Melechesh – Sphynx (2003)

A lot of the recent music content on Invisible Blog is about stuff I listened to for the first time years ago. Here’s something that’s not. I didn’t get much out of Melechesh’s debut, which came across as fairly standard black metal without a lot going for it beyond its Israeli origin. Sphynx, on the other hand, plays up its Middle Eastern themes, grabs a Texan drummer (Proscriptor of Absu fame), and overall seems to be a more developed take on what Melechesh can be. Is that enough to make it worthwhile, though?

Whatever you think of Sphynx as a whole, I don’t think you can reasonably deny that Proscriptor brought a great deal to Melechesh’s overall sound. His contributions are admittedly limited to drums and some vocals, but let’s be honest – he’s a superlative drummer who always makes the rhythmic side of whatever he performs on far more interesting. The rest of the band is more than talented enough to fit into a lineup with Proscriptor, abut they don’t stand out as much since a lot of what they do (admittedly very proficiently) is still in the standard extreme metal mold. The primary ornaments to that are the harmonic minor scale patterns that indicate something is supposed to sound Middle Eastern, as well as a few folk instruments for good measure. This is definitely an inversion of my usual priorities, but I’m okay with this.

So far, most of my experience with Sphynx involves me deep-diving the entire album in one go. This isn’t too hard, since it’s about 55 minutes, extended silence in the last track not withstanding. However, it makes a few macro-trends in the writing very obvious. First, Sphynx is monophonic, relying on its extended riffset and Proscriptor to create variety. Second, there’s not a lot of structural diversity in the songwriting – Melechesh is basically writing the same types of songs through this album’s duration. As a result, everything kind of blends together after a while, especially if you’re not paying enough attention. To be fair, you should be paying attention, but I don’t blame you for wavering. The thing is that these trackers shine brighter in isolation, where they can show off what tricks they’ve actually accomplished. I think there’s a flimsy culinary metaphor in there somewhere if you’re really willing to fish for it.

Dinner-inspired prose aside, I’m simultaneously not sure that I can recommend Sphynx and willing to accept that in the future, I may come to cherish it. After all, the delayed review strategy I usually use has given me time to appreciate many albums I was initially ambivalent towards.

Highlights: “Of Mercury and Mercury”, “Secrets of the Ancient Sphynxology”, “Triangular Tattvic Fire” (“HERE WE GO AGAIN!”)