Enki – Skin Back Alley

Album Review: Melechesh | Enki

03/03/2015 by skinbackalley, posted in Album Reviews

Artist: Melechesh
Album: Enki
Our Verdict: 9/10
Release date: 2nd March
Find it at: Nuclear Blast Records
Review by: Graeme Blackwell

“A raging river of Middle-Eastern themed black-metal, you won’t hear better all year.”

Phil Anselmo once revealed that Pantera’s approach to songwriting was to take the money-riff that most bands used in their song breakdown and make it the very basis of the song itself. It’s a philosophy that worked spectacularly well for them and is one that Assyrian extreme-metal masters Melechesh have surely taken to heart.

Over the course of the last 20 years or so, frontman Ashmedi and his very metal brethren have served up a spectacular catalogue of dark, arcane, occult-themed music that has had a relatively small but devoted audience enthralled by its near perfect execution. Perhaps, after years of patience and devotion leaving them poised on the verge of greatness, Melechesh’s time is finally now.

New album Enki is a raging river of Middle-Eastern themed black-metal, riding high on an all-conquering wave of dynamic groove that is primed to lay waste to all before it. The likes of lead-single “Lost Tribes”, “Tempest Temper Enlil Enraged” and “Enki – Divine Nature Awoken” all deliver epic and atmospheric blasts of sonic sagacity, roaring out of the desert like a vicious and vengeful deity.

From the four-minute thump of “The Pendulum Speaks” through “Multiple Truths” and on to the magisterial closing saga of “The Outsiders”, Enki evokes the very qualities of the album’s namesake, the Sumerian god of craft, creation, water, wisdom and mischief, who mythology tells us also saved humanity from the Deluge sent to kill us by Enki’s half-brother Enlil.

Thank Melechesh and Enki for that then, and hail the coming of this fine and vital album. Even at this early stage, it feels like you won’t hear better all year.

Check out the lyric video for Melechesh’s Enki album track “Lost Tribes” – featuring Max Cavalera on guest vocals – below:

Keep up to date with all things Meleches via their official Facebook page, Twitter feed and website.

New music releases, 2nd March 2015

02/03/201501/03/2015 by skinbackalley, posted in News

Here are the new and notable music releases for this week, 2nd of March 2015:

Hand.Cannot.Erase, Steven Wilson

Enki, Melechesh
Brave, The Shires
Myths and Heroes, Fairport Convention
Rockland, Katzenjammer
War Of Kings, Europe
Another Eternity, Purity Ring
The Firewatcher’s Daughter, Brandi Carlile
Complicated Game, James McMurty
From Beyond, Enforcer
Omen, Blutengel
Scar Sighted, Leviathan
The Cold Vein, Cannibal Ox
Aureate Gloom, Of Montreal
To Kill A King, To Kill A King
The Smithsonian Folkways Collection, Leadbelly
Symphony For A Hopeless God, Whyzdom
Pulses Of Pleasure, Evil Invaders
Sacred Fire, The Storyteller
Pre-dating God Part 2, Satans Host
Shadows, Trident
Blood Oath, Frosttide
Night Of The Warriors, Thunderheart
Carnaval De Venus, Twenty Two Hundred
Chronicles Of A Dark Machine, Kyrbgrinder

All of the above, and many more, are available from the Skin Back Alley Music Store!

Listen to Melechesh’s new album “Enki” in full!

21/02/201521/02/2015 by skinbackalley, posted in News

Messopotamian metallers Melechesh are streaming the entirety of their new album in full!

Enki is scheduled for release on the 2nd of March via Nuclear Blast.

The stream comes hot on the heels of the band sharing the official video for the album track “Lost Tribes”, featuring Brazilian metal legend Max Cavalera on guest vocals.

Said Cavalera of working with Melechesh: “I was very honored that Melechesh asked me to sing on their new album! I’m a big fan and I think The Epigenesis is on of the greatest extreme metal records ever done! I love the fact that they come from a different part of the world like me. So our worlds finally collide! Long live Melechesh!”

Commented singer, songwriter and Melechesh mainman Ashmedi: “I am flattered and honored to have esteemed guests appear on this multifaceted album. Enki solicited different approaches and new experiences. Max is a lion – I love his voice and the tribal and historic parallels of our lives are uncanny, he did an amazing job on ‘Lost Tribes’.”

So clear the room and prepare to circle the pit as you check out the mighty Melechesh and the entirety of their new album, Enki, below:

Enki is available to pre-order now.

The full tracklist for the album is:

01. “Tempest Temper Enlil Enraged”
01. “The Pendulum Speaks”
03. “Lost Tribes”
04. “Multiple Truths”
05. “Enki – Divine Nature Awoken”
06 “Metatron And Man”
07. “The Palm The Eye And Lapis Lazuli”
08. “Doorways To Irkala”
09. “The Outsiders”

WATCH! Melechesh unleash “Lost Tribes” lyric video feat. Max Cavalera

30/01/201521/02/2015 by skinbackalley, posted in News

Mesopotamian metal band Melechesh have released a video for their new track “Lost Tribes.”

The song is taken from the band’s new album Enki, scheduled for release on the 2nd of March via Nuclear Blast.

Not only does the track feature the mighty Melechesh firing on all cylinders, but is given extra heft by the talents of guest vocalist, Brazilian metal mentalist Max Cavalera.

Max Cavalera explains: “I was very honored that Melechesh asked me to sing on their new album! I’m a big fan and I think The Epigenesis is on of the greatest extreme metal records ever done! I love the fact that they come from a different part of the world like me. So our worlds finally collide! Long live Melechesh!”

Check out the video for “Lost Tribes” below:

Enki is available for pre-order now via Amazon.