Exhuming The Grave Of Yeshua - Meads Of Asphodel

Crusader-themed black metal played by a bunch of English blokes that like to pose on their album covers stood in front of ruined castles dressed up in medieval armour and waving swords around... sounds well and truly cringeworthy doesn't it?

Fortunately, The Meads of Asphodel are a hugely talented and entertaining band with a strong sense of humour, and their second full length, "Exhuming the Grave of Yeshua" is a pleasure ...
.../> In keeping with the band's image, "Exhuming..." deals with the outbreak of psychological and ideological epidemy that was the crusades, and the brutal violence they involved, as well as the insanity of religious war in general. It highlights the xenophobic and fanaticial perspective of Christian Europe at the time, whilst simultaneusly decrying religious war in general, thus making a point that bears as much relevance today as ever. ... more

Crusader-themed black metal played by a bunch of English blokes that like to pose on their album covers stood in front of ruined castles dressed up in medieval armour and waving swords around... sounds well and truly cringeworthy doesn't it?

Fortunately, The Meads of Asphodel are a hugely talented and entertaining band with a strong sense of humour, and their second full length, "Exhuming the Grave of Yeshua" is a pleasure to listen to from start to finish.

In keeping with the band's image, "Exhuming..." deals with the outbreak of psychological and ideological epidemy that was the crusades, and the brutal violence they involved, as well as the insanity of religious war in general. It highlights the xenophobic and fanaticial perspective of Christian Europe at the time, whilst simultaneusly decrying religious war in general, thus making a point that bears as much relevance today as ever. Or, to quote one internet source,

"The album is themed after the infamous carpenter-turned-teacher of Nazareth; a man whose radical ideas developed into a personality cult and, finally, after being Hellenised, Romanised, and Celticised, into a corporate religion - with him as a god - with over two thousand million slaves around the world."

Musically, the album is full of surpises. Whilst built around a backbone of fast, catchy (dare I say upbeat?) punky black metal, it is a hugely eclectic listen, incorporating quirky and atmospheric synths, jolly prog/folk interludes, Hawkwind-influenced space-rock passages, doomy, chuggy sections, weird middle-eastern sounding ethnic folk music and singing mixed with psychedelic electronica, as well as spoken word sections, melodic rock solos and even trance music.

Elsewhere the band merge warm acoustic strumming with laid back blues-rock and dirgey riffs, creating a sound that would not be out of place on an Opeth album. There's more than a nod to the grandiose pomp of Bal Sagoth too on occasion, evident in the use of tinkley keys, bombastic synths, and in the song title "On Graven Images I Glide Beyond the Monstrous Gates of Pandemonium to Face the Baptized Warriors of Yahweh in the Skull Littered Plain of Esdraelon"

Whilst the album frequently shoots off on unpredictable tangents, it always returns to a familiar raw punk sound however, alternating between all-out faster moments and groovy slower sections, complete with growled yet intelligible vocals. There are some hugely catchy tracks, with great fist-in-the air-choruses, "Sluts of the Netherworld" being a good example. The vocals employed throughout the album are not particulary accomplished, and rather than singing vocalist Metatron tends to just balance gravelly bellowing with high pitched screams throughout. As is the case with the album in general, this shouldnt work but somehow it just does, adding to the albums overall eccentric charm.

"Exhuming the Grave of Yeshua" is an intelligent and massively entertaining album, that brings together myriad musical styles to create a brilliantly-executed and utterly original piece of eclectic metal. Mandatory listening!

Summary: Top notch avant-garde black metal.

 

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