Mephorash Archives - Page 2 of 2

MEPHORASH: 1557 — RITES OF NULLIFICATION

Sep 012015

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Sweden’s Mephorash.)

One unfortunate consequence of the way that much of our musical culture has developed over the years, particularly with the rise of digital dissemination and access, has been that many of us are much less likely to allow a band the time to develop over multiple releases before we “invest” in them fully – too often we unfairly demand that a band appear “fully formed” on their first release, or else we end up writing them off before they’ve even had a chance to find their feet.

And while I can see both sides of the reasoning behind this attitude, it’s not always the fairest way of assessing a band’s future potential. Sure, it may have raised the bar for debut albums/EPs (though this is hard to quantify), but it also means we’ve probably missed out on a lot of bands who took a little while longer to really hit their stride.

Case in point, I didn’t really give Swedish occultists Mephorash the time of day until only very recently, as although I’d heard both their previous albums, nothing from them really stood out to me. Those are not bad, not by any means (my advice is to ignore the rather venomous reviews on Metal-Archives), but they just didn’t captivate me. They didn’t have that X-factor that makes an album stand out from the pack.

Thankfully, the times, they are a’changin’… Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: VI, TSJUDER, MEPHORASH, THE CLEARING PATH, LUCTUS, WISDOM OF SHADOWS

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 12 Responses »

Jul 262015

I’m still surrounded by excellent new metal, like a cork bobbing in the ocean. In a post yesterday I collected four recently released songs and videos, and I have more to recommend today. In this post I’ve included three more new songs and one new album stream, followed by music from two releases that are not quite as new but are new to me. The music here falls within the realms of black metal, although as you’ll find out, the tracks are still quite diverse.

This is a long post with a lot of music in it, and perhaps I should have broken it up into pieces. But though it may appear daunting in its length, I hope you’ll stick with it, because there’s a lot of good metal in here from some tremendously talented bands.

This first new song caught my eye because the band — whose name is VI — has a line-up that includes current or former members of Aosoth and Antaeus. The cover art by the talented Alexander L. Brown is a real eye-catcher, too.

The band’s debut album De Praestgiis Angelorum is scheduled for release on September 25 by Agonia Records, in a 6-panel digipack CD and on vinyl. There’s also a shirt that features that cool cover art. Look at all this tasty stuff: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MEPHORASH — “Sfaíra Ti̱s Fo̱tiás”

Premieres 8 Responses »

Feb 162015

Mephorash are an occult black metal band from Uppsala, Sweden, with two albums to their credit, both released by Grom Records — Death Awakens (2011) and Chalice of Thagirion (2012). In 2013 they added to those works through a split release with Philadelphia’s Ashencult entitled Opus Serpens, and we had the pleasure of premiering the Mephorash track for the split, “Atramentous Ungod Aspect”, which included guest vocals by Acherontas V. Priest of the occult multinational band Acherontas.

Mephorash are now about to come roaring back with a new EP celebrating their five years of existence. It’s entitled Sfaíra Ti̱s Fo̱tiás, and today we have the pleasure of helping to premiere a lyric video for its title track.

For people like me, who have long admired the engraved illustrations of French artist Gustave Doré, the video is a feast for the eyes (and credit to Markus Hedelin for making it). The music is also a feast for the ears, and together, Mephorash and Doré make an inspired pairing. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: NADER SADEK, RAGE NUCLÉAIRE, MEPHORASH, MOONSORROW

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 7 Responses »

May 152014

With the album collections that Professor D. Grover the XIIIth and Austin Weber recommended earlier today, we’ve thrown a lot of music your way in a short stretch of time. But does that mean we will stop? No, of course not. We’re like a hyperactive yappy little dog that will not stop trying to hump your leg. So you might as well just sit back and prepare for a sticky leg.

NADER SADEK

Three years ago the extravagantly talented musical and visual artist Nader Sadek delivered an album named In the Flesh, with the help of an eye-popping line-up of guest musicians. Now, Sadek has re-recorded a song from the album named “Mechanic Idolatry” and re-titled the new work “Re:Mechanic”. This time the recording artists include Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation), Mike Hrubovcak (Monstrosity), Flo Mounier (Cryptopsy), Rune Eriksen (Mayhem, Aura Noir), Orestis Nalmpantis (Greek band Genna Apo Kolo), and Kelly Conlon (Death, Monstrosity).

But that’s not all. Sadek has also directed a new video for the song that debuted today at DECIBEL. Visit that link to learn more about Sadek’s vision for the video. But to see it without delay, just go past the jump. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ENDSTILLE, CREMATORIA, A SOLSTORM-KIM HOLM “DUET”, SINCARNATE, AND AN ASHENCULT/MEPHORASH UPDATE

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 3 Responses »

Sep 182013

Collected here are a large handful of items of interest that I came across today and yesterday while crawling through the underground. The last four items consist of pairings that work. You’ll see what I mean.

ENDSTILLE

German black metal band Endstille, they take no prisoners. They have a new album named Kapitulation 2013 that Season of Mist plans to release in NorthAm on November 12 (November 8 worldwide). I remembered their name somewhat fearfully from the last album, which is now on Bandcamp, so I was interested to hear the new song that debuted today — “The Refined Nation”.

I find it very difficult to be very refined in writing about music like this. In my case, the capacity for careful dissection and articulate analysis go up in a mushroom cloud of obliteration, and Endstille don’t strike me as a band who care terribly much about refined criticism anyway. The song is a black metal detonation that fills the air with shrapnel and the screams of the dismembered (or that may be Endstille’s vocalist, it’s hard to be sure). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MEPHORASH — “ATRAMENTOUS UNGOD ASPECT”

Premieres 10 Responses »

May 292013

Mephorash are a black metal band from Uppsala, Sweden, with two albums to their credit, both released by Grom Records — Death Awakens (2011) and Chalice of Thagirion (2012). They’re about to add to those accomplishments through a split release with Philadelphia’s excellent Ashencult, entitled Opus Serpens, and today we’re premiering the Mephorash track for the split, “Atramentous Ungod Aspect”. The song features guest vocals by Acherontas V. Priest of the occult multinational band Acherontas. In addition to the music, we bring these words from Mephorash:

“Our hymn is the most deep and profund work Mephorash has done so far.
The song channels a lot of powers and elements never seen in the chalice of Mephorash before.

To help manifest our unrelenting forces we got support from Acherontas V. Priest from the great and powerful black metal band Acherontas.
He has added a lot of movement needed for manifesting the forces this song is providing.
The lyrical work of this song is a personal journey and aspect provided by our brother Endless, who is an important piece and mind in Mephorash.
His work in Mephorash has been the final piece making this song what it is. Achieving what we have been aiming for during the whole journey.
Thanks to all involved and special thanks to Ashencult for this mindblowing collaboration.

Hails from Mephorash.”

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