Nexus for Continual Genesis

Melektaus intially was born from the ashes of Dominus Xul, after the passing of their vocalist. They already changed the direction of the music and instead following the crawling and more crushing Incantation-styled death metal they did on the 90's, they went for something totally different (as they also changed members when the Xul was reborn).

'Nexus' is first and foremost and exercise of unrelenting brutality and speed. The opener 'From Hadit to Nuit' destroys without mercy from the second 1, showing a quite high musical prowess from the band members, especially the drummer. If I should compare Melektaus to any other band, I would say the closer they go is Nile and newer Behemoth. As the aforementioned bands, Melektaus plays a hyper fast form of death metal, full of complex riffs and massive drumming, evoking a mythological/ancient atmosphere thru the guitar arrangements. The vocals are your standard growl which never goes much beyond that but does the job well and are well implemented, both carrying the thelemic messages and allowing the instruments to have space to shine.

Some sections, like the intro from the title track, sounds very close to Behemoth's Demigod/Apostasy in terms of style, but as soon as everything kicks in, the sonic assault turns into a different and unique-enough beast. Still, there are some few passages that reminds me of Dominus Xul, like the intro and the slow section about 1:35 of Exalting the Primitive Bestial Shapes, where the band slows down and simplifies the riffing for crushing purposes. There's no weak track here, every song features great quality and serve the purpose of the wholeness of the album - even 'Chants For Ra-Hoor-Khuit Adoration', which is more of an interlude than a proper song.

The production is excellent, where everything (including the bass!) can be heard without problems, The guitar tone is quite good and the drums sound a bit like mid-era Behemoth or even Vital Remains pre-Dechristianize; clear but not overly triggered, keeping a natural tone.

Something that should be noticed is the care they put to the package and how they present the lyrics. The 3-piece Digipak is great and also contains a quite heavy booklet. As pointed before, Melektaus's lyrical inspiration is Thelema. The lyrics are included in the booklet but also there are notes from the band explaining the concept of the songs and the basis of the source where they draw such ideas. From what I've read, the guys knows what they're talking about, which gives more merit to this work, effectively transmiting the thelemic aura to musical pieces.

In short, this is an excellent release which has nothing to envy to the greatest bands playing this kind of music, they can stand with the best without hesitation and this album is another great addition to the already impressive chilean roster in terms of extreme metal. Absolutely recommended to fans of Nile, Behemoth, Mid-era Vital Remains, Krisiun, Hate Eternal and so on.