The Epigenesis

The Epigenesis is the fifth full-length album by the black metal band Melechesh.

Recording
Epigenesis was recorded in Turkey. Ashmedi explained that this decision was a fit with the band's general approach to music:

"We don't always do it by the book. We do it our way. Everybody does albums in the West, or travels from east to west to record their albums. We did it the other way around. We went from Europe to an Eastern country. Istanbul is a city where east and west blend, culturally speaking. It's a place with a tradition of eastern style rock music from the '60s. I visited Istanbul in 2009 and really liked it. It's very rock and roll and heavy metal, which people may not be aware of. It could challenge any metal scene in the States and Europe in the amount of rock and metal bars. That was an extra bonus."

Ashmedi confirmed that he recorded the vocals naked, which he described as "ritualistic". He further noted that

"We put in a dim red light and some Sumerian and Mesopotamian artifacts to get the atmosphere. I could only sing late at night, sometimes until dawn. The studio would be empty, just the engineer, and he was in a different room and couldn't see me...I wanted to feel as primal as possible to fairly represent the vocals. That's how the vocals are, that's not pretend. The vocals are bestial, primal, aggressive. That's how I felt like doing it. The only thing I had on was my rings and jewelry. I had some whiskey as well. I never drink while performing, only after. But this time it helped a lot to have a little bit while singing. It kept the vocal cords open. It worked. It sounds strange to say I sang naked, but it was done in a context of spirituality and being primal."

Half the bass lines had to be played by Ashmedi due to a technical issue.

Melechesh

 * Ashmedi – vocals, twelve-string guitar, electric sitar-guitar, bass, sitar, piano, percussion
 * Moloch – electric & twelve-string acoustic guitars, baglama saz, bendir
 * Rahm – bass
 * Xul – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

 * Derya Baser, Senem Pirler, Fulya Uçanok – choir & chorus vocals
 * Reuben De Lautour – choir & chorus vocals, piano
 * Cahit Berkay – Saz, Tanbour
 * Harun Kolçak – choir & chorus vocals, acoustic bass
 * Nevcivan Özel – tar
 * Eser Taskiran – synthesizers