Melechesh

-It's my passion for metal. I decided to form Melechesh in 93 because I was addicted to that Bathory LP. "Bathory - the return" made me do it, but I also added Mediterranean drum beats.

-What did you listen to at the time ? Only black metal?

- No, the first thing I listened to was heavy metal, like Motley Crüe, I was very young (I'm 26 now). I thought the intro to "Shout at the devil" really ruled. (laughs)

-Black metal and metal in general are not really well considered in Jerusalem : were you aware of the consequences of creating a band like that ?

- I was like a freak of nature there. It's incredible to listen to metal there, and that was before the story of Melechesh. But we just do what we want to do. I didn't know much about the consequences of that, it wasn't easy.

-Did you suffer from censorship and repression ?

- Repression, yes, but they couldn’t censor it, because it was released abroad and it was underground. The underground market is cool. We did our first black metal concert in Jerusalem and it was great. There was a secret word of mouth. As far as oppression is concerned, I come from an Armenian-Assyrian family, I'm not Israeli, we're Orthodox, it's not very religious, but still… Moloch, my guitar player, also had problems, he had ministers come to him and say that what he was doing was really bad. (laughs) Stupid stuff like that.

I've always liked dark stuff, our dark side is always there.

-Is there a metal scene in your country and how is it ?

- Nobody know what black metal is. Once somebody asked us what we played, I said black metal. Oh, like Bodycount? (laughs) That’s how they interpret it. There was a scene once, before the death metal scene, but it died out. Then we gave the first gig, and suddenly people knew about black metal. But for the past 3 or 4 years, there's been a big metal scene, although it's not known. There are a lot of young bands, as well as magazines like Metal Hammer. It's still small, because of the size of the population and the mentalities.

-At the beginning, Melechesh was a solo project, then you were three, then four : how did this evolution happen ?

- At the beginning, I bought a guitar and I wanted to do it on my own. I didn't want anyone in, because I didn't know anyone who fitted into my "metal attitude", they didn't know what I wanted. They all liked the commercial stuff. In 94, I got 2 members, one of them is the guitar player, Moloch, it's the best decision I made. We rehearsed together and they got into it. In 95, we recorded the demo, with the full line-up. In 96, we did the 7". Then, we did the first album.

-Why did you choose Netherlands for a new start ?

- I left Israel for many reasons. It was hard for me, I have many friends there, I like to visit, I like the culture. But I think the government is still old-fashioned. I got fed up with trouble. The band wasn't progressing.

- Would you like to go to Norway?

- No, they got nothing to do with us. We're Mediterranean, we're from the South. I like the bands there, as well as the mythology and the culture. For the recording and technical aspects, sure, but not to relocate there for a career. We're open to every place, as long as there's a good studio. There's a lot of cool bands we'd like to meet.

-Can your approach to the combination of metal and ancient elements like tales and old instruments be compared to such bands as Nile in USA, for example ?

- No, it's totally different, because all they do is basically play death metal, but the lyrics, instead of gore, are about Egypt, which is really cool. They're more influenced by a lyrical concept and a few samplings, but the whole structure of the songs is intelligent, brutal death metal. On the contrary, we invent a musical structure, with the guitar and drum techniques.

-Do you believe in ancient cults or myths yourself ?

- Yes, but I have my own way of believing, I like dark energies, it's difficult to name them. I draw everything from my ancestral heritage.

-I have heard of a new video...

- Yes, we did a video clip. It was shot in Amsterdam. It's quite nice. We had a vulture and a hawk and their claws were getting in my hands! (laughs) It was a great experience. It will probably be available everywhere where they play metal.

-I have heard of a reissue of your first lp with some additional stuff

- Yes, someone is interested in re-releasing it. It's gonna be in digipack, with a new cover, and mainly available in the Spanish and South American markets initially. We remastered the sound and made it louder. We added a bonus track. It's gonna have a CD-ROM video track as well, a documentary from the old days and lots of pictures. It should be out for the summer.

-What are your wishes for now and for the future ?

- We hope the album will be well received and understood. And we'll just work and experiment.

Interview by Mr. X and JP Coillard