Emissaries

Often strong modern blackish/thrash metal with lyrical inluences from ancient Sumeria. Melechesh are originally from Israel but found that having albums called “As Jerusalem Burns” wasn’t gonna get them too many gigs in their home country – they split to The Netherlands. Nestled between Nile (though not quite as overpowering), Enslaved and Absu (who they’ve shared a drummer with). The vocals are probably the weakest part though not bad, just lacking its own character.

((((1)))) Fast, aggressive and steady with some Middle Eastern scale patterns & blackish vocals.
(((2))) A LOT like recent Enslaved, big sound and nice slightly jagged riffs.
(((3))) Pretty nice epic with some cool backing vocals. Not always “on” but fairly compelling when it hits the mark.
(((((4))))) Excellent black/thrash, cascades of blasting beats and a rather “metallic desert storm” feeling.
((5)) Trying for experimentation or melodicism and mostly failing.
((((6)))) Excellent mix of classic/epic metal and modern extreme sounds. Lots of good riffs.
((((((7))))) Whoa! Straight up Middle Eastern acoustic instrumental with traditional instrumentation.
((((8)))) Back to the metal…great straight-up rockin’ riff and decent vocals.
(((9))) Gallopy and filled with Arabic scales, the big minus here is the odd metered vocals. Otherwise you almost have the intensity (though not the density) of a Nile track.
((10)) Slow, too long & too dull
((11)) Decent but uneventful instrumental/outro.