Metal with traditional Middle Eastern instruments, well lets have a listen, shall we.

Humm we start things off with “Rebirth Of The Nemesis” and it starts off pretty well i do feell its black metal with the garish voice and slowburn, but this is one groovy track, combining blasting and more groove oriented passages with some pretty impressive guitar and drumming work, very fresh approach… finishing it up with a very black metalish with a all male chorus, great show, “Ladders To Sumeria” hummm i don’t know … starts off like humm dont know… pretty simple i guess… then onto black metal bashing, again with clean vocal chorus, it reminds me of the kind of ethnical trickery that SOAD does pretty well (even though sometimes to excess), but it does bring some fresheness to this weird track, sounds something between hardcore/metalcore and black metal, still a solid entertaining track, “Deluge Of Delusional Dreams” ok… maybe its me but another strange start… maybe im expecting black metal and getting something different, we get strange funky riffing that goes into a metalcorish groove, ok… its cool, then the black metal comes in, with the vocal and double bass and riffing, with again some clean vocal chorus, about 2/3 way it changes into something else… kinda another groove guitar blast combo, entirely more ethical riffing, well well although already pretty formolaic, still its a pretty good listening until now, above all else it has a lot of groove.

“Touching The Spheres Of Sephiroth” starts off diferently, much more by the book black metal, well and it goes all the way through, humm a much diferent beast than before, much more focused, “Gyroscope” starts with some guitar work, then bass, then into a cool almost etchnical riff, then drumming and now a fool blown ethnical riff, humm its pretty nice, it feels black metal but not quite there, pretty cool track, “Double Helixed Sceptre” again a slow start, then a more electric riff to a blast beat and … damn some weird riff drum combo…. that brings to the black metal, and again the weird riff drum combo, this is one hell of a track and we haven’t got half way, very original, humm with voice it slows down a bit… and again back to black metal and the clean vocal chorus, and about 2/3 it goes into full blow black metal again… humm very interesting track, “The Scribes Of Kur” is a clean middle eastern instruments interlude, “Leper Jerusalem” is going again a bit into the Metalcore/Hardcore camp, then if slows down into a groove and its pretty much that, still a solid tune.

“Sand Grain Universe” is a much speedier track, still into the same black metal groove, just speedier, i kinda like it a bit better than the normal… slower kinda hehehe… and this track does it credit, loads of blasting and etchnical riffing with some slower tempos to enphasise on the higher speed, nice balance and again nice groove, “Emissaries And The Mysterium Magnum” starts of into a bass guitar combo, then into a blasting riffing and a toolish muffered vocals in the background kind of thing, this all stops with the vocals into a cutted riffing style, pretty cool, still this track has a weird tempo, with a pretty sweet guitar solo (especially because if fits into the mood) and then finally it ends with the… kinda obvious ethnically infused instrumental only “Extemporized Ophtalmic Release”.

Someone said it was kinda like Nile, humm dont know about that, sure there is a over enthusiasm with the themes and the ethnical instruments, and that kinda drags it a bit down… i think a band never wants to be fixed into a planet, when they should be aiming for the universe… but oh well, to each its own, and dont get me wrong, this wasnt the first listen but i did went in thinking it was black metal/death metal kinda of a Nile thing, and it sure isnt, they are 2 diferent beasts, and although i do like Nile, seems Melechesh will have a place there as well, if not because of the grooviness and little tidbits everywhere of musicianship and originality that i do enjoy ever so much ^_^

Official Site Melechesh | Video for Genies, Sorcerers and Mesopotamian Nights

Melechesh - Rebirth Of The Nemesis

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Destruction Ritual is Krieg’s acclaimed full-length… but I would say it is pushing it a bit too far calling this a ‘full-length’ recording: 4 of the songs are included in The Church and I believe most of the remaining songs are re-recordings of old demo tracks. But okay, let us call it a new album for the moment and move on to what Imperial (guitars, vocals, effects) and Duane Timlin (session drummer) brought forth, with a little help from Judas Iscariot’s Akhenaten in the engineering of the album.

The oh-so-evil hymns in the CD are Destruction Ritual, To Wander The Stars…, The Ancient Dwells Beneath, As Graveyard Rites…As Darkness Fell, Coldwind Flame, The Immaculate Whore, Suicide Amidst Katharsis, A Crumbling Shrine, Black Ash Snowfall, Enhanced Soil Where Fierce Battles Once Raged and Still Waters Shall Remain Their Tombs.

As a (direct) result of these being old tracks re-recorded, the general feeling is that Krieg remained faithful to the original raw, hateful, fast, brutal and grim BM roots. There are no keyboards, no nice melodies, no warm feelings here. That is the good thing about this album (in addition to the interesting intro. Even though intros have become almost standard and the everyday cliché, I liked it all right). At least one does not have to put up with all these ‘happy black/pink metal clowns’. No bass was used on the recording of this album. The production is good (for the raw standards one would have in mind). I would even say it is better than most raw releases of late. The only flaw is the low (almost inaudible/incomprehensible) guitars.

The album is not that varied. In a way, I guess it does have some of the typical American Black Metal (if there is such a thing) touch, because I could not really place this album in Europe. The main difference being the better played drums. The highlight of the album is definitely the double bass pedal technique. One word of praise to Duane!

It is tiring to see all these ‘true BM’ bands, whose only claim to fame is to say they are evil and trendless and ‘fuck posers and sissies’. I cannot really say Krieg are much different in that respect: after all, it has become the next big trend to say ‘Fuck trends’, so basically whatever one does in the music scene nowadays is a paradox in the least (or a very big stunt). A paradox which is enhanced when looking at the booklet. There are of course no lyrics (I am not sure no one needs them anyway) and the cover is as usually very interesting (mostly for its simplicity). HOWEVER, for someone who shouts ‘Death to Mankind’ and ‘We hate you all’ all the time, Krieg have a seemingly HUGE thanks-list, occupying the inlay (for a clearer picture, you should know the black/white booklet has 4 pages). Quite striking.

It has become increasingly difficult to differentiate between all these raw bands and give each their own personal characteristics. Krieg do have their own touch, in a way sounding like a faster version of Judas Iscariot (with a different guitar sound, WHEN you can actually hear it). ‘Destruction Ritual’ is clearly an album which is not for the masses, mainly because it sticks to the same basis from beginning to end (a polite way to say they might get boring). I am sure their ‘fans’ will forgive them for that.

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