Anatomia ASY: Melechesh
The heir of Mesopotamia, that is Assyria, as a rule, does not have its
own ISO code because it officially does not exist on maps, so I made one
up for the purposes of this post. Although Melechesh was formed in
Israel, it is not an israeli band, but an Assyrian one. Assyria has its
own community and its own liberation movement, which you can read about
here (a terribly disgusting flag, they could have come up with a nicer
one):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_independence_movement
(I recommend reading about how the Assyrians were deceived by the
“allies,” despite paying the so-called “blood tribute” – Assyria was
treated after the First World War much worse than Poland after the
Second)
Contemporary Assyria would be located roughly somewhere here (almost in the same place as another nation, the Kurds):
Palestine is therefore not the only nation that is denied statehood. Looking at the history and problems of Assyria, the partitions of Poland seem trivial in comparison. We were largely fortunate due to the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and the collapse of the German empire, combined with the political activities of such outstanding individuals as Piłsudski, Dmowski, and Paderewski. The Assyrians had neither such elites nor, even more so, luck. The Ottoman Empire, despite its collapse, carried out genocide against them at the end of the First World War, called "Sejfo," meaning "sword" (remember to click on the bolded sentences). Almost half of the Assyrian population was exterminated (that is, over a quarter of a million people).
And looking at how many decades had to pass and what effort had to be made before the analogous Armenian genocide (which took place in the same place and time) was recognized on the international stage, I suspect that Assyria will probably never achieve justice. Indeed, in raising awareness of Armenia's issue, System of a Down helped a lot, thanks to which it was possible to draw the world's attention, which I cannot say about Melechesh and Assyria. Maybe there should have been some benefit concert for a specific social action? Who knows. Anyway, as of today, it is the only group I know that acknowledges its Assyrian heritage.
However, the fact that Melechesh is indeed an outstanding band is a little more obvious. A combination of oriental tones with Black/Death standards. They hit the right time with their music, when this type of ethnic playing was beginning to gain popularity, largely due to the success of Nile (by the way, it was the Arab bands from North Africa that benefited the most from this, notably Nervecell and Scarab).
I’ll admit honestly that it’s not easy for me to say which Melechesh album I like the most, because honestly, like few other bands, they haven’t sullied their career with any crap. But when it comes to recommendations, the safest options are their second and third albums, namely "Djinn" (2001) and "Sphynx" (2003). The debut was also legendary, so it would actually be suitable too, but recommending the first album is such a banal thing... Anyway, this is kind of a "beginner pack" for someone who would like to get into them, although as I mentioned, you can comfortably start with any other record.
Over time, the band began to play more "catchy" tracks, but they did not sacrifice epicness and ambition in the process – the average song of the group lasts a good 5 minutes, but that's also because a lot happens, and exotic instruments appear, such as: Bağlama, Daf / Riq, and Darbuka. And this is not a cheap marketing trick; they are used as full-fledged instruments, although for the most part they are types of percussion. I don’t want to beat around the bush or prolong the agony of reading this post, so just click the links if you want to learn more – it’s enough to mention that they also have specific cultural and historical significance.
So I'll stop rambling now - it's Saturday, right time to for listening!
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