Alright guys, c'mon...I know I can't be the only one who simply adores this band. I just got back from one of my night drives, blaring "Sphynx" the whole way, and it's the first time I really felt how powerful that album is. The riffs, Proscriptor's drumming, hell even the bass plays a vital role in a lot of their songs. "Emissaries" is also one hell of an album, a lot like "Sphynx" but a little more adventurous and polished.

So, if you love these guys as much as I do, discuss favorite albums, songs and the like. If you haven't heard of them, do so now! Very refreshing stuff in my opinion.

Ashmendi also announced that work on the next album is well under way (finally!). Guess he's in Istanbul collaborating with local artists/occult figures for the new songs. This will be interesting.

Good timing, I've been on a Melechesh kick lately.

It's usually a toss up between Sphynx and Emissaries for my favorite album, but I think the former comes out on top more often. Emissaries contains some absolutely monstrous songs (Rebirth of the Nemesis, Double Helixed Scepter, Sand Grain Universe), but stuff like the semi title track, Gyroscope and Leper Jerusalem just don't tickle my fancy as much. Sphynx, on the other hand, has only one or two weak moments on the entire record. Of Mercury and Mercury is a fantastic opener, Annunaki's Golden Thrones contains the greatest groove ever laid to record, Triangular Tattvic Fire proves that you can write a four minute song with only two riffs and not wear them out, and Incendium Between Mirage and Time is just 100% energy.

Djinn is far too long and drags quite often, and I've yet to hear their debut.

EDIT: Oh, and I'm super psyched about the new album. That's a bit of a curse considering nearly every album I get excited about ends up sucking (Land of the Free II, Nostradamus), but I can't imagine Melechesh fucking anything up. Their last two albums were just too damn good.

Yeah, Emissaries was a monster album. I can't get into the rest of their back catalogue, but Emissaries album just mixes all the eastern and death and black metal elements perfectly. Except for the Tea Party cover. That's just...odd and derivative, and I don't know what they were thinking with that one.

I always thought Emissaries was a lot like Sphynx, the only real differences being the cleaner production and the fact that it's more song oriented. Emissaries has some sweet fucking songs on it, no doubt, but I feel like Sphynx carries that special duality of being an enthralling full listen as well as the songs holding up extremely well as standalones. I think that's the one element that Emissaries doesn't quite capture as well.

The first Melechesh song I heard was "Rebirth Of The Nemesis" about a year ago or so.

God damn that song is awesome.

Their other material is still great (or what I've heard of it... Sphinx and Emissaries), but nothing else has quite grabbed me like that song. I actually find it difficult to finish the album in a listen because I keep wanting to go back to THAT ONE SONG. I think it may actually be hindering my enjoyment of the band to a degree. What should I do about that?

Let it progress naturally. I had a phase with that song as well. It's my favorite Melechesh song, but the atmosphere of Sphynx and the other six or seven amazing songs on Emissaries eventually caught me and made me focus on other aspects.

That is a completely monstrous song though, easily their best if you ask me.

DON'T FEAR DON'T
THIS DEITY DON'T
RETURN OF THE NEMESIS HAS BEEN FORETOLD
RETURN WITH WINGS
OF LIQUID FIRE
FATE WAS NEVER
SEALED IN STOOOOOOONE

Yeah, I think this was my problem too. "Rebirth..." was the first Melechesh song I ever heard, and it was so utterly brilliant that everything else just seemed to pale in comparison.

I then went back and listened chronologically. As Jerusalem Burns was uninspiring, same as Djinn, and nothing grabbed me from Sphynx. But I'll take your advice anbd have another go at it.

Damn, I totally want to listen to Melechesh again now

"Touching the Spheres of Sephiroth"

kekeke

Joking aside, I think this band is great. I've only listened to Sphynx and Emissaries but they've kicked my ass repeatedly. They were great when they played Dubai in May.

they are great live aswell.

Man, I want to see this band live. Have they even played North America? I have Djinn, Sphynx, and Emissaries. "Rebirth Of The Nemesis", Laders To Summeria" and that cool instrumental on Emissaries are probably my favs.

Yessir, one of my favourite bands. Not much to add to the deserved praise here, as the songwriting and especially the riffs have already been fellated adequately. They're pretty much a near-perfect amalgamation of intensity, brutality catchiness and creativity.

Album-wise I don't know whether I could choose between "Sphynx" and "Emissaries", as each of them contains too much great songs.
Could be though, that the former may be slightly ahead of the latter. I've been listening to it during the past few weeks quite often and the killer-tracks-good-tracks-ratio may be a bit higher than the one on "Emissaries". Nevertheless, I have to admit, that their latest output sounds more consistent and thought out overall, like another checkpoint along their road of musical development.

Besides those two I tried their debut "As Jerusalem Burns...Al'Intisar" some time ago. It's basically pure black metal with few to none oriental elements. It's not bad, but when you know the stuff Melechesh has down afterwards it tends to get forgotten out of redundancy.


What's wrong with it? I think the choice is pretty fitting, considering the eastern-drenched styles of both bands. That, and I'm quite fond of The Tea Party as well.

there has definately been melecesh threads before, use the search option a bit better, gets a bit tiresome.

I just checked and could find no threads specifically about the band. As I'm sure RedMisanthrope came to the same conclusion.

Sphinx is badass. I love the odd rhythms and the way everything is so perfectly intertwined to where nothing takes the forefront of the music. Guitars, vocals, bass, drums...it all comes together in one perfectly blended hurricane of metallic, Eastern fury that works well.

Speaking of the vocals, they're awesome. Some of the best black metal vocals I've ever heard. They are furious, evil sounding and they sound like they're coming out of some mummy who's been buried in a tomb for aeons.

That's the same impression I'm getting from Sphynx. This thread inspired me to check them and I'm loving it so far, they play a pretty unique flavor of black metal.

Yeah, the vocals are excellent and contribute to the overall aggression very nicely. One of the best I know in black metal.

I like "Djinn" and "Sphinx" a lot, but damn, "Emissaries", while not being much different from its predecessor, managed to bore me to death. I don't quite understand...maybe it's the absence of Proscriptor, at least in part, and also the dry, sterile production..just can't get into it at all. I wish they went back to the searing guitar tone on "Djinn"...I love the sound on that thing.

I thought nobody knew about this band, as I hadn't seen a thread about them. They're just awesome and their vocals are one of many of my favorite ones in black metal.

I was inspired by this thread to check this band out and I'm fucking amazed as to how good their music is.

It's pretty funny to see them live, because Ashmeti is so quiet and soft-spoken that you can often barely here what he's saying in between songs...then suddenly..."THIIIIS IIIIS OOOF MERCURY AND ERCURRYYYY!"

I've only heard "Sphynx", but it kicks ass.

I have 'Sphynx' and 'Emissaries' (jewelcase, but the CD luckily came with the bonus track), and they are both splendid slabs of middle eastern flavored metal. I plan to order 'Djinn' very soon.

Who else would totally cream their pants if Absu and Melechesh toured North America together?

This is exactly what happened with me, but with the song "Ladders to Sumeria"

But yeah, just try and listen furthermore and soon you'll be caught by the awesomness of Sphynx and Emissaries as whole albums.