It’s always a good sign when you listen to an album and just want to listen to it again. This is what happened to me here. By the time I’d got to “Whores of Babylon”, the title track and the fourth of eight substantial statements, I was completed absorbed and excited by the flow and deathly technical intensity which was unfolding through my ears like an untold story.
The truncated, harsh and unusual opening sample gives an indication of this fulsome one man project. Cyaraxes is from Iraq. An Arabic element interlaces with powerful and progressive death metal. But this isn’t just a prog death album with ethnic bits and job done. Like Arkan and Acyl, there is great strength and power and co-ordination. The opening title “Thy Winds in Coordinations of My Sand Statues” suggest a mystical presence, and this comes across in the flow of the album. Captivating patterns and exotic flavours burst through this pungently dark work.
“Thy Winds in Coordinations of My Sand Statues” sets the tone with its advancing progressive darkness. In atmosphere I detected an aura of Rudra, but here we are exposed to triggering drum sounds, breaks and controlled outbursts. The guitar meanders with menace and with a faintly eastern rhythm. “Temples of Fire” has another utterly dark riff. Exploding into triggers it slows down ominously. There is a sense of both chaos and adventure. Its exuberance extends into the instrumental “Shahnameh”. In common with “The Anunnaki”, It is lofty and epic, as if driven by a dark force. The colourful guitar line leads the way. The title track, which follows, epitomises the energy. Excitement is mixed with darkness. An Arabic rhythm works through the hinterland of this exotic metal experience. Twisting and turning and technically driven, “Whores of Babylon” flows magnificently, only to be interrupted briefly by Arabic reflection. The only track which didn’t grab me was “The Horns of Hattin”, which takes us into dark places and suggests heightened tension but lacked the character and purpose of the others. There is recompense in the form of “Hours”, a hammering death metal creation. The intense growls match the heavy mood. Dark then meets light as a delicate rhythm emerges and plays out this exotic piece. After all the fury and rage, a calming and hypnotic Arabic folk piece completes this thirty two minute album. “Temples of Waters” conjures up a misty air, exotic smells and wondrous scenes.
I confess that I didn’t get all the references in this mystical work but I can say that musically “Whores of Babylon” is intense and something special.
(9/10 Andrew Doherty)
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