#melechesh — Public Fediverse posts

I've been waiting for a new Melechesh album for 11 years now.

We still didn't get a full album, but a 3 song EP this year.

But holy fork that is some nasty good stuff 🤘

🎵 The Seventh Verdict by Melechesh
💿 Sentinels Of Shamash, 2026
▶️ https://song.link/y/Tp53GQtnz1Y

#TomsMusic #NowPlaying #Melechesh

A welcome surprise on this Friday morning: Over ten years after their latest album, #Melechesh have released the first single of their upcoming EP 'Sentinels Of Shamash' (10.04.2026) and it's as magnificent and catchy as I hoped. 🤘

Give it a spin if Black Metal with oriental harmonies sounds like something that could interest you.

🎵 Melechesh - Raptors of Anzu
👉 https://song.link/y/gESmxS7AcQg

/cc @derthomas

#BlackMetal #Metal #MossysMusicSpotlight

Fucking Melechesh are back!!!

🎵 Raptors Of Anzu by #Melechesh
▶️ https://song.link/y/cDvtAgoMbww

#TomsMusic #NowPlaying

Melechesh are back, too 🤘

https://song.link/i/1870639590

What a song!

#metal #melechesh

Impureza – Alcázares Review

By Angry Metal Guy

Founded in 2004 by guitarist Lionel Cano Muñoz (of Spanish descent, but born in Orléans, France), Impureza is based in France but fully embraces Spanish heritage in both concept and execution. Jokingly called the “French Nile,”1 Impureza blends extreme, brutal death metal with rich cultural motifs and flamenco. Alcázares marks Impureza’s third full-length album in 15 years. The album continues the band’s legacy of high-concept releases, following La Iglesia del Odio (2010, an Inquisition-themed album) and La Caída de Tonatiuh (2017, an Aztec Conquest-themed album).2

Conceptually, Alcázares is based around the Reconquista, a centuries-long conflict between Christian and Muslim forces that started in the 8th century, following Tariq ibn Ziyad’s conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom in 711 and the Battle of Covadonga (in ~722) and ending in 1492 with the establishment of the Catholic Monarchs.3 Alcázares means “fortresses” or “palaces.”4 The word is derived from Arabic, “al-qaṣr” (ٱلْقَصْر),5 which means the same. As with many things on the Iberian Peninsula, like flamenco itself, the tension at the heart of Alcázares is between cultures, faiths, and empires—specifically between Islam and Christianity, the Moor and the Castilian. Symbolically, the title evokes the contested strongholds of medieval Spain: places of siege, destruction, religious power, and shifting dominion between Muslim and Christian empires.

Seven years have changed and improved Impureza. At its core, their sound is best evoked by invoking two excellent bands: Vidres a la Sang and Æternam.6 2017’s La Caída de Tonatiuh was replete with the blasty, brutal ’90s style death metal (à la Vidres a la Sang), a sound near to my heart and that in a lot of ways has receded in the modern death metal landscape. Alcázares doesn’t shy away from this sound. If you needle drop anywhere in the 49 minutes of music on Alcázares, you are likely to land within a minute of blast beats, guttural vocals, and trem-picked, harmonized guitars. The Nileesque brutality sets down the deepest root of their sound, but the tree has also flowered over the years.

Where La Caída de Tonatiuh felt like the tale of two records, Alcázares feels unified. Having backed away from single-minded br00tality, Impureza does a better job of integrating the different flavors of their sound. The real innovation is that they have discovered dynamics. More clean vocals (“La Orden del Yelmo Negro,” “Castigos Eclesiásticos”), better use of integrated acoustic guitars (“Pestilencia,” “Castigos Eclesiásticos”), and the strong melodic content of flamenco—still bearing the history of MENA influences—evokes Æternam’s last two records and even at times Melechesh. For me, this is a perfect blend of brutal and melodic. I love the growls, the anthemic cleans, the fretless bass (“Ruina del Alcázar”), and the tightly integrated feel.

Integration of flamenco and metal is not easy. This is because these two genres of music are fundamentally quite different. Said differently, flamenco is progressive as fuck. It uses a 12-beat cycle,7 where accents fall unpredictably (on beats 12, 3, 6, 8, 10), rather than on typical downbeats.8 Additionally, these cycles blend note-groupings of 2s and 3s (hemiolas), which create shifting accents and internal tensions. I can only imagine that this is genuinely tough to integrate into metal, which operates in 4/4 or 3/4 or, when we’re feeling particularly saucy, 7/8. So, while some moments here threw me at first—seeming messy or chaotic, almost like a band that wasn’t playing in time (for example, on “Santa Inquisición” and “Pestalencia”)—I realized that what I was hearing was the sound of innovation and adventure.

