Mephorash is a Swedish Black Metal band that’s been active for almost a decade. “Shem Ha Mephorash” represents the 4th full length material and the 7th studio effort of the band including a split. Their newest full length contains 8 songs (1. ”King of kings, Lord of lords”, 2. ”Chant of Golgotha”, 3. ” Epitome I: Bottomless Infinite”, 4. ” Sanguinem”, 5. “Epitome II: The Amrita of Vile Shapes”, 6. “Relics of Elohim”, 7. “777: Third Woe”, 8. “Shem Ha Mephorash”), and up next I’m going to talk about some of the songs that caught my ear.
“King of kings, Lord of lords” kick starts the album with an atmospheric vibe ready to set the mood for the following madness. The next song “Chant of Golgotha” has a dramatic twist given the use of chants in the background, the 3th track “Epitome I: Bottomless Infinite” contains a mesmerizing female voiced chant interlude accompanied by organ that brings the beauty into the grotesque, but by far “Sanguinem” stood out to me the most, the haunting atmospheric part at the beginning gives way to a groovy but powerful clash of sounds that’s held together by the keyboard themes throughout the track.
The lyrics revolve around misanthropy and the occult and production wise it’s really a good album, the effort and time that’s been put into it can be felt while listening to this material. This EP keeps it true to the genre but still being relevant, the heavy use of ambiance was a bit of an overkill as I was waiting for the punch to kick in on some of the tracks. Anyway, I wouldn’t call this a bad listen, maybe some of the newer fans would expect a more Behemoth-like experience/energy from a relatively new Black Metal act, but for a die-hard BM fan I would totally recommend it.
