The true self-born of light, raised from a state of mystical death and self-dispersion by the hand of the Prôtogennêtôr is herein crowned with the crystalline shards of wisdom by the hidden father, the unnamed god, and given robe of cosmic life as Uppsala, Sweden-borne Gnostic mystery cult Mephorash subvert the creation of black metal for the sake of a fifth full-length album best representative of their ascendant spiritual climes. Clothed in the majestic resplendence of a higher-seeking mind and warmed into a second life by an oddly sensual and sensorial drapery of water-scattered light ‘Krystl-Ah‘ offers a difficult to have predicted ambition realized for the artist who’d slowly crawled themselves upright over the last decade, only just now achieving beyond the constraints of sub-genre reliant specificity.

Mephorash formed circa 2010 and from my point of view they’d made the mistake of being competent and readied enough to make an album without fully developing a knack or a purpose behind it and sure, that is a pretty common folly of folks who’re teenaged and enthused. Their first album (‘Death Awakens‘, 2011) came quickly and pulled together some lead guitar interest, a few lingering mid-paced songs and their quick follow-up with a different rhythm section (‘Chalice of Thagirion‘, 2012) gave rise to better production values and some focus on atmosphere, the first sings that their vision was bigger than the usual hammered-at black/death metal dramatics. The point of personality arisen then was some refined lead guitar runs and a sound which wasn’t so far removed from Ondskapt or even Watain at the time. These were formative works in steady movement towards higher competence, when visiting them today I’m not sure there was much deeper meaning or personification in them beyond participation. The second life of the band was assuredly far more interesting.

From that point Mephorash began to explore Gnostic spiritual themes in a display that’d read to me as Luciferian on the matured craft of ‘1557 – Rites of Nullification‘ (2015) and this is reflected in the guests on the album alongside its exploration of far more ambitious pieces, each stretching to ten minutes apiece. The opener on that album was their first real expansion into monastic and/or hymnal vocal arrangements though their sound otherwise appeared inspired by orthodox Satanic/occult black metal leading to comparisons to everything from Cult of Fire and Αχέροντας to Batushka. The only place to go from there was bigger and this meant an enormous double LP for album number four (‘Shem Ha Mephorash‘, 2019) and additional vocals from N. Tengner (Malign, Ofermod) for an spiritually incensed event which’d aimed for an orchestral effect in its compositions, lead by choirs and simulated orchestral (or, just classical music lifted) movements at is heaviest and meandering atmospheric transitions. From my point of view this’d been their great work at that point, their first truly impressive release but it hadn’t quite hit me until I’d seen the curated live performance they’d released during the pandemic that this might be a band worth taking a closer look at.

DEEPER LISTENING [CLICK HERE]

Arð: A brilliant solo project from Winterfylleth member Mark Deeks who uses choral compositions to achieve a high concept doom metal album in the very highly recommended ‘Take Up My Bones‘ (2022).

Batushka: An interesting Polish project who use operatic orthodox religious vocalizations in an inventive way on their only legitimate release, ‘Litourgiya‘ (2015).

Rotting Christ: Though not stylistically related in any sense ‘Aeolo‘ (2010) is perhaps one of the most boldly theatric releases from these legends, and one that’d emphasized chorales and various vocally driven works to create accessible melodic metal.

‘Krystl-AH‘ is another oversized ~67 minute double LP with elaborate musical direction and stylized aesthetic curation but this time around they’ve excised the smoke and mirrors which’d filled space on ‘Shem Ha Mephorash‘ and dramatically shifted their sound toward a style which is equally impractical and ambitious in its undertaking. Beyond the obvious precedence built over their first three full-lengths it shouldn’t go without saying that this album rescinds the focal point of distorted guitars as a leading instrument, while these compositions are still rooted in some manner of heavy rock propulsion and riffed-at rhythm this is a dramatic shift even when compared to the loft of their last. Angelic chorales are the life-giver, the font which births the mystic nigh psychedelic/progressive rock headed beast which introduces this record, now still bearing much in common with black/doom metal extremes but also straying deeply from traditional canon. Of course their work still has a dramatic menace to its craft, especially when we consider the opening dirge of the title track (“Krystl-AH“) as a depiction of the gnosis of light which I believe is a reference to the Codex Brucianus though I have to admit I was initially too interested in this shift of tone and style to concern with myself with theme to start, especially as the album finds its most compellingly strange point of spiritual theatre in the growling dream-state of “Gnosis”, likely the most strikingly inductive piece up front which does ultimately break into black metal at its mid-point.

Though it’d taken me about thirteen or so minutes to wrap my brain around the overall transformation of Mephorash on this record once the choral chants which begin ~6:36 minutes into “Gnosis” hit that’d been their passage from good-to-great, from curious to profound in my mind and when possibilities going forward opened up. This mantra is also an important motif which carries directly into the introduction to “Catoptrophilia” after it, connecting Side A with Side B in a meaningful way. Though I’d felt like the ambient riverside hum of the second half of “Catoptrophilia” went on for a bit too long it carrying through to “Somi Yoni” ensured that I remained engaged to the full listen of the first LP each time. That’d also been the point where a sort of dark metal feeling struck per the rock guitar volleys, sex noises, and splashing water making for a dramatic high point to end the first half of the experience on. Though I enjoyed those first four songs most there is already some argument made for paring down some considerable portion of their elaborate, unhindered compositions so that they’d feel less like a record written to fill out a double LP release. It’d be just as easy to argue that the over the top showing here is entirely necessary to achieve the feeling of a great work if the second LP’s worth of music was as inventive as the first.

Smouldering in its cathedralesque sensorial overload the full choir finally overtakes the scene within the hymnal “Chrysallís” and this’d been one of the more successful proofs of concept in pushing Mephorash‘s sound into its own mode as we step into the third act that is Side C. Without any context the next step into single “I Am” might initially appear as if some manner of Skepticism (or earlier Shape of Despair) piece as the first few growls drain through before the piece slowly drifts into a stillness occupied by a piano, clean guitar and various narrative vocal layers, eventually circling back to another full chorale-lead black metal ensemble. While I wasn’t so impressed with the movements themselves after a few passes through the dramatic presentation of that particular song reached an ‘epic’ high which’d maintained the draining momentum of the full listen at that point, leaving the final piece to present the last point of excess (at 16+ minutes in length) and an even more grand finale. Excess isn’t such a crime when a band appear believably inspired by their subject matter and creation and I suppose that is how this album skirts any too harsh criticism from me for being overly long and indulgent in its ambiance. The balance of performative motions and personal meaning makes itself exactly right in the long run.

Outsized and indulgent as the first impression had been the greater ease and choral loft of ‘Krystl-AH‘ made it not only easy to return to on regular occasion but also felt much shorter than its actual demand. There were enough buttons pressed, pleasurable points achieved throughout the full listen for my own taste that the demand of time and patience was never much of an issue beyond the first few listens. That said I don’t think this’d helped the impact of the album beyond a devout feeling achieved; What’d ultimately stuck with me was a sense of scale within each composition, wherein the intimacy of where they’d start could quickly scale to a village sized showing of vocal arrangement (see: “Gnosis”, “Chrysalis”, et al.) and this’d made for an inspiring sense of grandeur which I’ve not found anywhere else while searching for precedence in terms of black metal related spheres. In this sense if you’d seen that particular potential in the ambitions of Mephorash‘s previous full-length the reveal of this dynamic may very well feel explosive as it arrives, it’d certainly impressed and entertained throughout each listen on my part. A high recommendation.

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