In addition to compositional innovations and refinements, Alcázares benefits from notably improved production. The mix is cleaner, clearer, and better balanced than their previous album, allowing each element—flamenco, cleans, and death metal—to find its place without overpowering the others. It’s probably too loud, but it is never muddy. The guitars shimmer when needed and crush when they must. The bass is visceral and perfectly matched with the drums, and though they sound crushed and a bit mechanical—it is Jacob Hansen, after all—they punch through with precision. Everything feels tighter, more refined, and integrated in a way that I genuinely love.

Impureza has an Orphaned Land-like quality of disappearing and then reappearing to remind you of just what you were missing. Alcázares is Impureza at their most ambitious: historically immersed, sonically expansive, blasphemous, and, well, super into the (alternative) histories of colonialism. Alcázares is a violent, poetic invocation of Spain’s medieval imagination, and it sports an enchanting vibe that recalls some of the best records I own. Seven years of development resulted in a record full of tight riffs, beautiful guitar work, and intense compositions, and they somehow managed to work a Necromancer into a historical concept album (“El Ejército de los Fallecidos de Alarcos”). I would say that I hope to see something from them soon, but I’m happy to wait another seven years for another record of this quality.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s CBR MP3
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: impureza.bandcamp.com
Release Date: July 11th, 2025

#2025 #35 #Aeternam #Alcázares #DeathMetal #Flamenco #FleshgodApocalypse #Impureza #Jul25 #LaCaìdaDeTonatiuh #Melechesh #Nile #VidresALaSang

I have a playlist called "Best of Holy Shit Metal" and this one is on there..

🎵 Lost Tribes by Melechesh
💿 Enki, 2015
▶️ https://song.link/y/NNN-2wvLmJQ

The album cover is one of my favourites.
The song also ripps.

Ashmedi must be the summerian god of riffs.

#TomsMusic #NowPlaying #Melechesh

Here's a good night song for you. Some mesopotamian blackened death that'll bring you sweet dreams and facemelting riffs:

🎵 Lost Tribes by #Melechesh
▶️ https://song.link/at/i/1458698130

I was randomly listening to a collaboration between Mastodon and Lamb Of God when I read @neurothing's #ThursdayFiveList toot - #TheCollab

I feel obliged to participate, so here it goes:

Lost Tribes - #Melechesh feat. #MaxCavalera
https://song.link/at/i/1458698130

I Ain't No Nice Guy - #Motörhead & Ozzy Osbourne (& #Slash)
https://song.link/at/i/192927475

Under Pressure - #Queen & David Bowie
https://song.link/at/i/1422664556

Tonight - #TinaTurner & #DavidBowie
https://song.link/at/i/726154494

Shake Your Blood - #Probot feat. #Lemmy Kilmister
https://song.link/at/i/1036946257

And now, for something completely different: the man with three buttocks...errr, another one for @HailsandAles' #BlackMetalMonday, this time a more obscure one:

#AlNamrood: Atba'a Al-Namrood

https://song.link/nzqv5vcc2rr0f

This may not be as obscure as last week's submission, given they have released an album this year, but still qualifies 😁

FFO #Melechesh #Narjahanam

#TuneTuesday bonus round!
Because this week's prompt is #ItsForYou, I dedicate the following songs...

To @yourfutureex
👁️ Tempest Temper Enlil Enraged by #Melechesh
https://song.link/y/y7Fau2MH6Uo

To @trendskater
☠️ What Doesn't Die by #Anthrax
https://song.link/y/oTH224Sc8GY

To @thomas and @HailSatan
⚓ Die Havarie by #Kanonenfieber
https://song.link/y/lWuLvCQoNb8

To @HailsandAles
🐕 Hounds of Kuenring by #Küenring
https://song.link/at/i/1514808579

...and to all Thomases
🧐 Thomas by #APerfectCircle
https://song.link/i/723436638

I've actually never heard of " #OrientalMetal " before

#Genre was maybe the wrong word to use before (not sure if I should go back and change it?) the geographic label is more just a "category" that overlaps with genre and style.

There is also a #GermanMetal playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1EId7CFKROoBp9

But that isn't simple either… it could be a language category if not for the English Language band "Emigrate" featuring #RichardKruspe from #Rammstein … and one track from "Oomph!" in English

and it doesn't work as a national category because it features #Nachtmar from #Austria and #Laibach from #Slovenia (both a bit problematic) but at least they didn't include the bands from the USA that use some #German in their lyrics? (often less problematic, just not very German)

maybe "German Metal" works as a "theme"?

