Mesopotamian Metal!! That’s what Melechesh call their music. And it saves me the problem of trying to pigeonhole them in some damn genre/sub-genre already known to people. All said and done they have defined a new sound, and the name just suits the music fine. The album booklet is really beautiful with influences of middle-eastern background very much written all over it. Musically, they have tried to incorporate the middle-eastern influences into Black Metal and the result is surely interesting. The minute you listen to the intro you know this is going to be different. Closest description of this band would be black/thrash with Middle Eastern sounds thrown in. The riffing at times is way more thrash than Black, but the middle eastern sounds are almost always there in the shadow, and at times get more to the forward sound – some of those passages are great, quite powerful and played very fast. The vocals are definitely Black. The level of the mid-eastern influence, however, varies throughout the album. For e.g. the fourth song "war djinn" is probably the most aggressive and straightforward black-metal song (and happens to be one of my favorites). On the other hand, the 8th song "Oasis of Molten Gold" is probably the pinnacle of the album wherein the band really does best in its innovativeness. That song really showcases how well such totally unrelated influences can be perfectly blended into aggressive black metal. Overall, the approach is mostly song-based rather than arrangements around blast beats. The aggression is there but there is a logical link to the song structure in most cases. It is the Middle Eastern sounds that make this good – the songs are very good, the musicianship is great, pretty much everything is there for a great listening experience. Lyrically, I was a little lost as there were references to too many characters ( I assume they are out of Mesopotamian legends / myths) that I could not understand or relate to. On the flip side, I would like to point out that there are few songs, which are a little slower (actually most songs are mid-tempo) wherein I lost interest. Also, there is a certain groove and vibe to the music all along, especially in those parts where the "Mesopotamian" influences take charges. While I personally liked them, some people might feel that to be a "commercial" lineage. And be warned, any anybody who likes only pure/raw/old-school black-metal will totally hate this stuff. You need to be slightly open to appreciate other influences found in this. Overall, I found it a pretty good album, definitely quite different from umpteen other stuff I have heard. Give it a listen!!!