I'm not sure if "Arab metal" works as a category at all? Maybe "Arabic metal" including a few related tracks like that "German metal" list?

I thought this thread was forking but it's ended up linking back to the "where does Melechesh come from?" #Znous don't seem to think they are #IsraeliMetal "We understand that things went the way they went with early “Oriental Metal” bands coming from historical Palestine like #Melechesh or #OrphanedLand (which were the first to be labelled so). Many newer bands coming from the region have unfortunately adhered to this bordering-racist and discriminatory term/genre." https://www.znousland.net/we-are-not-oriental-metal-do-not-exotify-us/ (same link as in previous post)

I also saw Orphaned Land on that "Israeli Metal" list https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1EIfUNA6VGyfJf they are just "Formed in Israel in 1991…" https://open.spotify.com/artist/7xTMxqAmbtE0Nce5lz7t0h

I'm not sure how they identify given the essay from Znous describes them as from "historical Palestine" but i am curious now…

Now I am wondering if there a #ChineseMetal #spotifyPlaylist with #Chthonic on it?

cc @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

#HistoricalPalestine #90sMusic #90sMetal #PalestinianMusic

I'm not a massive fan, as i said before they're a band i vaguely remembered finding last time i was looking for Middle Eastern metal bands.

But this is an interesting little educational case study for me to explore … and I'm wondering why #spotify moved them?

#Wikipedia describes #Melechesh as "an ethnically #Assyrian #BlackMetal band that originated in #Jerusalem and is currently based in Amsterdam" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melechesh

They seem to currently be based in Greece https://www.facebook.com/melechesh
and #EncyclopaediaMetallum list as assortment of locations in Europe https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Melechesh/424#band_tab_members

So… a #European #BlackMetal band who formed in Palestine and have Middle Eastern heritage? #IsraeliMetal seems like an odd label for them?

#Assyrians don't generally identify as Arabs https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/assyrian-people-not-muslim-arab-asian-jenan-younis-meet
https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/assyrian-people-not-muslim-arab-asian-jenan-younis-meet

So the #ArabMetal designation seems inaccurate, but I think it's a slightly odd label to use in general. The theme seems to be "metal from the Arab world" https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DXaqykGqi6KX8

…but identity is a foggy thing…

cc @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

(side note - infosec.exchange seems to have a lot more #metal related tags chiming up as suggestions than mastodon.social did? i think i like this server) #MetalHead #MetalBands #MiddleEasternMetal

This must be recent? and not my imagination because the #Melechesh artist page on #Spotify profile still lists the "Arab Metal" #playlist https://open.spotify.com/artist/1bjUcmZxY4zJO1V5LaKzUY

"Formed in 1993 in the city of #Jerusalem …" that's Palestine?

They're probably currently Israeli citizens, because touring #Europe would be tricky on a Palestinian passport https://www.facebook.com/melechesh/posts/pfbid02XDCKQDJ4qG4auLPdEPhC1qzk4JtbCGFbbkYuUBxhr4Rfd8gz4Y798GwBGgVoSuYEl
Do #PalestinianPassports exist?

cc @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

#Metal #SpotifyWrapped #HeavyMetal #MelecheshTour #Passports

A weird little observation … #Spotify has removed #Melechesh from the "Arab Metal" #playlist and they're now on "Israeli Metal"

I was listening to the #ArabMetal section yesterday wondering where that vaguely familiar band i liked was … and now i find them annexed? (probably called Arab rather than #Arabic because a lot is in English)

I have no idea what their background is? but I'm curious now… I'll look it up later.

cc @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

#music #HeavyMetal #IsraeliMetal #Jerusalem

@ana
#Behemoth - Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel
#Melechesh - Lost Tribes
#Hellripper - I, The Deceiver

More like blackened death and black'n'roll, but that's a good gateway I think.

It's #TuneTuesday by @Kitty, and this week it's my song prompt 🥳

👉 The double feature: Two songs from very different genres that you like.

Song 1: The Extreme 💥
Mesopotamian Blackened Death by #Melechesh - Tempest Temper Enlil Enraged

https://song.link/y/y7Fau2MH6Uo

Song 2: The Gentleman 🎩

A beautiful prayer by #LeonardCohen & #TheWebbSisters - If It Be Your Will

https://song.link/y/FhTUx1LwG1Y

@manon

1. Post a great album with no explanation.
2. Tag others to do the same.

#Melechesh - Enki

Tagging:
@NeuroticGeek and @aggie

https://album.link/i/1458697793